Meaningful Returns

“Why We Hate Cheap Things” is easily one of the most insightful pieces on money and consumption that I have ever read, so much so that I periodically go back to it to reread it.

There are two ways to get richer: one is to make more money; and the second is to discover that more of the things we could love are already to hand (thanks to the miracles of the Industrial Revolution). We are, astonishingly, already a good deal richer than we are encouraged to think we are.

We are, astonishingly, already a good deal richer than we are encouraged to think we are.

How do we read a statement like that, chew it up, swallow it, digest it? How do we let it enter our minds and hearts and change us?

We look at our young children, because our young children are only concerned with the intrinsic delight they get from something. Price is no signal to them, because they are completely unaware of what price even means.

So, as Innocent Smith says in Manalive, “Leave off buying and selling, and start looking!” Put aside your wallet–both physical and mental–for a few moments each day, and consider how a small child views the world and derives joy and pain from it. There are likely more clues in their actions than a multitude of adulty blogs will ever contain.