Love: The Ultimate Commodity

[Scott B]

I find it interesting although not surprising that my descent from an unwitting Bernays-fermented American dreamer to an avid rejectionist of mass consumerism began when I realized I had not enough money. As soon as I began my long-distance relationship with my girlfriend, I lost interest in spending hundreds of dollars on DVDs every month and begging my parents for the newest monolithic appliance. Love not only made me learn how to save for trips to see her but made me realize I wasn't happy with purchasing.

I found my abscence of love made me a hermit. I was a shy, sick, tired, depressed person because I found comfort in destructive things. I soon craved love instead of a DVD I'd only watch once and t-shirts with clever sayings on them. I began an introspective search and where it would lead me would be a place that shook my notions about the world and the goings-on in our continously profit-minded society. It was then I began researching. Money was confusing to me at this point. I saw the abscence of love for others or the environment on this planet by those in power was similar to my former mindset...the consumer escaped into a world of material emptiness because they paralleled the meaning of freedom with expressing themselves with clothes or a new automobile or the lastest and greatest whathaveyou.

I realized the leaders of the world had access to new ideas before the rest of us and used these ideas against us. Now our planet regardless of the global warming debate is poisoning our air and our water and our food. A spam trojan known as MySpace is now the most visited site in the history of the world. Celebrities make millions of dollars for what small-time actors do for next to nothing if anything. I saw how I retracted from social interaction because the feeling of being poor at a young age having grown up in financial pits was soul-crushing, adding to my already deep-seeded hatred for my physical body.

I have learned from my amazing regression that people are, at heart, well-intentioned but are at the mercy of an environment where the ideals of democracy and consumerism seem one-in-the-same. Liberty is the biggest threat to consumerism because, in my opinion, people who are free to think do not like the idea of rich politicians with corporate nest eggs telling us what to do or what to buy or how to think. The promises of endless bounty and goods and services are the very things that are sucking this planet dry and killing the minds of untold billions.

I am using this post to say that people are deep down warm-hearted, loving people but are made angry by our society's insatiable urge to hoard money and work endless jobs and miss out on the most important resource we have. Love. It is through experience I put my entire self behind the notion that a simple life is the most rewarding. You are not what you own. The moment we appreciate our lot in the universe and the fragility of it, we can start to mend. I suggest you spread the word and the message all of you carry inside.

I love you people.

[Vivacious Woman]

Thanks Scott B for sharing this post. I greatly appreciate it.
For me Love is all that matters.