material girl

Today, I went to the mall with my nephews and cousins. In the toy section, the kids' eyes widened with a spark of excitement. As I looked at the toys, I started to see things that were so cute but useless, and I found myself wanting them too. My mom bought my nephew a huge box of Pokémon cards. I thought, "You already have five decks, why do you need more?" He replied, "They are different; this Pikachu has 200 attack points, it's different from the one I have."

Not only kids, but adults also get caught in this loop of consumerism. "I don't have this one, it's different." "I don't have this color." In a world where big companies with extensive research and know exactly how to use these to persuade their consumers, it's easy to be drawn to shiny things we don't need.

This is just a reminder to be mindful of what we buy, because at any age, anyone can fall into the trap of consumerism—the kind that makes us buy things we don't need.