Do you know what this is?

I learned about it decades ago, secondhand via a Cherokee.

Poverty consciousness is the belief that there isn’t enough of anything to go around: not enough money, not enough time, not enough planning, leaders, clean air, rest, love – just about anything that you want or think you and others need, or that is important to you.

And I have been as guilty as anyone of feeling this way. After the famine, came the feast aka the ability to buy “stuff.”

I will never live a Minimalist life. I can’t stand cold and sterile, ultra tidy environments with no soul.

Most of us have people in our lives who have actually lived through war and want in some way or another. To my simple mind, the greatest BUY BUY BUY campaign started after World War 2.

What happened then?

TV was invented. Adverts.

You are no-one and nothing unless you own x y z or z y x.

We were all taught to “keep up with the Jones’s.” Bigger house. Bigger car. Better clothes. Fancy restaurants. Holidays abroad 2 or 3 or 4 times a year.

Spain for a week again, dear? We’ve just come back from a month in a Safari Park in Africa courtesy of our flexible friend…

The middle class was tempted to rise ever higher via money and possessions and credit.

Now we have today. The “middle class” is being thieved of everything. Buy now. Pay later.