Search the Community

At some point during the last century, humans have decided that in order to be happy, we have to work our off not because we need to provide for our families, but because we need to buy the best newest stuff. The newest phone, the newest car, the biggest house etc.. Lately, a German intern died after 72 hours of no sleep because he's working at an investment bank and is willing to sacrifice what it takes, even his life, so that he secures his 'future' of endless stream of buying stuff that will define who he is. That's basically our lives nowadays, we work not because we need to fulfill a certain adequate of standard of living for those we care about, we work so that we buy stuff and spend what we earn on going to fancy restaurants and clubs. And the problem is the buying never stops, you will keep spending your money on stuff that will in the end consume you instead of you consuming them Farida Roti meri kaath kee , laavan meri bukh jere Khange chopriya , ghane sehenge dukh ... You can say that each person lives his own life, and I can't say that's wrong for a person to work all day just so that he buys the newest car, but the problem with this hyper-consumption is that if it's sustained, it will be the end of humanity. Imagine if all the Indians and the Chinese (and not just a small subsection of them) can afford to live the same lifestyle the Westerners do. Also, just look at pictures of Beijing and Shanghai, see the blinding fogs they have there. It's not because of THEIR aggressive manufacturing it's because of OUR aggressive consumption. Nobody stops to think that his designer clothes is made by the hands of small children working in the most dangerous environments that significantly contribute to the world's pollution levels. That's the biggest threat to humanity as a whole and to us as individuals. We forgot about human happiness, instead we are willing to work half our day so that we can make payments to our houses and cars and when you finish paying you realize you're a disease-ridden old man and that your life is already over. And I am not saying I am not implicated in this or I won't be even more implicated in the future, I am just complaining that we have become passive consumerists