Quotes on Consumerism

In society today, not a soul seems to be content with their current possessions. The general rule for this generation seems to be, "Give me this! Give me this! Give me this! Now I want that instead because that is newer!" Has anyone ever stopped to think about how maybe, just maybe, if we curtailed our spending habits, the entire infrastructure of the world economy may right itself?



Well my friends, as always, the answer to this minuscule problem is in the Bible, Proverbs 30: 8-9 to be exact. The very first line of this passage starts out with "Give me neither poverty nor riches/ Grant me only my share of bread to eat," which emphasizes the problems today. No one wants just their share; society screams to people to take their share, more than they can carry, and then some more. The reason a share is called a "share" is because that is the part that will allow the receiver to accomplish whatever needs to be done, be the task feeding a family or paying bills. Similar to the family in "But Will it Make You Happy," this passage tells the reader to live with only the bare essentials (the "share"), and more than likely you will become happier, most likely due to a simplification of finances, like the family in the article, who removed all of the items that were not absolutely necessary and became debt free. Also, by limiting possessions to only the most important and essential, a strong emotional attachment can develop to the items, making the owner less likely to trade in or buy a new product just because the product is newer.

The next line of the quote states, " for fear that surrounded by plenty, I should fall away/
and say, "Yahweh - who is Yahweh?"/ or else in destitution, take to stealing/ and profane the name of my God." These lines are fairly straight forward, meaning that a person surrounded by plenty will forget where the riches they possessed came from, and will forget about God. No matter what all of the disaster theorists say about why the world is falling apart, this is more than likely the reason. As the world began to prosper, fewer and fewer people kept going to church, until the percentage of Americans who actually regularly attend church is lower than it has been in over thirty years. And this economic downturn is a good indication of what this drop has caused. This entire economic situation may be a result of America- who was founded on Christian principles- "falling away from and profaning" God. This situation reminds me of a parent knowing their child is doing wrong and waiting for them to admit they did wrong and to come back, and, even more like the parent, eventually having to come and reprimand the child because they will not return willingly. This situation leaves a grim outlook for the future, with a new disaster on the horizon if the problem continues unchecked.

Well, this is my analysis for this consumerism quote. Hopefully the world can right itself before the rest of the economy comes crashing down around our society's ears.