Downgrading the value of upgrades
I am tired of the rush for new things. I visited a business yesterday and heard the hype about the latest electronic technology. The salesman seemed so excited about it, but suddenly I felt sick to my stomach. That “This new machine makes the others all look like toys” speech is the same one I heard last year, and the year before, and…
I still like the electronic gadget I bought two years ago. I have taken care of it and it is still working. Why do I have to “upgrade”? I think it is a plot. They improve a couple features and then make you feel like you are missing the boat if you do not have the newest product/technology. Farmers buy millions of dollars’ worth of equipment to make little more income than the guy with the horse-drawn plow used to make. We are spending ourselves to death. We clamor for high-paying jobs so we can spend our profits on someone else’s ingenuity that will distract us for what is important and interrupt our formerly-peaceful lives.
Americans have made things their gods. That is why our culture is bowing at the feet of China and Japan. By bowing, I do not mean worship; I mean our national net worth has done a face plant in the soil of selfishness. We no longer worry about what we need; we crave what is not necessary except for social status and personal self-worth. I can’t help but worry that if my self-worth were based on what I have, then I am becoming obsolete about every three months.
Yes, I have a smartphone, but sometimes I wonder why. I miss my old flip phone. I know it is socially square to say that, but that was functional, useful device that never did pocket calls. Of course, I love the convenience of all the modern gadgetry, but… am I really needing these things for their functional purpose? Does the expense of the latest and greatest justify itself in increased productivity and revenue that makes the item pay for itself? Or am I just a dupe who is buying into the Apple and Google biospheres of created “need” which is lining their pockets with billions of dollars?
Call me a humbug, but I am beginning to get the feeling that Christmas shopping has become all about “me buyers” who shop for themselves, and then, because they feel guilty about their selfishness, they go out and spend another $500 on their family so no one calls their bluff on their selfishness. How about we rediscover the simple life. The selfless life. The life that did not step out of a billboard or TV commercial. The life with God, family, and others first.