Inquisitive Ponderings: March 2009

Simplicity is the Key
Suffice it to say people love to go shopping. Henry D. Thoreau in his novel, Walden, criticized those types of people who live life superficially. During the holiday season, the parking lots fill up to the maximum with hungry shoppers. They are hungry for that new pair of jeans from Guess or that brand new widescreen from Sony. They feed their hunger mostly with spending, the receipts, the only leftovers from the feeding. It is like the Saharan wild at a mall during Christmas season. The lions and the gazelles battle it out for the best piece of the deal. The Lion continually tries to outwit the clever gazelle, yet the gazelle is cunning. Feeling momentarily elated, the gazelle triumphant from its escape from the lion does not realize that something waits in the shadows. Lurking for as long as necessary, ready to pounce at just the right moment. Coincidentally, the precise moment is at the end of the month. The lion jumps and attacks the poor innocent gazelle with… the bill. Yes that is correct, the bill. The gazelle is once again to blame for its own demise. The helpless gazelle, lured by the clever lion into its lair where it could entice it with water and grass, fell for the trick once again. Nothing in life is free, that is certain. Yet, the poor gazelle did not know this. Now it is dead, or since this gazelle serves as a metaphor for the incompetent shopper, bogged down with a massive credit card bill. Like Thoreau says regarding luxuries, “Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts, of life are not only indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind” (16). No truer words have even been spoken about the ridiculous amount of spending that society does. Thoreau succinctly navigates his way through all the rubbish excuses and gets down to crux of the issue: People spend too money much on things they do not need. Wealth created from borrowing is only an allusion of wealth manifested by a society where the majority strives to live above their means. Credit companies thrive on customers who fail to pay their bills. It is a business and credit card company’s treat it as such. Conversely, spenders do not; they feel as though they can put off the pain of paying for their luxuries as long as they pay the minimum. A nation with a rising debt, a society in jeopardy, and a culture where materialism runs rampant are issues that must be dealt with.
It is morning and the young borrower is still in bed warm and safe. He knows nothing of what is out there waiting for him. He awakens and shakes the sleep off. Still groggy from slumber, he proceeds to grab a cup of coffee that mom made, of course. He checks the mail and to his surprise there is a card for him. What a pleasant surprise, he thinks. He slowly opens it, no need when he has no impeding activities for the day. The coffee hits the ground first, and then he does. The heat of the freshly brewed coffee burns his knees. Two thousand dollars owed to the credit card company. Like most young adults his age, he applied for a bank credit card. All those new features like Save-the-change and free checking seemed rather appealing. Nothing could beat that, so he applied and was accepted. He need only put in fifty dollars to qualify. At the time he did not bother reading the agreement, as well as the hidden fees. Still shocked from the amount of money he owes, he opens the rest of the bill. He justified most of the expenses as necessities. He needed a brand new printer for school. And what about the ski boots, his little feet would have frozen with out them. And the ski poles were thrown in at half price. Yet, he is still confounded. He cannot find a plausible way to pay for all of his frivolous spending. Most people like him are in the same situation. Banks offer credit cards to college students knowing that they can make profit from all of the over draft fees irresponsible spenders. It is common for students to spend without knowing how much they have available. Thoreau knows it is evident that there will be situations where the poor will struggle (6). He alludes to the state of affairs that naïve credit card owners are trapped into. They know nothing of APRs or interest rates. All they care about is that they are able to pay for that shiny new toy now, and worry about it later. As long as the minimum is paid monthly, nothing could go wrong. Most people borrow and beg to live up to some standard of living that is unattainable. They would rather spend that money for groceries on a new pair of jeans. Priorities get mixed up when materialism takes over society. Eventually, snip-snip is the only sound most people will hear when their credit cards are cut in half.
