With today’s invasion of video games, unneeded technology, 300 channels on television and fast-food restaurants, we, as a people, need to stand up and say no to consumerism. We need to think how much rampant consumerism is responsible for unhappiness and greed.
Gone are the days of children and stickball or basketball pick up games in our parks. People are too busy with their everyday lives of working to the hilt to give thought to the types of activities their children are involved in. Too much child playtime is not spent on outside, healthy exercise, but on learning how to use their game controllers to kill video characters on their television screens or arcade screens. Parents are guilty of reinforcing this activity because we want the games to keep them busy and out of our hair.
Gone are the days of reading and writing stories or drawing comics when it’s easier watch television. Creativity has gone by the wayside and we need to remove ourselves from too much consumerism and think back to a day when these things were not so important—and we lived better for it.
Not only does big business pollute our earth with its waste and landfills, it advertises the items it produces to the point where people feel that they have to have them. Consumerism and not being able to say no to it is an unhealthy disease. Our minds are melded into must-have materialistic beings and we are more concerned about keeping up with the Jones’s than being kind, helpful human beings.
How can we say no to consumerism and make our lives healthy and keep minds bright with ideas and respect the planet we live on before we destroy it entirely? More and more schools are teaching subjects that parents have never heard of such as social justice and emotional intelligence or EQ. Our children are learning that they must interact with others in a good and respectful way, so adults can do this too. We can all be better people even if we practice EQ alone!
Just as our children are learning about environmental awareness, we are throwing plastic bottle after plastic bottle away that will sit in landfills for centuries. Parents encourage too much unhealthy competition and sit on the sidelines screaming at kids and coaches. They offer their children too many unhealthy products to eat and play with. Families live in too-big houses and utilize too much natural power. People need to learn more about living green because this is the only planet we have. Why does a family of four need to live in a 5,000 square foot home?
All of these things need to change in a drastic way and you too can help by remembering that even a little step is a step in the right direction. More people should get involved in community co-op gardens and grow good and healthy food. People need to take nature walks and teach their children about wildlife, food foraging, indigenous species, and endangered species. We all need to be more aware of the waste in our world and how that waste is ruining our planet.
To say no to consumerism, each of us must take one step at a time and do something that is free and different and denies consumerism. Join a boycott or protest. Write letters to government officials and demand change. It will take many of us to defy consumerism, but it is not unachievable if we all work together and more importantly, learn from our children and teach our children that consumerism does not make you happy or healthy.
