Crystal’s Adventures

Friends and family, here is a video with a very important message about consumption. It’s called The Story of Stuff and is 20 minutes long. How I wish every person in our country - every man, woman and especially child in school - could watch this video! It is both enlightening and inspiring.

I’ve always known that things like exploitation of natural resources and poor workers in developing countries were bad, and that big discount stores like Walmart were evil, but I never really saw how everything fit together - until now!

CRYSTAL SAYS, here are some key actions we can take to reduce our consumption:

• Spend quality time with our children. We can teach them that the things of value in life are love, family, community and leisure time - rather than STUFF!
• Surround yourself with people who live out values of simplicity, care for the environment and make you feel good without regard to the STUFF YOU OWN. Our neighbors, co-workers and friends can influence us in ways we don’t realize. It’s so much healthier not to have people around you who make you feel inadequate. Feelings of inadequacy leads our society to shop!
• If you feel the need to buy something new at the store, ask yourself (1) “Do I really need this thing, or do I want it?”, and (2) “Why do I want this thing?” Take some time to very thoughtfully consider the answers. If you do indeed feel you want the item, wait one week before purchasing it. Then ask yourself the questions again. Imagine your life without the item. Would you feel an emptiness, and could you fill the emptiness with something more fulfilling and long-lasting, like spending time with your girlfriend or boyfriend, calling your sister on the phone, going on a walk or volunteering?
• Consider whether you absolutely must have a brand new item. Could you buy a used model instead?
• Consider whether you absolutely must have this item all to yourself. Could you borrow this thing from a friend, or perhaps trade them for it in exchange for something else?
• STOP WATCHING TELEVISION. I do so strongly feel that television with all its ads and shallow messages is poisonous to our minds and makes us want more stuff.