Large Fierce Mammal

Source: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/A7fptqyj8Ry/Cath+Kidston+s+Gift+to+London/r-ZnWACJji5

“I figure that we are hard-wired to be hunter and gatherers, and somewhere, that whole shopaholic thing expresses some kind of visceral need to acquire and store items. Once upon a time, we might have been out finding acorns and tucking them away or putting a turnip away for winter. Now, we are buying an extra top because it just might come in handy.

“Whatever kind of acquisitional need we have to protect us from the elements has kind of been subverted and perverted into just a need to acquire.” ~ Lee Simpson

You may have noticed that this time of year comes with a strong gust of hurry uppedness. For the most part, it begins before dark on 31 October when it isn’t hard to find store employees dressed as witches and zombies busily knocking down Hallowe’en displays in favour of new ones featuring Christmas ornaments. A few have the decency to hold off until the evening of 11 November, but they get rarer every year.

The hurry uppedness to which I refer is a drive to buy and bestow gifts on everyone you’ve ever met based on the premise that the measure of treasure expended in the pursuit equates with the value placed on your relationships with the recipients. I would point out that the survival of most retail stores rests exclusively on the revenues obtained through this seasonal onslaught, and associated outriders – Black Friday and Boxing Day sales. You may want to think on that.

Today, I’ll be directing your attention to a very seasonal bit of journalism from which the introductory quotation was extracted. It treats the subject of local Reverend Lee Simpson’s pledge last New Year’s Day to embark upon a quest – her formally announced “Year of Buying Nothing”.

The United Church minister and former magazine publisher vowed on Jan. 1, 2014, not to purchase anything except food and prescription medications for twelve months.

As she approaches the end of her “Year of Buying Nothing,” as she calls it, she’s learned a few lessons.

“I learned to question everything about the whole consumer pattern of behaviour,” Simpson said. “The things that I used to simply assume, I now don’t. I now stop and think.”

Read the Chronicle Herald article on her gripping adventure here, and meditate on what you may find within it until next time.