Consumption Philosophy - Final Draft

Throughout my life I have been cared for. I have never been without the things that I need. Never have I had to wonder where I was going to sleep nor have I experienced a day in which I would go to bed on an empty stomach. As a result I have essentially taken for granted the fact that I can get a clean drink of water when I want it. This in turn has skewed my view as to what is necessary for me to live. Early on in my life I was taught a vivid lesson, “Be thankful for what you’ve got” and I lived my life in accordance with it. But the consumer mindset, in which happiness becomes equated with how much you own, still has its hold. It is not until recently that I realized the sayings inability to address the heart of consumption. Thankfulness for the things you have is not an excuse for consumption of the things you want.
Thankfulness, the word would always come back to me whenever I started complaining that I did not have something more or something cooler than what I already had. It was hard for me to understand why if my friend had a certain toy or got to go on a certain trip why I in turn could not. A specific incident that is forever etched in my mind illustrates this point. When I was about 9 years old I received an invitation for a play date at my friend Jeffrey Lacroix’s house. I was excited for this trip to his house and the anticipation only grew when he told me that he had a Nintendo gaming system. I spent an entire Saturday afternoon at his house and except for the snack breaks we were gaming the entire time. Soon the time for me to go drew near. I heard my mother’s car creep into the driveway like a rain cloud creeping between the sun and the earth. I knew my time with this precious gaming console was coming to an end but I could due nothing about it. Then, the words that I hoped I would never hear rang out, “Dan, its time to go home.” I remember the game was Mario and that I was in the middle of the desert. I was so attached to this little digital figure that the thought of leaving him without someone to control him and help him through all of the perilous levels was inhumane. But nonetheless, all of Mario’s lives were lost and I was forced to go.
I do not remember much of the ride home. All that consumed my mind was that I needed one of those glorious gaming systems. Unfortunately, my mother did not recognize that apparent need. Her exact words escape my memory but I know it was something to the effect of “Be thankful for what you’ve got”. The wisdom of my mother’s words were not as apparent to me then as they are now but even today I see problems with her advice. Nevertheless, she succeeded in making me appreciate some of the things that I did have at home but she did not however, completely eradicate my desire for a gaming system. The result of that car ride home is the basis of the framework that I use today in my attitude towards consumerism.
As life went on, from that nine-year-old year, I continued to acquire more and more things. Whether they were gifts or things that I bought my possessions kept increasing. Until only recently have I realized that the words “Be thankful for what you’ve got” are flawed in the face of consumerism. My actions have not been perfect since I was nine but more often than not I was able to see that I was blessed and in turn was thankful for the things that I did have. But an appreciation of the things I had in no way addressed whether or not I should have those things in the first place.
My dream of owning a gaming console came true my sophomore year of high school. The Nintendo 64 came out and it was the hot gift of the year. As a side note this, of course, meant that the price of the Super Nintendo was going down. My mother would go out shopping in late December (pre Christmas) and would come home with bags full of things. We never knew what was in the bags until Christmas day but we did know what stores she had been to based on the logos of the bags she was carrying. One day she came home with a Gamestop bag in her hand and I hoped that behind that opaque plastic was the coveted Nintendo 64.
After an eternity of waiting Christmas day finally came. I tore through all of the gifts that were labeled with my name thanking my parents for each one and quickly moving on to the next one hoping it would be “the gift”. I came to the end of my presents and had not found any containing the gift I was hoping for. I quickly glanced around at my siblings gifts and noticed none of them had anything resembling Nintendo 64. Suddenly my parents brought in one final “family gift”. The gift was meant to be shared among all of us. It could only be one thing. I quickly dove towards the package and attacked it frantically as my siblings quickly joined in helping me tear the paper to shreds in order to expose the gift lying beneath. Sure enough, there it was, the first console any of us were to ever own, the Super Nintendo. Though we were not as pleased as we would have been had it been a Nintendo 64 we knew it would still be fun. We all knew that we should be thankful for the Super Nintendo even if it was not the Nintendo 64 we had hoped for.
It was on this day that I can look back and realize that being “thankful for what you’ve got” may not be the best philosophy in addressing consumerism. I now owned, along with my older brother, older sister and younger sister, a Super Nintendo. It was a great little machine and though we were disappointed with it at first we soon realized the benefit of this console. While our friends only had two or three games for their N64’s we could rent and even buy many more games for low prices. So, yes, we were not just being nice, we were actually thankful for the gift we had received. However, it was thankfulness for something we did not in the least bit need.
Looking back on this incident it becomes blatantly obvious that being thankful, though a worthy mindset and admirable disposition, does not justify consumerist behavior. Yet, as mentioned before it is only until recently that I have realized the breakdown in the advice my parents had given me since I was a small child. Consequently, it has largely been the way I have viewed my consumption. There are exceptions and circumstances in which this does not hold true but more or less I have held on to these words. As long as I was thankful for a purchase or a gift it was okay. But being thankful is not the most pressing issue that an irresponsible consumer lifestyle presents. If a thankful mindset was all that was needed to justify consumption it would not be an issue. However, there are huge ramifications for consuming outside of ones means. Not only are there environmental and globalization problems but also local issues. It would be easy to say that consuming beyond your means is a bad thing but at the same time it is what has brought us into the modern age. The consumption of many powers the economy upon which we rely.
It is in this paradoxical situation that I find myself both clinging to “Be thankful for what I’ve got” as a means to justify buying more and on the other hand idealizing about living an even more simplistic lifestyle in which I do not merely buy and give thanks. Thus my consumption philosophy remains ever changing. I operate in an un-convicted state buying what I want and passively judging those that I feel consume too much.



UPDATE (2/14/08): I got an A- on this paper