Saturday, December 28, 2013

Where Do You Go, When All You Have Left is Your Soul?

Today's world is a different place from the world I was brought up in. There is nothing wrong with wanting to have things and working for them. As a matter of fact, it is a pretty good feeling to accomplish getting something you have wanted. The problem comes when the most important thing in your life is what you have or what you think you are entitled to due to circumstance.

In examining family life today, it appears that there is a swing toward the belief that nothing is important if it is not materialistic. To expand on that a bit more, let's consider a family of "haves" versus a family of "have not."

The family of "haves" I refer to is the family that has not only everything they need or could want, but are tightly encased in that little circle of materialism. The "have" groups frequently place their happiness on what they have, not true spiritual, cultural or sought after intellectual things that count and creates a richer life.

Today's advertising world steers its advertising to specific groups. This is nothing new, it has always been that way, but...now there is television advertising, iPhone advertising, magazine advertising that rules the whole magazine content with little intellectual value at all. Children are asked to pressure their parents for "things." In some homes, both the father and mother work long and hard hours to obtain those "things" they think are necessary for happiness and lose the real meaning of family.

The family of "have not" rely more on family values. They seem to be more concerned with how other folks feel because of their efforts. They also contribute more to the whole family through phone calls, letters, basic thank you notes for things they have received and just plain caring. The family and its ancestory are the value rather than "things."

When the family of "haves"  run out of their access to those possessions do they revert to the "have not" mentality, or do they find themselves so lost in their materialistic world that they cannot escape from it. What do these people do when their material things are gone?

Is it time to take a look into the mirror and see where you fit into this "materialistic" world?