Accumulated agony from my weekly visits to a mall located close to my residence led me to write this post. My roomy and I usually like to shop for our weekly necessities during the weekend at the mall. Every visit of ours just reiterates one point. Consumerism is increasing and this trend is here to stay.
Consumerism drives the economy, say the economists, as it’s the demand for goods and services which actually keeps the economy running. It creates jobs, generates wealth and provides robustness to the economy. All well and good. But it can get to your nerves when it becomes obscene or ostentatious. After all, too much of anything can never be a good thing.
It’s as if necessity has been sacked and greed has taken total control. Nowadays it doesn’t seem to matter it a certain commodity is actually required or not. Let’s just get it seems to be the attitude. As long as it’s affordable and within one’s reach, it’s deemed to be required. [What happened to our ability to discern between what is a necessity and what is not?]
This trend is especially discomforting in a nation like ours where millions go without a square meal a day. It’s just not fair that some have so much of everything while many don’t even have little of some thing. Nothing ticks me off these days like a rich (often FAT) kid spoilt for choice and deciding to get whatever falls within his eye range! I don’t wish to pursue further down this track as my original intention was to highlight the trend of consumerism and the rich poor divide in our country.
My roomy feels the same about this trend but sometimes dismisses these thoughts as ramblings from a poor bloke who just can’t afford to be part of the ‘consumerist gang’. I am confused though, am I reading too much into this trend or is it actually that bad.
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