The Stuff of Life

This article discussed how people want more than what they really need to get by on. People keep buying material things and in doing so their need to acquire even more continues to grow. As a result of buying more, people must increase their incomes to keep up with the growing bills. People forget about what is important in life; they get caught up in their jobs and material addiction. They are never satisfied with what they have and concentrate on wealth over simplicity. People today seem to be caught up in their jobs and the materialistic world around them. Quality family time is forgotten as the to do list as well as the wish list grows by leaps and bounds. People seem to be rushing through life, myself included, never slowing down to recognize the basic necessity of happiness, simplicity. Our wants and desires seem to go far beyond what we really need and can afford. Being in debt has become part of a persons ordinary life allowing him/her the power to purchase almost anything just to satisfy a need. It is possible to change the standards of what being rich really means. We can quit trying to keep up with the neighbors and concentrate on what is really important to us as individuals. Wealth should be described as complete happiness and satisfaction with ones position in life. If people were less burdened with trying to pay the bills maybe they themselves and their families would live a happier, stress free life. To become unburdened people need to step back and really look at the world they are living in and the type of life they are leading. One must decide what he/she actually needs just to get by rather than what one supposably needs to be satisfied. People need to put a limit on their desire to acquire material goods and focus more on family, nature, and the simplicity of life itself. I see this desire to be wealthy as a teacher everyday around me. Both parents of many students are working full time trying to make more money so that their children can have anything they desire. By the time the parents return home after a long day they are often tired and lack the patience or time their child requires. Are parents sending a message to their children that yes they love them but work comes first. Some parents must work full time to get by but how many adults put in those extra hours just to increase their wealth so they can purchase something new that they dont actually need. I often hear students comparing what they have or saying My dad has this. Children need to know that life isnt about money but rather about being happy and satisfied with what they do have and learning to enjoy the simple things in life. Many children today are growing up with the thought that success and happiness is measured by material wealth and social standing. We can get buy with a lot less and there need not be any suffering involved. Our closets are full of clothes, fridges are full of food, there is a roof over our heads, and vehicles for transportation; we are by no means deprived. People need to slow down and take a serious look at what is important in their lives. If we spent less time worrying about our materialistic position in life, maybe life would begin to hold a new and more pleasurable but simplistic meaning.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999