The end of 2018 was full of reflection for me and now, as we head into 2019, I feel I’ve had a certain amount of clarity over the festive period.
I spent a lot of time before Christmas out and about on workshops, shopping and socialising and something hit me like a brick.
Consumerism. Over indulgence. Ego. The need for immediate satisfaction. The need for acceptance. Technology. Noise. Boredom. Constant movement. Lack of space.
Lack of empathy.
And I include myself within some of those parameters.
“Man is not, by nature, deserving of all that he wants. When we think that we are automatically entitled to something, that is when we start walking all over others to get it.”
― Criss Jami
It’s an abundance of crisis. An ever essential need to get more “likes”, more stuff, better stuff, other stuff. Stuff. Just because it’s stuff. We must have….stuff.
On Christmas day, here in the UK, right after the kids watched a Christmas movie, the advert that came on straight after was for a loan company.
What kind of a message is that? What kind of empathy is there?
I feel like many of us are the people that never slows down.
Buy more stuff. Plug into more stuff. Eat more stuff. Never taking a break. Never slowing down.
For what?
There are a lot of messages in our daily existence. I love the artwork that Banksy puts out. His work has a deep sense of irony, humour but a very, very keen sense of observation of the world we live in.
Without sounding too much like Michael Jackson, for 2019, I’m looking at my children more.
I’m looking at the simple things. Things that make them laugh and smile, must, surely, be the things that can make us laugh and smile.
When I’m 95 I want to be walking down the road hand in hand with my wife - not thinking about “stuff” or worse, the time I wasted on “stuff”.
The most important stuff in life is not stuff. It’s life.
Well I think so, anyway.
Happy New Year, folks.
