a broken scale of preference!

I have this picture of a particular pair of chuck taylor converse allstar on my laptop, in order not forget that I had a sneaker to buy I made it my wallpaper… I so wanted own it, but after about a month, I thought, why do I actually want these sneakers?, is it that I don’t have enough, which technically is a lie judging by the arsenal of footwear I posses, or that I need it for something in particular?, which is another phony excuse; none of the above, I discovered that I just wanted them because, one, I was a huge fan of the converse allstar brand and two they looked so hot, I knew if my home bois saw me in these babies they’ll gawk, then the favorite part, I loved the attention I got when some random person comes and says “nice pair of sneakers, where’d you get them from”, you should see my chest swell with so much ego I could almost float. Literally, the world is now about showing off, a world which is run by brand names; Jimmy Choo, Luis Vuitton, Prada, blackberry e.t.c.

These days, we no longer buy goods, we buy the brand names. At this juncture I would like to say “big thumbs up to brand managers and business developers all over the world; you are doing an awesome job of thwarting the actual purpose of going to buy stuff in the market, you have successfully entered the minds of everybody including yourself and created a vivid image of the brand you represent leaving the economics concept of need a vague wisp of smoke and elevating the concept of want, making it the new need”. Well it’s the choice of the consumer to accept your verdict or leave it, but when you leave them with very little option, they’ll have no choice but to sway to the beats you made.

Enough of brand managers and business developers, they only contribute 20% of the problem that’s at hand; the other 80% is our fault. After all nobody impressed the BlackBerry concept on us, we chose it, accepted it and decided to make it a necessary evil, nobody forced us to buy high-top sneakers at 37,000 bucks, we chose to ourselves. The thing that gets to me is that they are even more expensive than here than there.
One time I did a survey, I asked all my friends who had BBs and those that were planning to buy one, the reason they had or wanted to have the phone, they all had one answer, to have the BlackBerry messenger, so they can “ping”; else there are better, stronger and cheaper Nokia phones, sold at half the price of the BB. The word ‘ping’ itself has become a brand name.
I met a lady once, who said she would rather spend a very healthy $2,000 on one lousy Jimmy Choo hand bag than pay for knowledge, how vain. Oh! There are worthy, cheaper and even more beautiful competitions, but no! If it’s not Jimmy Choo then it’s no hand bag… “Imagine what my friends will think if they see me going around with that cheap handbag” is the usual excuse, or they’ll say “I think this looks better on me”…worst and most hilarious of all is in their bid to own a jimmy choo hand bag, they end up buying the imitation at the price of the original. That’s my moment of satisfaction; the look on their faces when I scream hilariously “you bought a fake...hahaha”.

How many of you spend money on stuff which is not in a bid to show off? Very few people, because the concept of human relation itself has being corrupted. Yeah yeah, it’s your money we know, but don’t you think you could put that cash into better use?
I have had my own fair share of showing off, but at all times, I try not to do it to the extreme because I never know how much frustration I’ll be causing the next person, but alas! Most people do this to actually generate this feeling of frustration around them which to me is the lamest of reasons. You know, that feeling of being the trendiest around, the most fly, the chick or bloke with all the swag…how sad!, it’s more saddening to know that we humans, who are supposed to be the head of God’s creations can stoop so low as to allow our own creations rule our live, else, why would you stay on a queue for three days awaiting the arrival of a mobile phone? Why would throw away all your life savings, just so you can say you own a jimmy choo handbag? Why would you put materials first forgetting there are more important things than those pair of shoes or the blings? Guys, life is not an episode of Barbie and the rock stars where the only things that matter are materials and maybe ken.

We have succeeded in prioritizing unimportant issues; we have destroyed the original fabric that’s supposed to be the moral standards or our generation and made it look like a side attraction. We have destroyed everything all in a bid to catch up with the 1st world countries. We are totally blinded by the “mirrors” the white has put before us and allowed them take us as slaves a second time, or do you need me to tell you that we are now slaves to technology, fashion, fame and fortune? Now you’ll probably think it’s totally cool not to say a goodmorning to that old man you come across on your way out, after all, being bad has become the new good, “Earth to you”… good and bad can never be the same, they are lightyears apart.

We need the cars, smart phones, handbags and accessories but we should not let our craving for such things defeat the purpose for which they were made. If the BlackBerry was made for business, why own one when you got no business to run with it? You’ll only succeed in causing a price hike which to me is to the benefit of RIM. I am not against having a Black Berry or a Jimmy Choo, what am against is having stuff for no particular reason, this way you contribute to the depleting ozone layer by escalating energy consumption in your own little but very destructive way.

One solution to this problem is a pretty simple Economics solution. Most of us, I want to believe, know what it means to set up your “scale of presence”?... Good, you just need to arrange your ‘needs’ in order of importance and know how to achieve them. This way you won’t buy a Phone because your friends will admire it, you’ll buy because you need it, you won’t buy a car because you want to upgrade your opposite sex resume, but because you need to be mobile. We won’t have to worry about energy consumption very much anymore because, you’ll only have what you ‘need’ and some of what you ‘want’

Secondly, when you want to buy things, always consider the competition, you never know, they might have more juicy services to offer; OVI mail now has an OVI messengers, and there are other apps you can chat with that you have not tried which I can guarantee are better than the BB messenger. Try out new things; do not limit the extent of your buying power to brand names, experiment!, The fun you derive from shopping is in the shopping itself, not just shopping for particular brands, but trying out other brands and comparing. Think of charitable courses you can invest some of that money on, because the last time I checked, God will only bless you for giving out, not buying yourself a brooch of $7,000, You can also save up some of these money for future capital projects; facebook might declare an IPO (anything is possible) or someone might roll out antiques in a garage sale. The best things in life will always be free, so indulge yourself.
Be your accountant and take control of your spending, there’s no harm in actually knowing how much that goes out of purse…or how much comes in. Remember, the motive behind any decision or step you decide to take is supreme, you’ll be judged by the motive, not the action. That’s why you can kill out of self defense and you’ll not be convicted or murder.

We need to see clearly, but we can’t with all the numerous heaps of materials we have piled everywhere. How do u know a lady is pretty when she’s wearing an extra large Gucci shade and 2inches thick make-up? Huh?
So I strongly believe if the steps above are strictly adhered to we would live in a safer world where we won’t have to always worry about our energy problem because we would only consume energy we need.
You can still treat yourself to some luxury sometime, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that; go bare-skin dive at the Maldives, get a massage on Honolulu Islands, go dance at a club in Barcelona. Whatever luxury it is you choose to indulge in, always weigh the odds; is the luxury you intend to engage worth it?
While you are pondering and weighing your options, I need to go pay for BIS, see if I can get a free massage, and I still want my sneakers, I found use for it. Cheers.

|