Mud, #1: Wants

Switching TV channels this morning, I saw a short scene from a house-hunting show.  The man said, "Well, we have to have that third bedroom.  I want my own home office."  Somehow, in the time of a generation or two, we have morphed into this nation - as have others of our kind - who never, hardly ever consider what we NEED.  How did this happen?  Are we so rich that we can collectively satisfy our every whim?  Or are we so spoiled that we attempt to satisfy what we need at every moment?  Can we afford to satisfy these desires?  Do we ever "make do" with what we have?

Last night I watched a PBS show on how the real Mr. Harry Gordon Selfridge, an American who went to London, England, and created the most well-know department store in London, changed the culture by making SHOPPING a PASTTIME.  This happened over a hundred years ago.  He singlehandedly made the advertising industry an entity that created desires (mainly in women) to buy his products, in his store.  Selfridge was wildly successful and also wildly self-indulgent.

Before Mr. Selfridge, women went shopping (with a chaperone, of course), to buy what they needed. After his store's promotions, women went shopping to see what was available and if they wanted it.  The store became a destination where women could go by themselves and shop with other women.

FYI:  Selfridge's Department Store was the first store to have Women's Restrooms.  Before that, women had to go home!

Collectively, we are so beguiled by this culture of buy, buy, buy! we are no longer aware of it.  This MUD of the 'wants' shopping atmosphere clings to us and influences our time, our choices, and puts us into debt before we're even aware of it.  I remember learning in Psychology 101 how the advertisers know so much about how to display every kind of merchandise to target every kind of shopper, that we want to buy their products.  This is our muddy 'want' shopping aura that we need to be aware of and resist, for our own financial health and peace of mind.

The ultimate consumers are the hoarders, pathological, diseased people who just buy and keep satisfy their anxieties for a short moment. They have very little knowledge of their problem, just that they are 'collectors.'  Yet they create misery for the rest of us who have to, at times, clean up their messes in storage buildings, attics, etc.

This Mud of Wants is so pervasive that I don't see a 'system' fix on the horizon.  In a free enterprise, it's up to each individual to choose wisely.  We will just have to be responsible for ourselves and for electing officials who won't give away America!

Lord, you have blessed us with abundance in every way.  Sometimes it's hard to avoid spoiling ourselves.  Help us be wise in our shopping choices.  After all, we want to save some and also have some to give to charity and church.  Perhaps we should save, give to church and charity FIRST!

(p.s.: if you live in Kentucky, U.S.A., don't forget to VOTE tomorrow!  And if my friends, Lavinia Spirito and Ray DeBolt are in your districts, know that they are the BEST people to be in government for us!  Wouldn't it be fun to be a part of the best voter turnout we ever had in a primary election!