How Much is That Dog in the Window

Funny world we live in. It seems we are all well trained to be good consumers. Everyone knows that TV is doing it, but not everyone realizes how much it takes place in our schools and workplaces. It seems that we all suffer the same psychosis. Everyone believes that the next "thing" (the next car, the next new pair of shoes, the next house) will be what makes us happy. How disappointed we are when we bring our new acquisition home only to find that it hasn't filled the emptiness inside of us. Why isn't there a dialogue going on about the focus of our lives and how it is destructive to our happiness? The media that speaks to us obviously don't want us to stop buying. Happiness is no more common, and probably less so, amongst the rich and powerful than it is with the poor. Why are so many in third world countries generally happy? How do they live in such poverty without a suicide rate as high as ours (or even much higher)? Maybe thay have something we've lost; perspective. Your happiness most often comes to you through doing things you enjoy, with people you care about. How much time do you do this? How big a part of you life (your daily clock) do you spend with the people who matter to you, with those you love. Your children are in school and you spend most of your time in an office full of people who are not really friends, family or close community. Maybe the things that we do so well, making and selling and buying, are not the things that really matter. I know that I am going to try to focus on the things that are important to me; to my children and to the people that I love. It's funny how much better I feel by just admitting to myself that this is what I want and need. It's as if the blinders have been removed and I finally see how futile the pursuits of my life have been. I can't believe how little I care now for the things that once mattered to me; position, money, a beautiful home full of beautiful things, travel. I actually think I could be very happy in a cave (provided it's filled with the right people). I don't doubt that I'm not still as big a Capitalist as all the rest of you, but I know I will think more about you and less about what I have from here on in, I hope some of you do the same.