I read recently that people in our society today tend to
have more belongings than ever before. This was pitched in an “evils of
materialism” sort of way. But I believe there’s a truth behind this that is not
evil, just part of the fact of living.
See back in the post World War II era, the government
deliberately encouraged us to become a nation of consumers, for the benefit of
the economy. Material goods were made available in abundance, and advertising
generated the desire for those goods. Our parents and grandparents bought those
items and accumulated them, and now they
are dying and leaving all that junk for us to deal with.
I recently visited the home of a middle-aged woman who has
an entire room full of boxes, lamps and furniture. She’s having a hard time
getting rid of it all, because it’s stuff she basically inherited. Anyone who
has ever had to go through the belongings of a deceased loved one knows how
painful that can be.
So my point is that the reason we are burdened by so much
stuff is not just because we are mindless consumers, but because we have so
much old stuff from our ancestors to process. If anything, I’d guess that
today’s young people are even less enthralled by material possessions than
ever. They can buy books and music digitally, and the majority of their social
life and entertainment is on their smartphone or laptop.
Ultimately the real problem isn’t the stuff itself, but our
attachment to it. Well, there’s the landfill problem of course, but that just
takes someone with my daughter’s interest in making art from garbage to figure
out.
I asked her what this is and she said, “I know exactly what
it is, but it’s hard to explain.”
