Stuff.

To my surprise and amusement, my neighbour is outside right now washing his car (a brand new BMW Z4) for at least the 3rd time this week. His incredibly patient girlfriend gets the great job of detailing the wheels with a toothbrush. Apart from providing his neighbours with something to talk about, this guy somehow personifies americans and their obsession with stuff. As kids their parents work hard to provide for them so that they can have all the stuff that other people have, then they too grow up, and as adults they work so that they can have the same things, a nice car, a house, a boat, new ski gear or a nice bicycle and of course stuff for their kids. Somehow they end up surrounding themselves by stuff in the belief that this will make them happier. They even have larger baggage allowances when they travel, so that they can take enough stuff wherever they go.
The question I ask though, is does it really make them happy? Is this what it is about? Somehow I think that in order to truly understand the important things in life we need to distance ourselves from the material possessions we think we need and see what is left. Then and only then may we begin to see what really matters.

Just let me keep my bike, my camera and a good book…