After all, how did you come to be who you are and why do you believe in the things you believe. A particular story sticks out in my mind about my first day of kindergarten. There I was walking from the bus to my class, this was a time when my mom still dressed me in the clothes of her choice and brushed my hair in the style she favored. Walking through the halls the way my mom sent me to school, the only part of my outfit that was truly mine was a purple Ninja Turtle backpack. Although the backpack was awesome and hip, that's not what made me cool. It was the fact that I was wearing my backpack slung over just one shoulder. You"d think that at such a young age a child wouldn't be concerned with what's "cool". My mom didn't say I would be more popular if I did that; I did it because I had seen it on television and the older kids were doing it too. For most Americans now a day it is all about being accepted, some prefer to be envied. It is this competition amongst ourselves that drives the consumerism spectrum. The products available today improve our status and our persona. Instead of a culture interested in bettering themselves through education or self- enlightenment, we would rather collect all fragrances of AX deodorant body spray because you"ll be able to pick up a lot of chicks. Where did all this self-involvement come from? Is it that important to have a Mercedes over a BMW.
The consumption of goods pervades our everyday life. Whether we are being sold a car or a pair of jeans, with our purchase we are not only buying a material good but an accessory to the product which is ourselves. It could be that the root of our need to buy and acquire comes from having to much time on our hands and no "real life" concerns such as, will my family eat? or will we be warm enough come winter time? These types of questions are of no concern to us anymore, unless we were to all of a sudden revert to the hunter-gatherer form of life.
