Shopping for a meaning in life.
Is our capitalistic nature taking a hold of us as a culture?
Yesterday I was listening to the Democracy Now radio — an extremely
leftist talk radio station that I don’t always agree with, but always
glean interesting ideas from — and was listening to a speaker who
ended up saying the deepest thing I’ve heard in the longest time.
He said, “Our culture is at a point where we are just shopping for a meaning in life.”
At first I was struck by the frankness of the declaration, and then I
began to think about it more carefully. The more I thought about
it, the more I thought about how true it is for the younger generation
— people in their twenties and their teens.
Ask your average teenager or twentager the last item of clothes they
bought, the last DVD they watched, the next thing their fingers are
itching to buy and they will probably be able to tell you.
Ask the same average teen or twenty-year old the last time they did
something that held meaning to them, and they’ll have a lot harder time
replying.
It seems that more and more I see kids and people who are only
interested in filling their lives with their possessions and things to
do. I blame part of this on the capitalistic society that
we live in — the entertainment industry seeks to entertain, while
everyone tries to provide new things that we all want and must have.
Because of these THINGS, it’s easy to fill your entire life and time
with things that don’t really have meaning to you as a human being.
However, I blame this phenomenon more on the individual people in our
society. We all know there are causes out there that need help,
volunteers, money. We all see that there are people that are in
more poverty than we are all the time. We just choose not to
stand up what we believe in until it’s too late… And when it’s too
late, we figure it’s too late to stand up for what we believe in.
So we pop in another DVD, pop another pill, and shop until we forget about the atrocious things that are happening around us.
Our stuff gives a reason to continue. Not our cause.
Why have so many young people lost the fire to push for things they really believe in?
Serve! [click if you’re in college]
One of my answers to putting fire and a belief in humanity back in your
life… if you’re looking to try something new and are inspired by this
post. I have found that nothing feels quite as good as doing hands-on service for the community.
[CLICK HERE] if you’re out of college and working
[CLICK HERE] if you’re in high school and you want to make a difference.
Are we just filling our lives with STUFF to make up for the fact that we don’t have something we believe in?
I was at the grocery store and I saw this old ass grandma lady
struggling with her bags. I asked her if she wanted help.
In her smile I felt meaning… and amazingly enough, it was free.
