for a couple years now, i have been giving much thought to the driving force of our society: CONSUMERISM.

my interest began with the idea of ‘buying local.’ it’s one of those things where if you start to get informed, you know too much to buy into the myth that the ultimate goal of shopping is to seek the lowest price. you begin to realize that when you pay for something, you are trading your time and skill (work hours) for other people’s time, skill, and resources. you are spending your work days supporting whatever you spend your money on. so if i am paying low prices at pick n’ save, i am saving money, but i might be trading my life for chemicals, or preservatives, or pesticides, or underpaid or exploited workers, or fat salaries for CEOs. also, my money might be flying out of my neighborhood to a big corporate headquarters in the sky, with the taxes leaving the services my neighbors and i need. if i run down to the neighborhood co-op and sacrifice by paying more for my groceries, i know that i am trading my life for healthy food that loves our environment and workers and volunteers that are treated fairly and contribute to MY community. this direct relationship with the stuff i am consuming has really changed the way i view money. rather than always wanting to stretch my dollar as far as it will go to get me the most stuff, i get to think of my dollar more like a vote or a say in things: if i want natural healthy food, or community-owned businesses, or art in my neighborhood… i use my dollar to communicate that.

i would like input here from people raising families who have seriously considered this topic. as a single person, i feel i have more a luxury in being able to be intentional with these things… i don’t have little mouths to feed. however, what i have found to be completely true is that paying more for fair trade, sustainable, local items doesn’t leave me unable to afford what i need at all – it simply leaves me unable to afford to accumulate more than i need. it forces me to be resourceful, to garden, to repair my clothes when they get a tear in them, to conserve energy, to reuse. all of these practices have increased my quality of life.

for a great plain-language explanation of our nation’s obsession with stuff, watch the 20 minute video below.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/   (thanks, alicia, for the link!)

wouldn’t we rather choose to reject consumerism and change our lifestyle now, than eventually exploit our resources to the degree that we have no choice?

there are also aspects of being a Consumer as our primary identity that sabotage our spirituality. i think many churches observe that people show up to services wanting “get something out of them.” now, there is nothing wrong with desiring growth and looking for an environment that fosters it. that’s good. but i think the hang-up occurs when that becomes the sole focus: ME and what I am gaining from a relationship with a church body. this really is strangely unrelated to Jesus’ teachings and His instructions for the church.

something dramatic that josiah has taught me without realizing it over the past year is that even my concept of relationships was dominated by a Consumer attitude. i feel like messages bombard me a million times a day through the dominant attitude of people around me and TV shows and movies: “is your relationship working for you?” “is he what you are looking for?” “is this what YOU want?” essentially, if you don’t feel it like you used to, dump it and find something else that excites you. the only problem is… eventually, you realize you can’t continue on that cycle forever. being intentional about your relationships is a good thing. but i think Christ teaches something different: to move away from what WE are getting out of another person, or what they do for US, and to move into choosing to love in a committed and subordinate way. i am just starting to wrap my head around this concept, but what i DO know is, i refuse to be a Consumer of people. i do not want to change my friends, or my boyfriend, or my community when it is not giving me that feeling or that experience that i am looking for. i want to be faithful and submitted in my love, and to never never think about children of God in the same way i think about stuff.

so how do we consume less? that video above has good ideas for reducing our literal consumption. i think a lot has to do with replacing the world’s values and goals with a mindset that values things that are lasting. this means stuff, values, relationships… you name it.

for now i still shop at the gap once in a while, and have many areas in which there is room for improvement… but i hope that over time i will be able to transform my mindset from consumerism to simple living and committed loving.