Consumerism in its purest form

I remember the moment as if it were yesterday. My daughter was three years old at the time and we’d decided to while away a long winter afternoon by taking her to Toys ‘R’ Us. As the sliding door opened before us and she walked into the store, her eyes opened wide. Overcome with desire at the shelves stacked with toys, she turned to me and said:

“I want all the toys I don’t have.”

Notice her words. Nothing in particular had as yet caught her eye. Rather, in those first few euphoric moments, her desire had been reduced to its essence: the desire to acquire.

People often think of consumerism as the love of material goods. But in fact, in its purest essence, consumerism is the love of acquiring material goods.

Suffice it to say, the next time we had to while away a long winter afternoon, we went to the park.