The Untied States of America: Have We Traded a Life for a Living?

In America, some people are slaves to jobs, corporations, bills. Are we merely cogs in the wheels of progress, grinding our lives away to pay for car and health insurance, using the bulk amount to chip away at a mortgage?

Ironically, a large percentage of purchases fall into the category of luxuries, unnecessary items that demand upgrades, repairs, warranties.

Once we step onto the treadmill of consumerism, these catalog items battle for our attention. At best, we live a modern lifestyle.

At worst, we work at jobs we despise to buy things we don’t need to compete with people we don’t even like, or know.

As a result, many people suffer stress and anxieties from mounting debts. Perhaps they don’t recognize the chains that bind them, but they feel their effect–the weight around their ankles, their limited mobility, the unsettling conclusion, whether real or perceived, that they are trapped.

Because of long hours at work, we eat fast food and convenient store snacks, which weaken the immune system, resulting in physical stress.

At the end of the day, have we traded a life for a living?

If we’re willing to shake off the baggage that limits us, our self doubts and irrational fears, if we’re willing to move forward and have faith in God, then the novel of our life will be written as we advance toward the next blank page.

If we’re willing to free ourselves from the comfortable and cumbersome ties that bind us, adventure lies in our reach.

Are you willing to be free? Are you willing to take action? Immediately?

You might say to yourself: “Tomorrow, I’ll do that.”

You might say to yourself: “Someday, I’ll start taking action.”

Sometimes, though, tomorrow and someday, can be euphemisms for never.

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Born in freedom, but soon we’re told,
To work likes slaves until we’re old,
To trade a life, for a living,
The hands of time are less forgiving
Conformity bears its claws.
But you don’t bow to the world’s applause.
The rat race never captured you.
I’m tired of running, I’m looking for a clue.
song: you’re beautiful to me
from: Dumpster Diver the musical

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Is it possible to free yourself from the the shackles of consumerism?

Initially, you thought you were in control when you made that purchase. Then, once you arrived home from the store, you realized that the shirt, the pants, the shoes, the $5 dollar coffee, were nothing more than a name brand, putting a brand on a nameless desire.

art: Banksy

Often, the things that you and I purchase are merely identity signatures–stuff that we collect in order to be part of a group, something that gives us a signature on our identity. Often, our hunger to purchase things stems from a spiritual malnourishment.

Instead of recognizing this, however, and exercising the discipline, the tails of the coin, that leads to freedom, the heads of the coin, we dismiss the notion as residual guilt and continue to purchase junk we don’t need.

The hunger in the hearts of humanity stretches back to original parents ability to see and feel eternity in their hearts. As relatives, we all have that hunger for eternity. But instead of dusting it off and recognizing it for its value, we discard it and look for something that cannot satisfy, something made of cheap plastic by factory worker slaves in China, India, or some other country.

I’m just as guilty as you are, striving like rats for the piece of cheese that pretends to be Jarlberg but ends up being Cheese Wiz.

This blog post, though, is an effort, as my fingers dance swiftly across the keyboard, to put a magnifying glass on the situation, to crystallize things, to distill the cloud of desire for which so many people grasp.

Reassess yourself.

Think about the stuff that you’re working so hard to buy.

Is this stuff really worth trading your life for? Is it bringing joy into your life? Does it motivate, challenge, inspire you? Does it enable you to use your God given talents to serve God and serve others?

If it doesn’t, then make adjustments.

Make a change. Make a difference.