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IN A PERFECT WORLD...

Reader's Digest US

|

August/September 2025

With simple life hacks and grand visions, readers share their contributions to utopia

- BY Reader's Digest Readers

IN A PERFECT WORLD...

Pardon me, please!

A Horn to Warn

Most cars have four or more speeds for windshield wipers but only one horn volume. There should be a "courtesy honk" option to gently remind the driver in front of you that the light is green. Rather than receiving a rude gesture when you honk, maybe you'll get a wave or a thumbs-up.

—ROGER ANDERSEN Roseville, CA

As Educational as PBS

All children's TV shows should have captions. Seeing written words as they simultaneously hear them would help kids learn to read and spell effortlessly. It's called neurological impress, and many parents do this with their children already by reading books aloud to them and tracking the line with their finger as they go. Now that kids spend so much time with screens, captions can have a similar effect.

—MARION DAVISON Apple Valley, CA

Planting a Seed

If I were king, I'd make a decree that you have to put an identification sign among all crops. So if you're driving along, you can learn what's growing in a field. Exception for the obvious ones like corn.

—JACKIE TRIMBLE Grayslake, IL

We're Lovin' It

Every fast-food bag, box, cup and wrapper should have a number or code correlating to the customer's form of payment. That way, it can be traced back to anyone who throws it out the window, so they can be fined for littering.

—L. MILLS Clayton, NC

A Better Way to Cut the Cheese

Melted cheese is irresistible: lasagna, chicken Parmesan, French onion soup. But those foods are nearly impossible to eat without feeling like a mannerless slob when stringy cheese drips down your chin. Restaurants should set cheese scissors beside your knife and fork, so you don't have to use your fingers to break it.

—RANDY ARONSON Cooper City, FL

Zig When You Should Zag

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