Friday, 25 Novemeber is the height of American shopolicism.
For 24 hours, millions of people around the world do not participate - in the doomsday economy, the marketing mind-games, and the frantic consumer-binge that's become our culture. We pause. We make a small choice not to shop. We shrink our footprint and gain some calm. Together we say: enough is enough. And we help build this movement to rethink our unsustainable course.
The Buy Nothing Day campaign in Seattle distributed this checklist to let shoppers evaluate things they were thinking of buying.
* Do I need it?
* How many do I already have?
* How much will I use it?
* How long will it last?
* Could I borrow it from a friend or family member?
* Can I do without it?
* Am I able to clean, lubricate and/or maintain it myself?
* Am I willing to?
* Will I be able to repair it?
* Have I researched it to get the best quality for the best price?
* How will I dispose of it when I'm done using it?
* Are the resources that went into it renewable or nonrenewable?
* Is it made or recycled materials, and is it recyclable?
* Is there anything that I already own that I could substitute for it?
The Christmas season is always a busy one - full of competing messages that bombard you with great sales and must-buys. Buy Nothing Day is a way to reflect on our participation in consumer culture.
So, today, buy nothing.
But tomorrow... as you think of friends and family this season, give a gift that makes a statement!
4 comments:
I think this past year God has been showing me the shame of my own gluttony and excess. I don't have just one Bible, I have at least a dozen. I have tons of books...gathering dust. I don't have a couple of CD's...I have hundreds (mostly Christian but I do like a good secular Gibson riff from bands like Velvet Revolver and Led Zep and the Red Hot Chili Peppers..(okay the last one is a Fender). I don't just have one fishing rod...I have several fly rods and some spinning ones as well. I don't have just one set of screwdrivers or socket sets...I have 'Two' many. I have duplicates, even triplicates of household stuff bought on sale but when I need it I cannot find what I need in my landfill of a house...so I go buy another one. My basementis a museum warehouse dedicated to the great 'plastic' god of my daughter's childhood - toys! From the movie: Mr. Robinson was right...'plastics, the future is plastics' ..I could have make great sums of money by investing in it). I have soo much...it is to the point where I am sleeping standing up!!!!
God began showing me how much junk I have purchased in my years just short of half a century. Here is how He did it..I have a tiny den...I use as a study...I go to reach for something and I have an avalanche of junk topple on me....He humbles me...I have to pick it all up while muttering under my breath and it ain't in tongues!!!! CD's, DVD's books, guitars, nick-nacks you know it...it has all been picked up countless number of times. I then get convicted of my excess... I trip over my junk time after time.
I believe God sometimes actually gives our heart's desire just to show us how carnal we can be at times. As we approach Christmas (which I truly despise for the commercial yoke/burden of excess and false expectations) . . . I wish to pray this prayer...'Dear Jesus... if you love me...bring me a dumpster... maybe two dumpsters for Christmas!' (LOL - or maybe a bigger house so I can store more!!!)
To the reader. . .I am ashamed of my excess. To have much is not always a sign of 'Blessing' ... perhaps...just perhaps it is given to humble us and expose us to where our heart's true affection's lay.
To have much, or too much, is rarely, if ever, a sign of 'blessing'.
It's a sign of greed.
I just moved today and realised that I have rubbermaid totes full of stuff that I have not touched or looked at since the last time I moved.
It's not blessing, it's greed.
Time to get rid of some (much) stuff and donate it to charity.
Maybe Star Trek is what we are all about after all...
...we tend to be "klingons"... clinging to junk
I know it's a bad pun... but I counldn't find my punsters dictionary hidden away in a box somewhere!!
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