Thanksgiving is a holiday where we stop and give thanks for all the good things we have.
The following day, Black Friday, is the anti-Thanksgiving, where we promptly forget what the day before was about - and go out and participate in an orgy of "MORE ! MORE ! MORE !".
Someone had the TV on at the bike shop a couple of weeks ago. (Why? I have no idea). I tried my best to ignore it, but that's the most insidious thing about it - it's almost impossible to ignore.
One show mindlessly segued into another, on the Travel Channel. (Apparently we don't even have to actually go anywhere anymore, we just travel vicariously). I forget what the name of the show was, but this particular episode was about privately owned luxury yachts.
Now, don't get me wrong, I like the finer things in life as much as the next person, and the idea of a sailing vacation on a small schooner has it's appeal, but I was absolutely appalled at what I saw on this show.
One million dollars for a two week vacation? It takes fifty thousand dollars to fill the fuel tanks? It was supposed to be impressive, I guess, but I think my impression was not what they had in mind. I was almost physically ill at the idea of that level of conspicuous consumption. Fresh cut flowers on the table every day? Staff on duty 24 hours a day and a larder stocked with everything possible, just in case a well heeled guest might fancy Lobster Thermidor and champagne at 3:30 AM, in the middle of the Mediterranean?
That's just wrong on so many levels. It left me sad, disgusted and angry, all at once.
I guess I'm un-American because I don't aspire to that level of luxury. I don't dream of riches beyond measure, so the lottery ads are lost on me. ("The Lottery - A Tax On People Who Are Bad At Math"). Yeah, I wouldn't turn it down if someone handed me enough money to pay off my mortgage (or something) but dreams of having my house featured on MTV Cribs are just beyond my understanding.
Both times I've been to Las Vegas (for the Interbike trade show) left me feeling depressed and dirty. The whole city seems to be built on the ideas of "more" and "bigger". It's all so shallow and hollow. I left with the impression that the hookers weren't the only ones prostituting themselves.
Hasn't anyone noticed that "riches do not equal happiness"? Look no further than Hollywood. If living in "utopia" is all that, why do so many of them have their personal problems splashed all over the front pages of the NationalMidnightStar? Why are so many in rehab, plastic surgery, jail, cults.....? How many big lottery winners find that the money brings more headaches and woe than it's worth?
Maybe some of you students of sociology can tell me - where did this whole idea that one should aspire to ever-higher levels of wealth come from? When did the idea of "enough" get tossed by the wayside? When did we start measuring ourselves and others by "stuff we have" and not "the stuff we're made of "?
Am I wrong to value what I have, and not aspire to more? Am I just a bad consumer? Is it just sour grapes? Am I old-fashioned and out of date to think a quiet life of simple dignity is worth more than the opulent but empty "Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous"?
I don't think so.
