by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Advertising and government, the former to sell products of their clients and the latter to grow the economy, keep insisting we need to buy, and buy more and more. But what for?
As far as the economy is concerned the perpetual growth economy is absolutely unsustainable and thus it just cannot and must not be kept growing in the way that it is done at present. And, as far as advertising in concerned, it is a con. They sell us happiness in goods and make us believe that the more we have the happier we will be and if we are not happy at this moment then this or that product is guaranteed to bring us happiness. Really? No! It does not happen and then we are told that this other product will do that for us. It will not. It is a trap.
Happiness does not come from owning more and more things and neither from having more and more money. While money has its uses and a little on the side for a rainy day is probably good to have we have to know when enough is enough and this goes especially for goods and possessions or otherwise our possessions will begin to possess us.
Instead of buying more and ever more we should think of making and doing things for ourselves again from materials to hand. There is no need to throw money away for things that can so easily be made by our very own hands. Reuse, repurpose, upcycle, repair and make instead of buy, buy and buy still more.
The consumer society is killing us and the Planet and without a healthy Planet we are going to die, all of us, regardless of how many possessions we have or how much money. When the Planet collapses for whatever reason we are all going to die and not just we humans but all life that depends on a clean soil, clean water and clean air.
Wake up and smell the roses while there are still roses to smell. But make sure they are not greenhouse roses from Kenya; they don't smell.
© 2016
