Is it because we have too much? If things were a little more scarce, would we care more and waste less? If things were as precious as they really should be? If things cost more? The fact that we CAN walk in to any store any day mostly any minute and have everything at our fingertips, is that making us somehow feel that it's OK to waste? (Cuz it's not.) Are things too easily accessible, that we have forgotten the value of all things? And things we break are so cheap and replaceable, we end up not taking care of them as much. Eh, so what, go get another.
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| Are we clear? |
How did we get here? Is it the commercialism from the television era telling us to want more more more? If we can't have it all, then our lives are empty? I'm reminded of the show Hoarders, which, for some reason, and no reason that I can explain to my husband, who just shakes his head, is my favorite guilty pleasure to watch. We know why people hoard: they are trying to fill something they cannot inside themselves, and usually avoiding FEELING something. It's like, "Oh no! I'm about to feel bad about this! Quick, buy something so I feel better! Safer! I don't want to have to feel bad!!!" Stuff makes us feel like everything will be OK, but it's not. It's not OK. And you know what? It's OK to NOT be OK. We get past it. Shit happens. Our worlds will not end.
Will gaps or a few empty shelves in stores make us uneasy? Pop our little bubble of the American idea of progress and prosperity? Make us think we're in Russia? That collapse of modern society as we know it is upon us? I don't have an answer. this is just something that has me thinking. Can we stop to think about it? We have, buy, consume, waste too much. How do we stop it? How do we get back to simple frugality that made sense and was so much better all around? Do we need to have some large-scale disaster fall upon us to make us change?
I hope that's not what it takes, but I just don't know what else has to give. I just don't.
All I know is we have to start treating things, all things, as much more precious than we currently do. Does that mean higher prices, so we don't dare waste as much? Do we waste because stuff is cheap and we can?
Can we stop?
My personal belief is that people accumulate "stuff" instead of taking the time to sit down, think about why they're buying one more piece of useless crap - what hole they're trying to feel.
ReplyDeleteWe are a nation (or a world?) of people who are so distanced from our inner voice that the art of listening to it is almost unheard of.
People don't know themselves or their own motivations so often that it's actually considered a bad thing when you want to talk about how you feel, and instead society wants to hand you some brain-altering drug or a new toy.
Mass production means we have access to more stuff, and slave labor in poorer countries means we can have it pretty darned cheap. So buying "stuff" is easier, we don't have to think about it really. Did you go on a bender and break every glass in the cupboard? No big deal, head to WalMart and for $20 you can replace every drinking glass you had. Too fat to fit into your clothes? No problem, head to WalMart and buy new, bigger clothes made of some plastic thread by some underpaid wage slave in a country whose name you can't pronounce and then stop for an ice cream cone on the way home.
I'm sorry, I shouldn't have ranted. I'm just glad the voices in my head tell me *not* to kill people.
Ha! I was just watching a hoarding show on Netflix last night. It leaves me with such mixed feelings.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand it's totally clear that these people are trying to fill an emotional hole with physical things... which is really just the societal norm taken to extremes.
On the other hand, I think these people are sort of reacting to the craziness or our disposable culture. They keep saying things like "but this could be used somehow by someone" and they're totally right.
I think it's hard to find a way to be sane in a world that's gone mad.