Values

The high intensity and shrewdness of marketing is influencing our society and family life in the wrong way. It is shaping our lives by starting on us at a very early age and continually persuading us to want something new. We need to stop and consider what is important in making our lives happier. Did that latest purchase make us happier? Was it worth the price we paid? Did it last or did we begin craving for a new thing?

Programmed to do so, most of us go through life always wanting more and better. There is great force and money pushing this trend to accumulate goods, making it difficult to arrest. Being in this state of constant desire for more does not coexist with peace of mind. It is normal to want a better life for ourselves and our families, but we have to balance our goals with the cost. How much does this promotion, vacation, new purchase, cost in terms of real life? How many extra hours of stress and anxiety, now and later, go into getting it?

"The cost of a thing is the amount of what I call life, which is required to be exchanged for it immediately or in the long run." - Henry Thoreau (1817-1862)

Corporations and their advertisers are out to make money - it's their job. But advertising communicates one-way in persuading us to buy things we may not need or maybe not even really want. The good things in life are free, life itself, friendship, nature. Whatever we do possess, in the end we must leave it all behind.

"Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind. The demon of worldly desires is always seeking chances to deceive the mind. If a viper lives in your room and you wish to have a peaceful sleep, you must first chase it out." - Buddha (BC)

As more and more we come to falsely regard material gains as success we are missing out on the true values of life. Money really is quite necessary in our life, but its value should not be worshiped.