The Antagonist In Our Story (KJ)

KJ — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:13:52 +0000

We have just about sold all of our electronics. I’ve sent hundreds of emails and we’ve burned through nearly all of our AT&T rollover minutes trying to give people directions to our house, so they can pick stuff up. During these last couple of weeks, I’ve seen electronics that cost us $2000+ sell for less than $600. I was so fed up with all of it! Then today “he” spoke to us. He whispered voodoo into our ears and we were instantly hypnotized. “He” doesn’t want us to show our kids the world. He wants to throw us off our path of conservation and adventure.

“He” is Steve Jobs. It’s true. He unveiled the new iPhone today in his keynote speech and I just drooled the entire time. I have to be cool and uninterested when CM is raving about the latest and greatest product from Apple, but as soon as he turns his back I’m trying to figure out how we can fit it into our budget! Yesterday my phone was fine, but today it’s grossly deficient and I need a new one. Or so I think. To make matters worse, the new iPhone costs half of what we paid for ours in December. This is a prime example for why we need to buckle down and buy used.

What scares me is how will I be able to convince my children that new isn’t always better if I don’t practice it myself? Living in an RV will definitely keep us from buying a lot of new stuff. It will hopefully make us, as one fellow Craigslister put it, “aware of what we bring into our space”. So much of product marketing is built around making you feel like you’re missing something and then selling you a product that will fill that void and thus make you whole. That pattern/cycle has been etched into my brain. My hope is that this time in the RV will help me create new patterns that don’t involve buying things to make me feel better.

2 Adults 2 Kids » keynote

The Antagonist In Our Story (KJ)