you are what you buy*
Plagued by the mundaneness of our 'New Jersey'/middle class origins, [no, my father did not beat my mother; and no, there were never drive-by shootings in my neighborhood, and no, half my high school class did not get pregnant and drop out of high school], we are driven to consumption in order to compensate for our dull lives and common white collar professions. When we are unable to find satisfaction in our work, we often seek it in the objects and experiences we can buy. We become what we buy.
“The thing about new things is you feel new when you buy them, you feel as though as though you are somebody different because you own something different. We are our possessions, you know.”
~ Blue like Jazz**
We are what we do to the extent that what we do enables us to buy more. Higher paying professions (lawyers, consultants, doctors etc…) give us the income to make respectable purchases of interestingness that being an elementary school teacher does not afford. You’re interesting if you’re a consultant that has traveled the world. You're interesting if you're an investment banker living in a stylish apartment in midtown and are able to go to a different restaurant and nightclub every weekend. You're interesting if you're some top executive and have the money to pick up an extravagant hobby like flying airplanes. But you're definitely not interesting if you’re an elementary school teacher-- unless of course, you work in an inner city neighborhood with Teach for America or some other non-profit, because it’s cool to be 'into poor people'.
*This is one of perhaps a backlog of 15-30 blog entries that are unfinished. I figured, I should just give up, and start posting them….
**On a side note, Intervarsity Press has recently launched a new line of books, called ‘Likewise’, which are sort… of books designed for the postmodern generation. The writing styles are much more similar to Blue like Jazz, edgy, casual, more open for debate and discussion etc… Though I feel there is value in publishing these books, as books contain ideas and ideas ought to be disseminated (:P)-- All the marketing just makes me feel like a niche market. Luckily, our calling is to something much greater than that, whereas everything else in our society would seem to tell me, that is all I am.
2 comments:
Have you read Searching for God Knows What? The more personal tone in Blue Like Jazz is definitely appropriate for what is, after all, a testimony. In Searching for God Knows What Donald Miller uses more or less the same writing style to try to make a theological point about the nature of our relationship with God and ends up writing an extremely powerful book.
The only sad thing about it was that he felt it necessary to put in a kind of theological disclaimer at the very end, which I thought somewhat undermined his whole point. "This book is for kids, and we need to keep in mind that there is a more valid reality that you will find out when you grow up," he seemed to be saying. I disagree, having "grown up". :-)
I wonder if Augustine's Confessions was felt to be as edgy in his time.
Linshuang...why do you think that people think it's cool to be "into poor people?" I have never heard of that actually until now in your post. Does "into poor people" make you seem more altriustic? I don't think so...I guess the question is do you have faith? Do you have belief systems? What makes you want to wake up every morning and face the world?
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