A recent article I read examines our crazy consumer driven world. The writer points out how we are now being sold products that are made simply to be bought. That’s right: they are not useful other than satisfying and stimulating our desire to acquire.
I have never thought of it that way before. I had not realized that so many of the things we buy are really just trinkets or baubles that have no true purpose. It’s a sad, frustrating realization. Western society has trained itself that if having something is good, having more is better, even if it’s useless.
There are many problems with this. In addition to being addicted to acquiring stuff, there is the matter of wasting precious resources. The article’s author mentions the precious metals, forests and energy wasted in providing us with our fix. I see another major waste: human genius. Every product needs to be invented by someone. There are vast teams thinking of stuff to make so that we can buy more. Think of that: rather than figuring out how we might better live together, or waste less or get along without buying everything in sight, we are paying folks to think of things we can buy.
That’s not good. God did not put us on earth to have more playthings; we are here as God’s companions and children. Sadly, we’ve directed our attention away from God to ourselves and our stuff. That means we’re not only wasting the earth’s resources; we’re wasting ourselves. It’s time to turn things around. We need more holiness and less stuff. We need more sharing and less hoarding. Ultimately, we need more God and less us.
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