Three pens, need and greed

We live in a society that, for the most part, is morally and spiritually bankrupt. Our culture is a culture of consumerism. How sustainable is that?

- Benjamin Bratt -

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It shouldn't have been so hard, all I needed was three pens: Black gel ink, 0.7mm fine-point, retractable with a pocket clip. I walked into a well known stationery outlet thinking I'd shop like I always do...that is, see what I need, pick it up, go to the register and pay, then leave. It wasn't to be so easy though.

I was confronted with seemingly endless rows of pens in every colour imaginable, most of which were duplicated across different brands.

Oh sure, they had a slightly different shape, the packaging looked a little different and they were called different names but I wasn't fooled, many of them were essentially the same thing; a black gel ink, 0.7mm fine-point, retractable pen with a pocket clip can't have very many variations right? But here's the thing, it seems consumers need multiple versions of the exact same thing, called by different names and packed in different packaging.

As I searched high and low for my three fucken pens I became increasingly annoyed, and not just about the fact that I couldn't find my pens among the gazillion other ones, but also at the fact that humanity thinks excess like this is acceptable. Fuckers.

The aisles were some eight to nine meters long and there were four sides each with multiple rows and hanging spaces; that's thirty six metres of pens...and all in what's supposed to be the digital age where we don't write with pens anymore. It seems rather bonkers to me.

Don't get me wrong, I know people need pens, that's what I was there for after all, but I'm not sure the world needs this many versions of the same thing. Sure, consumers like choice, but seriously? This many pens...and this is only one store.

I started to feel a little uncomfortable at the display of excess and what I see as a waste of resources. It made me think about aisles at the supermarket filled with twenty different brands of corn flakes or thirty different types of bread, milk or anything really. Since when do we need twenty different corn flakes?

I get it, we like choice, but is this sustainable? I think not.

The search for my three pens intensified, soon reaching fever-pitch, because I just wanted to get the fuck out of there, but I couldn't shake the thought of all the things humanity wants, the choice people feel they need and how beholden to consumerism society has become. It's disgusting.

For many years I've worked to maintain a need over want ethos.

That doesn't mean I don't get things I want though, just that the want-items are well-considered, weighed and measured before being purchased and if it's determined those things are not as important as at first thought then they aren't purchased at all. That means I go without sometimes, but I don't feel my life is any less valid for lack of that item.

I don't go without much of what I need though; I have a good income, have worked hard since the age of thirteen and invested along the way, have made some great decisions, and some bad ones, and have the ability to provide my need-items quite easily. Are there things I'd like but would never allow myself to get? Of course there is, but I am not a lesser man because I won't get them. I guess I'm not the guy who wants the latest thing just because it's the latest thing. I'm not the guy to fly first class when business class get's me there at the same time. You know?

All this want want want more more more bull shit is so destructive to the planet and society and yet it's not going away; probably ever, or only when the planet ceases to have the ability to sustain life.

I managed to find my three pens and left the store soon after, but the sadness around the want-ethos society seems to value so much, greed people have, lingered.

I've said many times I don't feel humanity is headed in the right direction, unless that direction is down the fucken toilet.

I know people have hope for better, a reversal, and I hope it happens too, but are we giving ourselves the chance? Are we doing enough, on a massive enough scale to arrest the decline? I'm not sure certain we're not. There's a lot of talk about change, a lot of people out there hoping for it...but where does that change start? I mean, does it start with someone else? If that's the case, if everyone thought that, doesn't it mean no one would end up do anything? No, that's not where change needs to start at all.

Change needs to start with the individual. It starts with consuming less, changing habits, embracing a need over want ethos and saying no to want-purchasing. No, you don't need those shoes in three different colours, or the new phone that was released only three months after you bought the last new phone that was released. You know? You don't have to buy everything you want.

But are the people of the world going to do that? I mean seriously, do you think so? Are you yourself?

Tell me what you think below. Maybe I'm just bonkers and the world is all fine and dandy. Maybe I'm just delusional. Let me know.

If you value consumerism and greed and the path it takes the world along then let me know. If you have the answers to this problem, then let me know. If you think I'm bonkers and I need ten million pens in my life, let me know, and if you agree that we're heading in the wrong direction let me know...And lastly, if you need a $5.20 pastel violet pen in your life please let me know, because I can't fucken work out why someone would.