This week the American people have taken to the stores on mass in a coup against poverty. Weak economy be damned, the hunt for the elusive bargain has began.
At least it has for many, not for my family, not this time. This year we have chosen to take a stand against the the rampant and pervasive jaws of the blind, slobbering beast, known as consumerism. But why?
Well, I shall start with a description of what I don't mean. I don't mean to be the Scrooge that killed Christmas or the Grinch that stole it. Nor do I mean to deprive the children of their toys or the adults of their reward after getting through another year of the game we call life. No, what I mean to do is draw your attention for a moment to the useless eccentricities that adorn our homes. You know what I’m talking about. That bread machine that you've had for years and never plugged in. That fly fishing rod in the garage you've always meant to learn how to use. That snuggie you bought because you think it's some how not an over priced bathrobe.
We all have these things. The things we buy out of impulse or because we think we'll actually use them. The things that serve only to take space in the garage or cupboard pretending they do us good in our lives, but amount to little more than emotional masturbation. We by these eccentric essential for a lot of reasons, but what really matters is how we feel after. It's that little reptilian part of our caveman brain that lights up with happiness and tells us more is better and having stuff feels safer than having not. The logical side of our brain is fighting back every time we resist the impulse. Every time we think we don't really need that, or how long will it take to pay off, or can live with out it?
Fulfilling our wants feels good, but lets talk about needs for a moment. What we need to live is simple. Food, water, shelter and fire tends to be the minimum for survival, but what about thriving? Well suppose we add on our physical and emotional needs such as medicine, companionship, and entertainment. We can all make a list of “the things we would want if trapped on a desert island”. Lets say we make that a generous list and include things we would need to thrive. After you pick out your favorite things, your music, or books, or a particular hobby, or what ever it is that gets you merrily through your time, what is left. For many of us, whats left is a pile, large or small, of extraneous things we've collected over the years. Things that are nether important to our survival nor really a source of entertainment or interest for us. Now we have come to crux of the matter.
My aim is to strip out the extraneous bullshit in my life that servers to convolute and conflate that which is truly important for that which is not. To add to the existential riddle of existence in our hyper consumerism country, is the hypocritical divergence of what the goods and services are, verses what is needed to get the good or service. How does one go about living in a society where blogging about such issues on the beautiful bastion of freedom of speech that is the internet, while also worrying about the sweat shop conditions of the people manufacturing the computer parts. Such is the duality of our society and I don't see any easy solutions on the horizon to the hypocritical acquisition of enjoyment while paying little mind to the cost of our liberties and pursuits of happiness. What I can offer is the transferal of my pursuit of happiness, off of the hands of the greedy mega corporations, and into the local businesses of my community, and keep in my mind, always, the full value of products I buy.