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Is Consumerism The Only Way To Give Our Children Something To Look Forward To?
By Life-Musings.com | February 20, 2009
If you have not already noticed by now, I often rant against modern day consumerism and materialism.
Quite simply, I think it is an empty shell which does not satisfy the human soul; perhaps it pleases, but only superficially and fleetingly. And it is most certainly not sustainable. At the rate the first world is consuming (to the detriment and exploitation of the third world, may I add), there will be no more “world” left for all of us soon. Very soon.
What are the top consumerism festivals today? Quite possibly Christmas, and maybe Halloween.
A couple of months ago, a mother gave me another perspective when I spoke against the wastefulness of consumerism. I was telling her, on average, that the stuffs (toys, games, clothes, electronics, etc) we buy are thrown out a mere 6 months later. Yes, 6 months. The real-life examples indeed do seem to mirror such a statistic, to some extent.
But she said that we needed to have events for the ‘kids to look forward to’, and the kids getting excited, dressing up, asking when they can open their presents, and finally tearing the wrappers apart on Christmas Day gives them a lot of joy.
I listened, and, to some extent, agreed; I could sort of see where she was coming from.
But then I questioned myself.
Do we, in the first world, really need to rely on extravagance and wastefulness to get ourselves excited from time to time, to have something to look forward to?
Don’t we realize that chasing material goods is an endless process, because we just end up wanting more, bigger, shinier, newer and supposedly better?
Would the starving kids in the third world, who are starving in large part because of the consumption of the first world, need such “excitement” to perk them up? I would imagine a bowl of rice can brighten their day, or a hug from mummy, or a bed to sleep on.
Is the process of looking forward to opening presents for a couple of weeks, ripping apart the wrapping for half an hour on 25 December, and then just chucking the stuffs aside or into the store room, really *joy*?
Or is it just temporary euphoria?
Are we telling ourselves that, besides dragging our children into the whirl of consumption which we have gotten ourselves into, we have no better way to entertain our kids, to make them happy, to give them something to look forward to?
How about us, the adults?
[If you have suggestions on how to make our children smile and be happy, without the need for material overindulgence, please share in the "Comments" section below. Thank you!]
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Topics: All Life Musings, Everyday Life, Facts of Life, Happiness, Independent Thinking, Modern Life, Questions about Life, Simple Life / Simple Living, The Human Psyche, The Road Less Travelled |