I want a pair of pink socks. I need them, because the ones I have are the ankle kind, and I can’t wear them with winter shoes.
Truly, I would wear them a lot. I love the color pink, right down (up?) to my hair. Plus, right now, when I’m wearing a pink shirt, I don’t have the requisite socks that fashion says I must wear with them.
Sounds a little silly, doesn’t it.
But this is why America is wall-to-wall storage bins. It’s why your credit card bill looks like that. It’s what fills the Wal Marts of the world.
Our consumerist society has conflated these terms, where wanting something becomes equivalent to needing it. Just ask anyone on an iPhone line.
Next time you think to yourself, hey! I don’t have such-and-such an item, I need that! think about it. First, do you really not have it? I don’t have a stand mixer. But I do have an excellent hand mixer that so far has been adequate for everything I’ve been baking. My failures at this have never been the fault of the equipment, sadly.
Second, if you really don’t have it, do you actually need it? Or do you just want it. My family’s shopping mantra is “well, we’ve lived without it this long.
As we move into the most consumptive season of our consumptive society, make sure that you aren’t confusing “want” and “need.” If you want it, fine. Buy it. But don’t kid yourself that you must have it.
After all, you’ve lived without it this long.
AMEN!!!
So true! I bought a hideously expensive juicer and don’t make juice. “Little Pig” makes a once a year outing out of the cupboard to make our fruit mince and then back into the dark he goes. Often my wants cloud my needs but being a penniless student hippy takes care of most of these events because the moth eaten sock under the bed won’t stretch to much these days aside from necessities so living simply is more than just an option but what an option! So many ways to effect change and facilitate what we need by sheer action. I love learning the processes to change that slowly take you from immediate reward to learning the true processes of aquisition
So true!
Nicely put. Since when did this imminent gift-giving surrounding a one day religious celebration become a “season” anyway?
It is sad when identifying the want/need for yourself but are then socially expected to buy needless things for others.
Is your hair really pink?
Well, full disclosure, right now I’ve let it go natural so it can grow out the damaged parts, but yes, it’s been pink for about 15 years.
Right on!!!!