The idea of creating a Market Independent Life is not a new lifestyle but it is an old one. It wasn’t that long ago that for those few things you could not grow, store, or do yourself you would go to the locally owned store/shop and purchase what you need. The need for flour, animal feed, grains…requires a trip to the Seed and Feed. Need fabric? Stop by the Mercantile…oh and pick up some of Mrs. Stewart’s beeswax candles while you are there. You get the idea. Imagine that life for a moment, where you buy only what you need. What you need.
Today we live in a world where we are, with reckless abandon, repeatedly stimulated to buy what we are told we want. The really sad thing is that there are millions of people who will never jump off the wagon and stop wanting. They will overdose on the consumerism illusion that they are somehow complete now that they own that second house on the lake, drive that new car, or possess the latest iPhone to hit the market. The job of brainwashing us has been going on for a long time now and is working wonderfully. Perfectly in fact.
Getting off the market is a power move in a world that leaves most of us feeling powerless. Powerless to the corporations, the government, the media, and most importantly powerless to change anything. Will growing your own veggies or buying them from local farmers change the foreign policy of this nation? No. It won’t. At least not to start out with. I am compelled here to insert a textual nod to the Butterfly Effect. Not the movie, the theory. According to thefreedictionary.com the general idea is as follows…
The idea, used in chaos theory, that a very small difference in the initial state of a physical system can make a significant difference to the state at some later time.
Let that soak in a moment. In this immediate result, instant gratification and me me now now society we live in getting OTM will not change anything…now. Let us take a moment to run through what happens when we just continue on our consumer driven path towards economic slavery.
I am not a fan of Nestle. For many reasons, of which you could choose to research yourself, I choose not to buy from Nestle Company. Your lack of financial subordination to this company is just a speck of sand…they own the beach. There is no immediate change. The CEO doesn’t call me begging me to buy another bag of Tollhouse Cookies to save the company! Just a small wing and an insignificant wisp of air.
Now, since I am engaged in my world and the enlightenment of my fellow beings I go over to a friend’s house and she is feeding her kids Fudge Strips and milk…so that they have something to put on their stomachs before taking their ADD medications. I say…’Hey…did you know Nestle Co is directly involved with xyz?’ You have opened a narrative that will hopefully make your friend think seriously about the decisions she is making.
We don’t talk about stuff like this enough. We don’t challenge the people around us, question each other, and discuss concerns about the world. You mention things like ‘Did you know that Nestle Company, the worlds #1 food company in sales, has been buying up land or acquiring leases across the United States in order to suck up the water and transporting it to huge bottling factories. From there it comes to you at the low low price of 1.99 for 16oz. It isn’t just in America that this is happening. They have a factory in Pakistan as well…the effects on the local groundwater which nearby villages rely upon is staggering.
Namaste,
Ida
Recent Comments