Bigger - Better?

What would we do without it? and what is the true cost of acquiring this "stuff"? What is the emptiness inside that we are trying to fill? You can't take it with you. Why is this all so important? It is an addiction, an identity thing and it is slavery. Let's investigate who we really are.
In the United States and other areas of the world (don't think you are immune to this) we are still suffering from the beliefs of our Puritanical background. There is a problem to the belief that
God is Omnipotent, an all knowing God who knows the future. It leads to the idea of Predestination, that it is decided before birth if you will go to Heaven or Hell. It determines Real-estate prices. The house on the hill is closer to God. So with this idea we think there should be a sign, some kind of signal. Clearly if some of us are going to Heaven and others are not, He would let us know. We believe He does. We believe he bestows wonderful "things" to us,
and deep inside of us we believe that people with more "stuff", bigger houses, newer cars, more space are happier and more successful, closer, if you will. This is the base of our consumerism.
It is a belief that is fed by Industry and the driving force behind economic development all over the world. Oh, they are smarter than to say "buy this and you will go to Heaven" but they are always saying, "buy this and it will make you happy" and it should. We will have it and they won't and everyone will know that we are one of the lucky ones!
It is all a bunch of crap of course, yet we don't gush and awe over a rose or a poem like we might over a new car! It is an addiction and we can't get away from it. We don't teach poetry any more in school, nor drama, not much literature or art. We want wealth. We want a job. We want to know that we will be happy and we want to know that we are marked. We define success by wealth. More is a good thing. Everybody wants this. The richer you are the more you buy, the more taxes you pay, always getting closer in a predetermined kind of way.
For those of us that want all of this yet fall short in some way, we have credit cards. You may charge your way into Heaven and happiness. Something HORRIBLE happened between 1970 and now and as a builder I am partly to blame. We got tired of waiting. If wealth was this key to happiness (and we have been told that for three Centuries it was) then we wanted it now. We could charge our way to happiness and throw open the Gates to Heaven to all of us. The simple life of our parents, the little 1,000 square feet homes we grew up in, were not enough. New housing would be at least 2,000 square feet and if you were really successful, twice that! A mortgage went from 25% of one paycheck to 40% of TWO paychecks! but we did it. We made Heaven on Earth! "Like Earth as it is in Heaven"! Well, I hope not. We have created Hell here.
We have lost Time entirely. Our clock is divided into working and sleeping and allocated itself like a commodity. Tomorrow, if you are interested, I give you my thoughts about time.
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A Trip to the Dump

I have spent a good portion of my life at the local dump. At least once a week and sometimes

three times in one day I have been to the landfill with my truck full of construction debris, the broken eggs to make omelette's thing that is all part of the construction process. Most of my life has been in construction, making your homes bigger to secure your "things". I have built family rooms to houses where the family is gone, added that third bathroom to houses with only two people, and built huge kitchens for people who cannot cook.

If I were in charge of education I would require my students to spend a day at the dump. We

are not a materialistic society. We find little value in "things", yet we acquire them profusely and throw them away with the trash. We want next week's model, bigger, better, shinier. You will toss them at the drop of a hat, expect to replace them within a year, and you hire me to put locks on your door so no one steals them. Make your house bigger so you can have more.

Everything is at the dump. That is where it ends up. Sometimes recycling now, that is popular as the dumps get filled to capacity. Recycled back to China where it is reground and reshaped into more stuff. That is the life cycle.

It is an addiction, you know. It doesn't end, trying to fill this empty space we have.

If you are interested I will continue this thought tomorrow. I have built over a million square feet of empty space to be filled with "things" and it doesn't work.

My other Blog is Here.

Black Friday!

God knows we need more STUFF! Lots more! For thirty-five years I made my living building additions to accomodate "more stuff"! The funny thing is, over this time, most of that "stuff" is gone, making its way, broken and tattered and no longer wanted, to the local landfill.
The additions remain, still there and strong and waiting to be filled with more stuff! I don't know where we get this need from, to fill that empty space, that cavity we all have. with crap.
These days most of this "STUFF" is imported from China, really, like 98% of it! Thank God for small favors, huh? We can buy it cheap, on sale even, cheap enough to throw it away when it no longer entertains us! Life is grand and we can go shopping!
The worst jobs I ever had were from people in their fifties. Their children were long gone,
half way across the country, building their own additions for more stuff. They created this family and raise these kids in a three bedroom house with one bathroom and now they are gone.
Now they want the extra bathroom and a family room! NOW, for just the two of them, they want the bigger house and I always suspected it is so they can become farther apart! This is a trouble job and having done a couple of them, I am a little leery. These people want me to make them happy! Their life-long dream of having a big house with lots of bathrooms and a big family room is all on my shoulders, now, at a time when they no longer need it, and all to be filled with more stuff!
Mostly I would try to talk them out of it. How about a trip to Paris? or at least Hawaii or
some adventure that would endure, become memories and maybe even bring them closer together, a shared experience!
I give consumables for Christmas, stuff that can be used up and enjoyed, tasted and shared.
I like Calendars that last twelve months and are gone! Chocolate, coffee and tea, a spice collection, cheeses and any wonderful foods.
No cancer stories today folks, I am in the Holiday spirit!
My OTHER BLOG is HERE!