Read Me

Its late, but I have aught to say. We live in a consumer driven society. Basically our entire economy is based around us buying things. We also live in a society that, due to staggering advances in technology, is more productive than any society previous. In fact, if we wanted to compare today with the 70's, it would only take 20 hours today to produce on an equal level with the 70's. And yet, we work more hours now than ever before. In fact, we work more hours than any other country in the world. Why?

For some reason, the 307,869,263 people in the United States have gotten in their minds a mentality of more. We can produce more than ever, quicker than ever. So what do we do? Rather than take time off to be with our families, we work more hours so we can get more money so we can buy more things. And in our pursuit of things we sometimes get carried away. Even though we are making copious amounts of money, we are spending even more. We buy and buy and buy until we reach the end of our income. And when we get there, we turn to credit to give us the means to buy what we still lack until we wind up comfortably spending our last 15 minutes sitting on a fabulous couch in a spacious and beautiful house where we watch a few moments of tv on a gorgeous plasma screen.

I am not ranting about money. It seems that I am, but I am not. I am instead ranting about time. About quality of life. I have been building up to this for quite some time. My own thoughts and ideas have been sliding this way with some regularity for several weeks or months. It began with getting away from video games. I quit playing them entirely for three months, and now I still only play sporadically. I have also given up almost completely on movies (their only remaining purpose: to provide the time and place to cuddle with those who warrant cuddling). And more recently I am working to wean myself of the computer and my cell phone. Why on earth would I do this? Didn't we invent all of these things to make life easier and more enjoyable? Yes. Yes we did. But for some reason we have grown to be almost dependent on them. In my own life, I can see myself turning to these pieces of technology so often that they are taking away from my enjoyment of each moment of life, as well as distracting me from pursuing hobbies I actually enjoy a lot.

I think I can safely say that we all have things we would like to learn or perfect. Whether it be rock climbing, fiction writing, or belly dancing, we all have something we aspire to. If we were to cut our time spent with our things (computer, tv, car, boat, cell phone, etc) we would free up time to engage in these other interests. Now, I'm not saying to sell your belongings and swear a life of poverty. But I am saying that we should quit chasing them. We should quit letting them govern us. We should quit comparing ourselves to the rest of the world because that only leads us to believe our life is less fulfilled unless we have more things.

Personally, I am going to begin to take more enjoyment out of riding my bike to work, or looking at the decor in a room while I wait for someone. I am going to spend more time outside. I am going to leave my things behind and pursue my actual interests. I am going to learn to form my own climbing holds. I am going to learn to play better on my didjeridoo. I am going to dive deep in to my scriptures. I am going to truly appreciate people and make more friends. I am going to live.