“May you live in interesting times” is reportedly a Chinese curse — one that certainly feels relevant for those of us who’ve reached adulthood in the twenty-first century. We’ve seen the popularization of the internet, the arrival of hybrid cars, that pizza crust that has cheese actually in it. It’s a world our grandparents could never have even conceived.
There are some who will say that the advances of our era can’t compare to those of the industrial revolution — and it’s true that it’s hard to get as psyched about an iPhone as one does about a seed drill (then or now. Come on, show of hands, how many people have seed drills on their Amazon wish lists?). But we beg to differ. We say that the tremendous technological leaps forward that we’ve experienced even in our relatively short lives can be charted via beverage cans.
“The humble beverage can?” some will scoff. “What can something so worthless and disposable tell us anything about the times we live in?” To which we respond, “Excuse us, but in some states a can is worth five cents, and you should be recycling them.” Anyway: we can remember many iterations of pop-can openings, each giving way to one more efficaciously designed. We like to drink, so we like manufacturers to deliver our beverages to us in the most user-friendly possible way. And with this in mind, we offer this shirt, celebrating the soda-can innovations of our times.
No, it’s not necessary for you to salute. But it would be nice.
