Consumerism

The other day I was watching Oprah on the Tivo and it was about Freeganism. Freeganism is an anti-consumerism lifestyle whereby people employ alternative living strategies based on "limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources". In short, freegans share a common belief that our society is wasteful, and rather that contribute to that waste, they live off of it. As far as possible they don't purchase anything new - they shop in thrift stores, or dumpster dive - even for food. The lifestyle involves salvaging discarded, unspoiled food from supermarket dumpsters, but are still edible and nutritious. They salvage the food not because they are poor or homeless, but as a political statement. Interesting, but, not for me, thanks.

One of the underlying themes of the show, however, was consumerism and how our society is really driven by it. Consumerism is the equating of personal happiness with the purchasing of material possessions and consumption. Approximately 1.7 billion people worldwide now belong to the 'consumer class' - the group of people characterized by diets of highly processed food, desire of bigger houses, more and bigger cars, higher level of debt, and lifestyles devoted to the accumulation of non-essential goods. The show talked about how advertising bombards us with messages that essentially make us 'want' - we want bigger houses, better cars, more clothing, shoes, jewelry...stuff. And even after we have accumulated loads of stuff, we want more. So we work harder, and longer to get more stuff and eventually, the things we own end up owning us. At the end of the day, it is that preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from really living.

And that part, the consumerism part, really spoke to me. It made me examine where my 'wants' are coming from - why do I even have them in the first place? For instance...why do I want a bigger house? It that really a necessity for Josh and I, or does it have more to do with impressing others and ultimately having more room to fill the house up with more stuff? When it comes down to it our house is small, but it's nice and it meets our current needs. The mortgage payments are low, which allows us to allocate more money towards aggressively paying down our student loan debt, which we need to do so that when we are ready to start a family, we can. So, in this case, the want gets in the way of the need. I bet that happens a lot more often than people realize. Maybe that's why beginning in 2005, Americans collectively spent more than we earned for the first time since the Great Depression.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying that nobody should want to have nice things...I just think personally I'm going to try to be conscious of my wants and my needs, where they originate from, and how they might conflict with one another. I guess I am starting to feel like it is important to try to reach a state of equilibrium with myself - to not always be 'wanting' and instead feel satisfied with what I do have.