The older I get, the less and less I want to buy anything for the holidays. Same goes for presents. I really don't need more stuff. I have plenty of stuff.

It took over three decades, but I finally broke free of this whole Consumerism Religion thing.

I want off the crazy train I hadn't realized I boarded.

You know, we weren’t always like this? Hungry for more, I mean. There was a time things were simpler and we weren’t unsatisfied materialistic monsters always buying the next new thing. We wanna show off our new toys (new car, new purse, new shoes, new something-we-don’t-really-need-but-everyone-else-has-one-so-why-not-you).  

It’s called conspicuous consumption (Thanks Thorstein Veblen). It used to be something the very rich used to do, but since the rise of the middle class, it's trickled to everyone. Even the very poor.

Wanna see what happens when the 99% get the consumerism fever? Just go to YouTube and type in Black Friday videos. See that mass of humanity that pillage through the doors of a Target or Walmart for the newest TV which nobody really needs? See how some people get trampled? How they fight? Their utter disregard for the store's products?They look like rabid zombies. Gone is their humanity and their ability to care for anyone else but themselves. The mob is drunk on narcissism. The drumbeat of “More, MORE, MORE!!!” is beating in their heads, followed by, "I deserve this. I want this. I'm going to get this. Even if I can't afford this, I want this, so I'm going to buy this because I deserve to be happy."

Yeah, that’s what conspicuous consumption looks like. Ain’t it pretty?

You know it’s never going to be enough, don’t you? It's never going to stop. There’s always going to be a newer Iphone. There’s always going to be the next best thing you should be buying. The promise of happiness tempts our weak-willed souls.

Because deep down, we all want to be admired and envied.

We want the world to think we’re A Somebody because deep down, we think we're A Nobody.

We buy trying to fill