Close to Home
One of the attractions of reading is connecting with another persons experience as a way to get some perspective on your own. However, when this connecting hits too close to home, the perspective can be quite uncomfortable.
I just a quote in Vincent Miller's book, Consuming Religion, that hit very close to home. I just have to share it. He begins by relating a word that a friend of his uses for all the toys that we give our children—"sh...tuff."
These toys "litter the floors, bank up to the walls, pile in the corners of our houses. Gifts given to our cute children by everyone. Many of these are stuffed animals. Long ago these were costly enough to limit their number. That was the age of the prized teddy bear saved to adulthood, providing memories of childhood or the subject for a father's literary life's work. Today children have so many that no one in particular gets worn down out of affection. The Velveteen Rabbit's quest to be "real" is foreclosed to these hordes." (16)
I can totally relate to this. It seems that every couple of weeks or so, either my wife or myself has to go through the toy basket and sort out the accumulation of happy meal "prizes" and tiny toys that came from who knows where. They force their way into our home and we are pretty conscious about keeping the plastic quotient to a minimum.
We face an uphill battle as we aim to teach our kids what is of value and what is not.
I just a quote in Vincent Miller's book, Consuming Religion, that hit very close to home. I just have to share it. He begins by relating a word that a friend of his uses for all the toys that we give our children—"sh...tuff."
These toys "litter the floors, bank up to the walls, pile in the corners of our houses. Gifts given to our cute children by everyone. Many of these are stuffed animals. Long ago these were costly enough to limit their number. That was the age of the prized teddy bear saved to adulthood, providing memories of childhood or the subject for a father's literary life's work. Today children have so many that no one in particular gets worn down out of affection. The Velveteen Rabbit's quest to be "real" is foreclosed to these hordes." (16)
I can totally relate to this. It seems that every couple of weeks or so, either my wife or myself has to go through the toy basket and sort out the accumulation of happy meal "prizes" and tiny toys that came from who knows where. They force their way into our home and we are pretty conscious about keeping the plastic quotient to a minimum.
We face an uphill battle as we aim to teach our kids what is of value and what is not.
3 Comments:
I believe what the young generation is lacking is character. We need to teach, instill and model Godly character to our children - to be Christlike.
David, I thank you for your comment and certainly agree. I wonder about how you see the effects of consumerism where you live. Malaysia, is it?
luxury hotels in CannesI would say that the effects are the same everywhere. People are driven by their needs (even the needs to consume food or others) and these needs will definitely determine their actions. Of course the media plays a very important factor in this area.
In countries like USA, the media is the main communication channel to consumers. Thus the effects will be felt greater there than in Malaysia. However, with economic growth in the rising, the time will come when most of our actions and our wants are determined by the media.
Then, we as Christians need to be on guard and not be like the world even in this area of Consumer Culture
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