Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Consumption Is Killing Us (What Are We Going To Do About It?)

Leonid (Leon) Basin - lives in San Jose, but was born in Kharkov, Ukraine but came to the U. S. when he was only nine years old. Leon describes the United States as a “wonderful literary community that is open to many individuals”. Most of Leon’s writing is based in the United States but he hopes to travel to Sweden and India to share his writings and inspire other people from other countries as well. Leon writes poetry, short stories, lyrics, articles and novels; he has so far written eight books and is currently working on many others. Leon has been writing for 13 years and hopes to continue this tradition. Leon hopes that his writing will inspire children and adults. He has also performed Spoken Word at many venues around Bay Area; CA. Leon is also working on a Spoken Word Poetry Album.



Questions or Concerns; Email LeonBasin@gmail.com


Consumption Is Killing Us (What Are We Going To Do About It?)

In the past three decades, our society has become an abuser of consuming material objects. We forgot that love, is the most precious commodity we posses and instead, we began competing with our neighbors. We love shopping so much, that we have a saying in our culture, “shop, until you drop.” What has been a society content with being with their friends and loved ones has become a society full of zombies, who believe, that a discount of 10% of off, $5,000 is a great buy. The speed we consume; food, clothes, friends, cars, computers and other, unnecessary objects, is atrocious. For instance, instead of making coffee at home, we go to a coffee shop. We don’t realize that the lines at those coffee shops are astonishingly out the door and the time spent, arguing and yelling at a barista, can be ignored by preparing your pot of coffee at home, while reconnecting with your family.

The speed of our consumption is obnoxiously scary. We usually get tired of one thing we recently bought and move onto the next. It seems to be somewhat of a plague, which continues spreading widely. Who is to blame for our ways? I believe the answer lies, in us. We are mind controlled to believe that we must buy; because we believe it is the last computer, car or other material object of its kind. We lack the logical skills, our families had, decades ago.

Our society revolves around consumption. What a scary way of looking at our culture. We feel so patriotic and so full of heart, that we ignore the symptoms, which continue bleeding onto the oceans, rivers, mountains and other parts of our planet earth. Ignoring these symptoms produces an effect of misery, begging and poverty. Do we not desire love and happiness for the people on this planet? Why must we continue destroying and ignoring our children, who will continue living here, after we pass on? Do we not want to take care of the beauty so precious, so pure and so full of light? I’m sure you are thinking, of course we do! Then what are you doing about it? How are you assisting Mother Nature? I’m sure these questions are hard questions to answer, but they are the questions, I ask myself when I fall a sleep at night.

As human species, we cannot continue growing, if we do not heal or help our “weakest links”. Asking for help should not have to be “pulling teeth.” Focusing on an individual group can be one way that could help. One way to do this is to start focus groups, or an online magazine that would offer helpful advice for people who struggle with consumption. We must unite and guide the ones who are having trouble. We all struggle in some way or another.

Image - Merrick Godhaven

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