American Dream Right before I started high school we were building our very own customized house on the five acres my parents had just bought up on five mile prairie. I was definitely enjoying picking out the carpet and paint colors for my room and bathroom. It was 1996 when that house was finished and we moved into it. Everything was put together Just as we’d asked and everything was brand new and untouched. I was a sophomore and my only concern was how much fun that I was going to have.
Around his time Is when cell phones became huge, and of course I had the super cool Knock SUCH 100 with an awesome faceplate and also a pager. I had cool clothes, nice shoes, and even a computer. My parents gave me a car. It wasn’t the coolest car ever but it was mine! My dad had a pretty good Job with several perks such as taking trips to Hawaii and to Arizona. We also had a cabin out on long lake, a boat and a wave runner. I thought I was living the American Dream.
With all of this going on I had no trouble finding fun. If I was bored I would Just go buy something entertaining. I did a lot of things with friends but most of them also had a lot of these material things, we didn’t really have to be creative and come up with our own ideas for fun and entertainment. All of this makes me wonder how much emphasis are we putting on this need for material goods, and what are we teaching our children? What type of effect could this materialism have on us?
When I was a senior In high school this way of living came to an abrupt halt. My dad changed as a person, my parents got divorced and my dad also lost his Job. My mom hadn’t worked In fifteen years and had to get back into the work field. We sold our boat, wave runner, lake cabin, our house, and all of other things that we had went into a storage unit and were later lost. I had just moved out with a friend when I was 17 and struggled terribly with my “need for materialistic things. I became bored and had absolutely no idea how to cope with this on my own, I began making very poor choices such as stealing money at work, shoplifting, maxing out credit cards, and other ideas that I came up with to et these things that had always been so Important. It hasn’t been an easy road and I guess you could say I learned this lesson the hard way. Of course this materialism is definitely good for the economy, but it is hurting people’s bank accounts, credit, relationships, as well as their future being. With all the new financing options it’s so easy to get the things you want today and Just pay for it later.
The pursuit for fame and fortune can result In depression, stress, unhappiness, envy, Jealousy, less desire or equality, social anxiety, poor Impulse control, substance abuse, feelings of social alienation, less enjoyment of daily activities, mistrust of others, and shorter, more conflicted relationships. This struggle to have the best of everything is never-ending. You cannot take these “items” to your grave. About the only thing you can be sure of is that you’re probably “spending money on things you don’t need Just to impress people you don’t even like.
