Tuesday, August 14, 2007

First Thoughts

Getting used to life back in the US has and is proving to be quite an adjustment! One of the things that shocks me most is the selection on the shelves in stores! Going into a place like Meijer's where the building alone is so large you can't see the other end of it while standing is quite impressive and overwhelming! Just buying a can of coffee can take you ten minutes while you read all the different brands, and then types within each brand! Cereals are just plain crazy! Having so many to choose from cannot be doing our society any good... In Nigeria, you buy the one or two items that are available. One does not get the option of choosing between dozens of similar items. I wonder if it's healthy for us to have so much STUFF available to us? The more we have, the more we want. And the more we want, the less satisfied we are with what we already have... For me, trying to steer clear of that consumerism drive is going to be a challenge. And so far, I have pretty much failed. I've already bought that new car! And a new color laser printer, and and and... It's so easy to justify what I want rather than base it on what I really need... In the end, we can live on a whole lot less than what we want!

What I intend here by writing a blog is just to get my personal thoughts out there. You are free to agree or disagree with me! I'm okay with that, and it can cause some healthy discussion as well... Somehow, in all of this, I need to be objective about what I see and experience, and that includes hearing people who have differing views from mine!

2 comments:

Dave and Jan said...

Hi, We too used to be startled by all the stuff on the shelves etc. We'd allow the kids each a cart to go pick any items that really were missed. We often came back with nearly the same---ice-cream, pizza, crackers, and cereals.

What was your choice of a new car? We are in the market too for next year. MKX or Infinity?

Have fun on your trip!

Dave and Jan

Anonymous said...

I can completely relate to this. I still get extremely stressed out in supermarkets, and even more so in malls. I don't think I've been to a shopping mall, or our culture's "cathedrals of consumption" in at least 3 years. There's a small "mom and pop" store right down the street from where I live where I always go to buy my groceries. The selection is very small so it takes me like 10 minutes to buy what I need, and if they don't have what I'm looking for then I get to try something new! And the money goes to a family instead of a massive corporation....