Imagine you’re driving to dinner with your family.  The seven seat SUV is comfortably filled, with ages ranging from three (for your baby sister) to 85 (for your grandmother).  The silence in the car becomes thicker as everyone begins to realize how little they have in common, so Dad clicks on the radio and turns it to the Oldies Station.  Muscles relax and minds wander as the safe, bubble-wrapped sounds of The Monkees emanate from the speakers.  Tracks from Smokey Robinson, Barry Manilow, and the mystifyingly popular Swedish rock quartet ABBA follow as the car ride concludes at Olive Garden.

The similarities shared between Oldies radio stations and The Olive Garden are not insignificant.  The popularity of both institutions represents a culture that revolves around caution and predictability.  Every time a person steps foot into an Olive Garden, they resign themselves to entrees filled with mediocrity.  Linguine with Marinara, spaghetti with bolognese, three-cheese lasagna—every dish on the menu merely regurgitates recipes that have long ago been refined and perfected in order to fit within a profit margin.  You are guaranteed to receive an unspectacular meal, neither good nor bad.  So why come?

The comfort that one gains from falling into a predictable routine can be soothing because it removes the risk from everyday life.  Going to a new Italian restaurant represents a leap of faith many in our era of pervading social conservatism are unwilling to take.  The food could be delicious, but it could also be subpar, and the risk-averse will not accept that tradeoff.  This is the same reason that oldies stations survive.  They simply take the same product (The Monkees, Motown) and broadcast it over and over in differing combinations and orders.  It is the musical equivalent of mixing and matching your pastas and sauces.  There is no new product, and consequently, no risk.  Fans of Norman Rockwell art and novels sold on shelves in grocery stores can sympathize with this society because they are often part of it.  The food or music or art is simply a vehicle that delivers comfort while diluting the vibrancy in our culture.

As youth, it would be easy to follow the trends established by the previous generation.  However, when those trends lead toward a culture devoid of personality, we must unlearn ingrained lessons.  We must utilize the lack of inhibition inherent in our growing minds and delve into other, more obscure restaurants. We must brave a Paesano’s or Mediterrano.  The thrill of the unknown will titillate the adventurous sectors of the brain left untouched by the Olive Garden, and guide us down the path to cultural salvation.