I can't take it any longer!

If I hear one more politician, media professional, business owner or stock

market analyst tell me to go shopping, I think I may scream.

"Go out and buy something,"

is what they all keep saying. They assure me that such action on my part

and yours will revive our economy and end the recession that presently

hangs like a dark cloud over us.

Sometimes, I get so irritated,

aggravated and just plain dumfounded at the stupidity no, maybe that word

is a bit too harsh; perhaps I should say ignorance or blindness to the

reality of our times.

Okay, I'm 53 years old. That

does not mean I have the knowledge or wisdom of an 80-year-old. It also

does not mean I'm an uninformed youngster. I have lived my 53 years to

date with my eyes wide open for the most part. I have observed much. I

have gained certain insights.

Follow me now. Think with me.

When have you ever seen "things" bring real happiness? Ongoing

peace? Lasting joy?

Okay, at a 2 year old's birthday

party, the gifts seem to elicit such feelings. Right? Wrong. Note the

words real, ongoing and lasting.

We start early in America,

in this land of such abundance, acquiring all our things. The inhabitants

of some Third World countries could never even begin to imagine what goes

into our garbage cans, much less what we consume or claim to enjoy for

a time. And a brief time it is before we move on to something else.

Perhaps I should steer clear

of what others beyond the borders of America can, or cannot, imagine.

Tell me, have you ever tried to imagine how much food alone we waste in

America on any give day?

Well before 9-11-01, we Americans

had stopped much of our indiscriminate spending. For every economist you

listen to I am sure you will hear a different opinion about why that had

begun to happen (or not happen.)

Discretionary income, that

magic stuff business and industry goes after with their advertising dollars,

is what it appears we had begun to stop spending.

Why? Again, there are a thousand

and one theories that attempt to explain the actions, or lack of action,

of societies at different times in history. And yes, I have more than

one of my own.

Put simply, Americans had begun

to discover that "things" just don't cut it. And more and more

things cut it less and less!

There are more things to care

for. More things to protect. More things to fight over. More things to

compare with the things somebody else has. More things that take up too

much space in our hearts and lives. It is both the acquiring of, and the

very existence of, these things that crowds out of our lives what is really

important.

And what would that be? I'm

not going to tell you. Look at your own life. Figure it out for yourself.

What I will say, and what I

even pray for, is that we will continue to rid ourselves of the desire

for more and more things. Sept. 11 gave us a new look at the world. But,

of course the world had to come to our own backyard for us to see it,

didn't it?

So, what have we discovered?

Have we begun to see beyond ourselves? There are countless individuals

all over the world, and yes, even in our own land, who are in need.

They are in need of such things

as food, clothing, shelter. Warmth, comfort, caring. In need of all the

food, clothing and shelter that too many of us take for granted and waste

regularly. In need of the warmth, comfort and caring that we may only

be beginning to discover how to give and receive.

So what does all this babbling

have to do with the state of our economy and the way folks are begging

us to spend our money?

What money? The money we must

now use to pay for the indiscriminate use of too much plastic that supplied

us with all the discretionary things or activities that never even came

near to giving us the satisfaction we thought they would afford us.

Isn't it strange that the truths

we had only begun to see before 9-11-01 are becoming more and more apparent

in the revealing light of so many events that have occurred since the

day.

It will get worse before it

gets better, and that's a good thing. Don't be afraid to clean out the

closets of your work place, your home, your heart. You already know there

are far too many "things" stashed there, but you have yet to

discover the great truths that those things or the absence of those things

can teach you.

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