Money and Material Possessions.

Are money and material possessions good for us, as a society?

I’ve got some very strong opinions on this topic which most of my friends seem not to agree with, or at least they don’t show it in how they act in everyday life. I can only see the bad from both, to which I’ve been guilty of chasing and coveting myself. Please don’t get me wrong I’m not against material possession OR money but what I will say chasing them is time consuming and once you’ve got them it’s not as good as it seemed while chasing them.

One of my favourtie films/books Fight Club shares my view, and this is a quote from Tyler in the movie;

Do you know what a duvet is? It’s a blanket. Just a blanket. Now why do guys like you and me know what a duvet is? Is this essential to our survival, in the hunter-gatherer sense of the word? No. What are we then? We are consumers. We’re the byproducts of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty—these things don’t concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy’s name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra…fuck Martha Stewart. Martha’s polishing the brass on the Titanic. It’s all going down, man. So fuck off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns.

To me this sums up our lives. We ARE consumers. When I scroll through my Facebook I see new shoes, new bags, new clothes, new cars and the people proudly displaying them for everyone to see. All I can think is, you could of had a great week off and spent it doing actual THINGS in your life, or go PLACES for the money you’ve spent on that handbag. An item that is designed to hold things, can cost hundreds & hundreds of pounds because of a name on the side, and I can’t believe people buy into this.

I said to my friend one day, “why are you working overtime Saturday you should come out with us” and he seemed quite perplexed that I asked him. He lives in a nice house, nice girlfriend, and lots of extra cash in the bank. Ultimately what I’m getting at is, he didn’t NEED the money. So he’d rather give up his own free time (which you can’t get back) to make a little extra cash. Some people will comend him and say he’s responsible or hard working, but what does that prove?

Free time is worth so much more than money in my opinion. Spend it with family and friends and most of all, enjoy yourself. For money DOESN’T buy happiness.

You only get one life to live, live it. Imagine yourself on your deathbed, with your family around you. Are you likely to say, “I’m so glad I worked so much“. The answer is no.