Spending as Necessity--or Habit

I wonder, honestly, how long someone can go without spending money. Days, that is.

Maybe it could only be measured in hours. Maybe it's a sad commentary to how we are tied to being consumers.

Maybe it's impossible to go more than a day or two. How does one buy enough things to survive on one's own? How does one stop paying to be supported by systems invented, and certainly necessary?

One must eat. If one doesn't live in the wilderness, one must purchase the food somehow.

One must wear clothing. If one can't make clothing oneself, one must purchase it in stores. Even if one can, it takes materials. Someone else had to make them.

Maybe this just means that we have an extremely interdependent society. If we're to be prosperous, that's the way it must be.

I tried hard not to spend money a little while ago. I'm not sure whether it was necessity or habit that kept me from extending the skein very far.

When one stops spending very much, the world shrinks in proportion. That's why the holiday season's so important to so many: the world expands, if only for a while, before they return to their more reserved lives.

Some of that isn't bad. And some of the return isn't bad, either.

The economy is wanting, so it's better that more people go shopping right now (I've certainly done plenty). It'll be very interesting to see how the retailers do this season.

Mister Mark