A Dirty Hippie

So, a while back I was very well made aware of the fact that Life Is Not About Things.  Made so aware that this simple fact presented itself as an acronym: LINAT.  Because if you think about it, life truly is NOT about things.  A concept which is WHOLEY in contrast with that which is marketed to us each and every day.  After all, we are Americans.  We must consume.

But must we?  Has the social fabric of this nation been forever built upon a foundation of “Keeping up with the Jones”?  My feeling is no.  But the reality is that we’ve lived in a world for some 60 plus odd years where we’ve been told time and time again that we’re not really worth so much unless we have a Brand X car in our driveway/garage and a ensemble of Brand Y clothes and are wearing Brand Z shoes.  Now how silly is that???  What purpose does that drive really serve?

Sadly enough it actually serves a pretty huge purpose.  One which keeps a large portion of the populous living in a continual state of work/sleep/work/sleep.  And it seems that the full result of that way of operating is exposing itself in today’s America.  We’ve been enticed by easy credit, which has resulted in us buying into the idea of needing to overspend on things we don’t need (even houses that are more than we need), which has resulted in a big “Woops” when the bill has finally come due.

But it seems that I’ve gotten a little sidetracked from my original intent of speaking about the lesson of “stuff”.  Which can be pretty easy to do considering.  But my original reason for writing about the fact that “Life Is Not About Things” is truly related to “things”.  And how even the most well intentioned people may find themselves somewhat wrapped up in the concept.

For the experience of my day included receiving a phone call this afternoon from one of the roommates in San Francisco.  The phone call was pretty much to the affect of “We’re cleaning out things from the kitchen and putting the excess out on the curb.  But we realized that some of this stuff might be yours.  So call us.”  Which in the big picture is all well and good.  But in the microcosm, the timeframe in which I was allowed to respond was apparently less than 8 hours.  For within those 8 hours these “things”, that might have been mine, apparently had already found their way to the curb.  So in a return phone call back to one of the roommates I was asked, “is the white toaster yours?” (It was.)  But if it found a new home that would be find with me.  And ” is the X yours?” (same idea.)  And “Is the juicer yours?”  (It is.)  Now THAT was something I do have use for on many ocassions.  Including juicing up whatever is at hand and feeding roommates and friends.

So this was oddly a bit more impacting.  Because the immediate question that came to mind was along the lines of “is this something that I can do without?”  Which it seems the likely answer is “yes”, since I’ve done without it for the last two months.  But in a more thought out response it seems that the answer is “no”, as it’s served a very useful function in bringing nutrition to the reality of a lot of different people a lot of different times.

So the final question that remains is one of whether or not having that sort of attachment to a “thing” is right or is wrong.  Because, in my mind, the ultimate reality is one of the experiences you have throughout life.  BUT those experiences MIGHT be enhanced here and there by some tool that you’re able to use.  Some tool like a juicer.  What do you think?