Click on picture to read Chaco's poems

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Do We Still Own This Much Stuff!!??

Back from IHOP after sleeping in today, tired from the drive back to Texas. I cleaned out the station wagon this morning and though its nice to have some more clothes to wear it is surprising how much "STUFF" we still own. By most people's standards we own next to nothing but after being on the trail with just a backpack containing the basic "survival" necessities, I still have to wonder why we have so many pairs of shoes, jackets and other stuff. A person sure does not truly NEED most of the stuff they work so hard to accumulate. Obviously there is still some more downsizing we can do. (We did drop off at Goodwill this morning, 3 pairs of shoes and a pair of pants) I recently have been reading about a guy who for one year was going to live with just 100 possessions, well Sheila and I have been doing with much less than that for the last year and I now cannot understand why anyone would collect all the stuff we used to own. I look around at houses while on a walk and cannot believe that with houses getting larger and larger and their garages full of everything BUT their cars, people still have to install sheds in their backyards for the things they think they need to make them happy. If you only stop and think about all the marketing and advertising we are bombarded with 24/7 you begin to understand how the average American has been brainwashed into thinking that their overworked underpaid stressful lives will only improve and be happier if they but buy this product or that product! I only wish I woke up to that fact when in my twenties and not my fifties. I DO know this....I will never own a TV, a new car, a closet full of clothes, a garage full of kayaks, motorcycles or other "toys", more than a room full of minimal furniture, or a house again! Right now the only question is where can we escape to for Christmas??

No comments:

Post a Comment