is it wrong that new things make us happy?
May 8th, 2007
NOTE: This post is an old post from MySpace copy/pasted into this one to add content. It is raw and unedited for content or formatting. Love it.
I understand the psychological mumbo jumbo about drawing happiness from collecting crap, and I understand the spiritual stuff about needing more depth to provide long-term spiritual and emotional health. I get it. But seriously, is it so wrong that I find joy in the fact that I’m the proud new owner of an iPod Shuffle?
Grant it, I temper this euphoria with realism that true happiness comes from relationships with friends, family, God, etc. And honestly, I’m not that shallow, folks. I do find the deepest fulfillment in these things. In knowing who I am and blah, blah, blah. That’s all very important to me and I think in the circle of friends I have (populated with people twice as intelligent as I), stuff like this kind of goes without saying most of the time.
I guess too, that it’s how I view ‘things’ that I procure. In the case of the iPod Shuffle, it’s not so much that I now own an iPod Shuffle, but it’s more that I can’t wait to use it as a motivator on my runs. Or to sleep to on planes. Or to listen to the latest self-help propaganda that’s going around. In other words, I don’t view the iPod itself as valuable, but more about what it will do for me. Or rather what I will do with it. Love people, use things, as they always say.
I tend to be passionate about almost everything I purchase or use in one way or another. Many of you know that I’m a committed Mac zealot. I think the Marine Corps rules supreme as the king of bad ass services. I can’t understand why everyone doesn’t watch The Office, and I swear by Jeep as THE trail rated SUV. (I know that Jeep coined that phrase…but it just rolls off the tongue) I know this sounds like a rabbit trail, but bear with me. My point is that as a consumer, I think we’re all interested in that passion. We want to believe that a certain product or service will provide us with the opportunity to have the life we want. That’s what we’re passionate about. The life. Not the thing. The life.
So what I’m saying is, if I recognize that the reason this little iPod makes me happy is because it will help me run, which will help me be more fit, which will allow me to participate in sports and live longer…if I can just grasp that, then I’m not truly happy with the thing, but more happy with the life. And this helps me identify with things that I truly value.
All that from an iPod.
Filed under: body, faith, music, reading
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