Breaking the Chains of Consumerism

Standing in the middle of the square,

I can’t hold it in anymore…

‘Wake up!  Wake up!’ I shout.

See the marionettes into which we have been made!

See the avarice -

etched in our psyches,

protected in our constitution,

mutated into an insatiable desire for

more!

What is the difference, say you, between

avarice and greed?

And what of want and need?

Can we tell the difference?

Or have our minds been so profoundly shaped

by this structured consumer economy

that we can no longer see

that this economy,

in fact,

is

intentionally structured, engineered?

That we, and our desire to buy,

are the products of the craft and guile

of those who have and want ever more?

Sustenance

an alternative to insatiable desire.

Learning to recognize the difference

between want and need;

Striving to break the chains

of the toxic addiction to buy, to own, to desire.

Endeavoring to feel, once again,

immense gratitude

for having enough

food, clean water, shelter,

love.

Sustenance

Thankfulness for the opportunity

to love, to share, to build community,

to be, simply,

the extraordinary beings we were created to be.