Have you ever stopped to consider what it is you are doing in life and why? Along with most South African’s currently feeling the financial pinch, I find myself wondering about what it is we need, want and wish for…and who it is that determines, defines and scrutinizes these points of our very existence. More importantly, have we lost sight of what is in fact needed and what is not?
What percentage of a person’s life is spent pursuing items of wealth and at what point do we become driven by brands and belongings? We work, to earn, to acquire. ‘I must have’, ‘I can’t do without’, ‘I’m only socially acceptable if I own’ are small-minded insights into what a person is really made of. Perhaps these questions form the thin protective barrier between what is safety in numbers in society and what is individually recognizable. What an interesting day the world would make if we all stood, naked for a day, represented by only what we are and not by what we have.
Stuff. Societies bubble wrap. Let’s overcome our expensive bias, classifying wealth as our ultimate goal. There is more to life, it’s just harder to identify when not having it slung at us from all angles of what is 'social acceptance' designed by the marketing powers that be.