Being a western consumer is quite disturbing. My mind will be settled at times, only to be riled up again by reoccurring thoughts of advertisements and magazine covers. What shoes are being worn by what celebrities, How to lose 10 lbs in 10 minutes, How to do 40 things at once and still look happy, and everything else you can imagine. Why is it that when I feel a pang of hunger it’s followed by a pang of guilt? If I’m hungry, that’s a natural sign that I should eat, right? Wrong! I am told that hunger can be beaten with weight watchers, specific mixed beverages that taste like baby food, or extra low calorie chewing gum. I shouldn’t want to eat, even if my body tells me so – my body is a liar. My body causes me to want to eat too much, sleep too little, and cry at the “wrong times”. It tells me when it’s time to say “no” when I should be saying “yes”. My body hurts when I try to straddle it into spandex dresses and walk on thin slices of wood-like material. My mind will then remind me that beauty hurts, and in the end, it’s all worth it; I can get what I want. But what do I want? Does my want have anything to do with the way I have to get it? We’re told that high-heels, tight clothing, a disturbingly tiny waistline and 3 inches of colourful cream on our face will get us what we want, even if it hurts a little…or a lot.
The more we do, the more we will get. It’s like consumer karma – or maybe it’s more running towards a mirage. This kind of karma does not work in the traditional sense, we give nothing or value to anyone. We simply give money to rich, and expect dream fulfillment and happiness in return. The marketers tell us the right steps to follow to be happy, we follow them and we end up even more unhappy then we started and they end up rich. How can we recognize this obvious observation, this consumer trend and still partake in it? Why do I still stare at a piece of chocolate, debating whether or not it will make my stomach look larger somehow and then come home and write a post like this? How does that make any sense? When we can see that things don’t turn out as we were told, we usually do things differently. For example, if we’re told we will be happier people if we lose more weight and it does not turn out to be true, why do we still strive for it? Are our brains that poorly wired? Are we really as intelligent as we claim to be? Or are we simply vulnerable humans who are being targeted by equally vulnerable but much wealthier humans? How do we change this? Does it need to be changed? I believe it does.
Many will say that buying everything they think they need makes them happier. But what happiness can be felt, really felt, by a pair of high heel shoes – a whistle from a man, a look at yourself in the mirror? Telling yourself that you’re slightly longer legs represent the word “sexy” and you must embody that every moment of your life? What is happiness? Happiness can be touched, you can touch your Porsche, your new handbag or your new HD TV…it must be real, right? You can show the world that you’re slightly better off because you had just enough money at the right time to buy that perfect car – the jealousy you imagine them to feel slightly fills you with joy. Is this really joy? Is our life based upon competing with others, purchasing and then wasting materials? Do we claim our parasite-like behaviour resembles happiness?
Let us consider what we do to ourselves, what we apparently need to feel joy. We are told we need to look a certain way and buy certain things. Women are targeted constantly in the media – bigger breasts, smaller waists, longer legs and thicker hair. We know that there are so-called doctors around that can cut our breasts open and stick foreign objects inside of us. We pay these doctors to mutilate our bodies and tell us how beautiful and happy we will be after it’s all over. We look in the mirror and see that we have accomplished something, our self-esteem will be higher and more men will find us sexually attractive – but wait, your legs are too short and your waist is too average. No one wants to be average. We barely cover our mutilated breasts and March onto the streets with a feeling of false empowerment; a man has mutilated our breasts for the pleasure of other men to stare at. We must now wait to be told by the media and market what else is horribly wrong with us. Walking past glass windows we see the plastic skinned celebrities sporting 8 inch spike heels, we see how long and lean their legs are. If we have the money and the need to feel true happiness, we purchase the shoes. The shoes make us come home and need over the counter pain medication to treat our back pain. The shoes make our feet swell and bleed; much like our breasts did after they were mutilated. But it’s okay, it’s sexy…it’s attractive, men will like us more and that will ultimately make us better, happier people. The trouble with the waist just will not go away, you pay to spend hours at a gym where you run and sweat and think about food. You try to ignore the hunger pangs, but you give in. You fail. You are told you failed, even though you are losing weight, it’s just not enough. You are a failure. They tell you that it’s not a size 6 anymore, it’s a size 0. How could you be so blind?
What are your options now? You are still not happy. You try and get enough money to go back to your so-called doctor; he can mutilate your stomach and your thighs so that they look pieces of plywood. You will fit into a size 0 and the happiness will surely follow. If you don’t have the money for this, you can simply starve yourself. Who cares? Everyone is doing it, even little girls. You keep losing weight, showing your inflated breasts and bandaging your ankles…you keep repeating this cycle until you realize that there is no happiness. Now what? There must be more, and there is always more. Tomorrow there will be something else. Size zero is much too small; you’ll look sick – gain back at least 15 lbs and try again. Try again until you stop failing and start being happy. It will all work out, remember. The celebrities don’t like, the marketers are rooting for you – they want you to shine through and be the best you that you can be…but along the way you have to ask yourself who you are, and what you actually want to be.
