Holy Cow, The money maid is milking me...

It had been quite some time sense I had any large amount of money in my pocket. So, I sat for months barely making a dime but all the while still enjoying life. Everything was perfect in my little abode without the consumer desire pressing down on my mind persuading me to purchase. After losing my job, I remember walking through Walmart contemplating what life would be like not making a large salary. I looked at everyone around me purchasing things to meet every little consumer desire that went through their minds. However, there I sat getting penniless by the second thinking life would change quite a bit. The thought somewhat depressed me but deep down in my mind my desires changed to survival and something else inside of me desired something other than material things and money.

I'll admit the days were difficult not having much to eat and sacrificing what little food we had to my children. Each day, though I became aware of how precious my family was and how money really alienated you from life and the way things really work in the world. I remember life before just being a vehicle to consume things and the goal of that task was surrounded by finding the most high paying job that my skills could garner. Here I sat in a world of limitless opportunities only to be reduced to a autonomous consumer device that took its information from stupid commercials that offered nothing of real value to my life. Each day, I remember I'd wake up dream of something new I wanted or better yet desire something really large which would require me to ask for credit. I thought, WOW! life is grand with credit and credit cards we can seek out the unknown and spend away accumulating needless things in the ultimate pursuit of happiness - so I thought. I'll admit deep down during my mindless consuming days I'd become happy at the thought of purchases. However, that happiness was short lived by the real fact of life which shows you that the thing you bought is well but material crap. Deep down the consumer desires were deep but deeper down something in me wanted meaning to all the things outside of the consumer model of life.

Growing up I remember everything revolved around educating yourself so when you grow older you can have many things. If you studied hard you could earn big and that would allow you to have the ability to buy, buy and buy to your every hearts content. Even as a child, I remember learning this grand money system of being milked and the only thing the business world outside would want to learn about the environment, the individual, or their needs was how it was situated with bringing them money into their company. As a child, I believe the concept of money is not natural at all. We force it into our children's minds to be the good consumer. To desire mounds of useless items all for the need to desire material object that has no real happiness to it. I remember telling my child when he was younger.. "If you want something you need money for it and you have to buy it" Instead of catching myself explaining to my son the real world around him I'd be caught playing the game "you got to buy that". Why, couldn't I just want to walk down the street just appreciating the wind blowing against my face and the ground at my feet. Why could I not appreciate the happiness of that instead of the empty happiness offered by material possession. Wow, how unhappy it all can be...

Next, came the next lesson in life from people we believe had our best interest in mind. The next lesson that they taught us was how to make money. It must of been years ago during the cave man days that cave men must of noticed others needs and decided they'd profit off those needs all while sitting comfortably watching others do it. Somewhere there sat a person who sat for hours thinking what was a way they could milk or create every desire from a person and convert that to a price tag. Make it flashy, make it big, or make it sleek and then put price tags on it. Combine that with making it layers deep and then wrap each layer in a need that creates more desire with each layer costing more money. As the person descends into each layer of need or desire that translate out into more profit. All the while, the consumer is left yes with things or more desires but really have less in understanding of the real natural world around them or their minds real desires. They have been led down a road of the milking and of milking of their time. Countless hours spent searching for something that would bring them a glint of happiness only to be offered a shiny dull turd decorated with gold and marketed as something you must have at ANY cost.

All this brings me to the point I am in now. Recently, I have once again come into a little money and this has brought me to the happy point again of desiring things I really do not need. So yes again, I was once again on the prow of searching for happiness and wanting something material to substitute something unfulfilled deeper down. Even though, it had been years without the desire of wanting something material deep down my consumer told me that I needed to buy something. If I would buy something that would translate out into happiness and that happiness would further bring into desiring more things that bring me happiness. So, there I sat at a game store looking at video game consoles for my son. I looked around at all the flashy DVD holders and posters on the wall. The first impression was a "HOLYSHIT! this is really great .. this is wow.. this is....."... Only to be replaced by my mind constructing the behind the scenes look at each display. The hours of marketing put into it.. The psychology used to bring it into my minds eye. Then on top of it all looking at the picture or music in front of me imagining it was created by a boring machine all modeled on tops of binary numbers. I thought, what a really empty thing .. It all looks so great, so appealing but honestly really so empty.. So I did it I purchased a Wii, and bought all the accessories but after looking at the specifications the next day online for the CPU I thought what a hunk of OLD shit technology. I decided to immediately to return it and get something that was more powerful and to me had the option to expand on. So, I decided I'd buy an XBOX 360. There I made the purchase the Xbox 360 sits in my sunroom and I sit there searching its numerous menus. I'll admit the menu and the display seem very appealing but deep down again I noticed the layers of desire and need laid out in front of me.

On the Xbox 360, I sat searching each menu. Searching for free trials, free movie trailers, free show trailers.. All the while, noticing to get the other good stuff you have to spend quite a bit of money. I opted that night, to keep my wallet clenched. I was not even happy doling out the $8 for the Microsoft Live subscription and the fact it was called "pay as you go" when in fact it was a recurring subscription. I thought what a complete sham to parade that in my face and then switch things around on me when I checked the account status where it stated recurring membership. Again, the feelings and contempt I have for consumer society started feeling my mind. I again thought this unit is nothing but a huge CASH milk maid designed to milk my wallet of every little bit of cash inside of it. Not only on top of that, I'd have to learn the currency that Microsoft Live uses and learn the conversion so I could make wise intelligent consumer choices. However, somewhere Microsoft decided in their FINITE wisdom to design a box built on trickery and layers and layers of creating need so they could further milk your wallet. I thought this seems like a powerful machine I wonder if I could just take this entire unit and utilize it for better things. Deep down, this unit represented everything that I loathe of modern consumer society. Every layer, every feature, every aspect of the Xbox 360 represented nothing more than a huge object to throw money into and all the while gain nothing of real value from it. This machine represented something I did not want in my life and deep down I almost want to throw it out. However, my wife so DESIRES the Guitar Hero.. and wants to Karoke to the songs of Guitar Hero. However, for me deep down my desire is to trash this item which could rip hours away from my sons understanding of the world and all the while replace those hours with countless hours of spending cash for no reason..