The national debt is at an all time high of three trillion dollars. Most people get stressed over a bill of one hundred dollars. It all adds up with a mortgage here, a car payment there. The bills seem infinite. Debt is like a nagging relative that is always asking for a handout. But the real issue is the reason why people get into their financial quandaries. It is mostly due to a culture where superficiality is treasured amongst all other traits. Most people, especially the young, trifle with their finances and make uneducated decisions. Credit cards do help in a pinch when one does not have cash at hand, but should only be used in those types of situations. Relying too much on them can create an addiction that could ruin person’s finances. Money is said to be the root of all evil. However, it can also make life very fun. Money lets us not worry about what bill to pay next, or where the next check is coming from. Yet, life without money can be good too. It teaches one to be self sufficient, frugal, and most of all, creative. The imagination can run wild when money tends to be in absentia. Instead of the nice new car, a used car can do just the same but with a lot less cash needed. Instead of going out to eat, the crafty spender can make a buffet of left overs. It is all in the way one perceives the way they live. If one thinks their life is miserable, then it will be. But making the most of a bad situation can actually be a good thing. According to Thoreau, the simplification of ones life could make life less complex (427). A simple life can be a great thing because life can get very cluttered sometimes. By living humbly one can finally begin to see that those superficial excesses were unnecessarry. The expensive car was pointless, the new leather coat useless, and the new pair of jeans too expensive. A life once lived extravagantly gave the person a specious appearance of grandeur when actually it was a life devoid of any actual integrity.
People strive to be better than what they are. When standing in the middle of a cold, tiny apartment most people wish for something a little better, a little bigger and a little nicer. It is intrinsic in most humans to want more than the other person. Some are born into wealth, while some are not so lucky. Amongst the abundance of people who do not have that kind of luck, hard work is a must. Success is hard to attain for some people because of the situation of the economy right now. The economy has made it almost impossible for anyone to make money, get a job or even go back to school just to be able to get another job. Most people end up taking anything that will pay the rent. A person with their masters degree could have been one of the people who stood in line get a job as a cleaner for the Dodgers Stadium. The cold harsh truth is that people did this to themselves. Instead of applying for that subprime mortgage they should have weighed their options and headed in another direction. Instead of buying that exorbitantly expensive car, a good used car would have sufficed. But no, sadly the price for luxury items is no match for a person’s credit. A credit card can buy a person almost anything nowadays. It can seemingly even buy happiness. Nevertheless, when that bill comes in the mail a month later it all comes crashing down. Here comes the government once again to bail out the companies who lent too much. It all cycles into a treacherous inescapable predicament whereupon people are unable to surface from. The young are especially at risk for developing bad credit due to the lack of knowledge they possess. Like Thoreau, people need to learn to be satisfied with what they posses, not what they desire.
As debt accumulates so does the tension. As tensions rise, so do outburst of anger. Those out burst come in many forms, some not so subtle. Humans display an array of emotions while under stress. Sometimes it is depression, while other times it is uncharacteristic anger. Behavior can often be ruled by the socioeconomic culture. When times are hard, the stress amounts to a collective feeling of doom among society. At work the days seem to melt into one another, each hour passing like an eternity. Although it seems as though the restaurant business has not been hit, they have. Due to the economy, even the most lucrative business are going under. Finally, people realize that going out is a luxury. At the expense of the whims of society companies can either be successful, or shut down. Thoreau believes in solving the problems of life practically (Walden 17). To be more practical is to be less complicated. A life lived with less can be more. To put it in perspective, life is made of moments. Moments are what give life meaning to the poor, and even the rich. A small gesture like waking up to a fresh cup of hot coffee can be the most wonderful thing to a poor person, and it can make the rich person feel good too. Smells connote emotions that can change a person’s behavior and even perspective in life. That type of a moment is what Thoreau lived for, a small almost negligible moment that could give meaning to the whole world. Life should be lived to the goal of being happy, no matter the circumstances. The young, the old, the middle aged all face the same problems. Most do not know how to handle money, so they mismanage their finances. Credit cards can make life simpler at first, eventually in the wrong hands they are misused and the user gets into trouble. Thoreau lived in the 19th century, but he could have easily been talking about the 21st. In his work he mentions the problems faced back then, although slightly different were much the same that we deal with today. The railroad problems would be our car problems; the government still the government, and the economy just about the same. Thoreau transcends time; he is the father of ideas that promoted simplicity. Thoreau says, “However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are (433). A life can either be complex or simple. Thoreau was a proponent of the latter, and he encouraged many to strive for the same.