Reply #126: Well said [View All]

[Lorien]

I grew up in an older "leave it to Beaver" style suburban community that was only minutes from our city's downtown. I don't think it was only the closeness to all the cultural amenities or the old, varied architecture that contributed to my positive upbringing; I grew up during the 70s, during the sexual revolution and the gas crisis. Thinking for oneself was trendy, owning a big expensive car was not (the smaller the better back then). There were only four networks on TV, plus PBS, there were no VCRs or DVD players; if you wanted to see a movie, you went with your friends to a theater that only showed one or two pictures at a time. We had pot luck dinners with friends, went on camping trips or canoing and horseback riding with friends, we read and painted, we wrote letters..."shopping" was something you did before the school year started and before Christmas-it was not a recreational activity itself.

Someone noted on another thread yesterday that having woman friends has become nearly impossible because there was too much competition between women, and they were constantly having to "support' their friends by spending money at their Pampered chef, Longenberger, Avon or other sales "parties". It's true; many relationships are now based on consumerism, just as our society has turned it's focus to consumerism as a way of life. It's shallow it's unfullfilling. Read 'Affluenza"; if every human on the planet consumed as Americans do, we would need five human free planets to support their habits.It's simply an unsustainable lifestyle.

Every time I go to Europe, I marvel at the pedestrian malls in Paris, Nice, Geneva, Vienna, Amsterdam...even fashion obsessed Milano. The outdoor cafes are packed (and you're right-many groups of 18-20 people at one table) everyone is talking and laughing; they obviously have far deeper and richer relationship than we do (it's evident by the body language alone)! Our culture of consumerism is slowly killing us; it's suffocating our souls and destroying our planet. How many of us on this board are lonely? how many don't feel like they are "enough" because they don't own an iPod or a plasma TV? How many think that they would find happiness and life would be good if they only won the lottery? I've had a six figure income, and I've been desperately poor; in the latter, all one thinks about is money, in the former, one never thinks about money and that particular stress is gone, but the stress of loneliness from living in an emotionally bankrupt society is still very much there.