We live in an age of stuff.
Think about it. There are products and devices that make us prettier and our lives easier. There are hundreds of sunscreen brands and thousands of snack foods and TVs and millions of shoe styles and beer bottle openers and label makers and umbrellas and cars and this and that and more.
It's all a little overwhelming. Actually, it's downright consuming. No pun intended.
Because while everyone slaves in the workforce to OWN all this stuff, there comes the consequence of TALKING about it. I'm not just referring to advertising. Meals, meetings, and days are spent discussing the implications of stuff, like how to buy it and sell it and move it and create more of it for...what?
To brag? Showcase our wealth, and compare it to other people who work even harder for less? To other countries, who already see America as a greedy superpower that will sacrifice the health and happiness of its citizens for progress?
Doesn't seem worth it to me.
Stuff is just that. Stuff. There is a significant difference between necessity and luxury, which most people seem to forget.
We need food to survive. We don't need flat-screen TVs to survive. We do not need designer shoes to survive, although we arguably need shoes. We definitely don't need cars that cost more than college tuition, and we DEFINITELY do not need to talk about them as if we cannot take in air without them.
Call me a minimalist, but I couldn't care less about owning brand new Nikes or a purse that cost a two-week paycheck. I rarely go shopping, and my new clothes come from stores that people throw their (perfectly good) clothes away at.
I spend my money on food and rent. And life experiences.
This doesn't make me better than you, but it might save me a little money from time to time.
And what's more, I don't care about your stuff either.
The hidden agenda for owning all this stuff is to impress. Impress who, though? Strangers? Most likely. Friends? True friends won't care about your stuff either. Same goes for family, and if you have a dog, they only care about food.
If I ask to borrow a dress or a bike, I will take care of it because not only is it not mine, but I respect that person for trusting me to use it. However, the minute someone tells me about their weekly manicure or new makeup-in-the-mail shipment, I will tune out. Not every time, but most of the time.
Trust and respect are better than stuff. Those things are worth caring about, dontcha think?
