Thinkaloud | The consumed consumer

… holding fast to the day of rest

T

he merchandiser delights in people who live by secular texts that adorn car bumpers and T-shirts: “Shop till you drop”,  “Born to shop.”  The shopping habits of such addicted consumers line the pockets of hard-sell hucksters who are winning the battle to have shopping malls open 24/7. In these consumer cathedrals there will be psychologically soothing music which is designed to keep consumers happy and loosen their purse strings. The bright lights, the carefully chosen environmentally correct colour scheme, the sales associates hovering in the background have one object: make the sale.

The owners of these consumer castles will not be there round the clock.  They will not have their family life interfered with by the seven-day-a-week shopping routine they force on their employees.  They do not care about the destruction of Sunday as a “common pause day”. Any day not devoted to selling is, to them, a lost day.

This attack on the sanctity of Sunday is not new.  There have always been those who have wished to destroy anything that God has put in place for the well being of people.  Clever and godless writers have, for years, attacked what they called the “blue laws” that restricted human perversity and gave order to society.  The “me first” mentality demands immediate satisfaction, regardless of the human or spiritual cost.

Of course there will be loud outcries when society is completely secular — with banks, government offices and everything else open on Sunday.  But then it will be too late to reverse decisions that were based on greed, not need.

There is no proven need for stores to be open seven days a week. No one is going to be more than slightly inconvenienced if stores are closed on Sunday.  In fact, the consumer might even grow to like the peace and quiet that comes from a day with a change of pace, a day which is free from the bullying tactics of those whose greed would consume everything and everyone.

Why not join the increasing number of thoughtful people who refuse to be sucked in by the mad rush for instant consumer gratification? Organize your life to ensure that your true needs are met without breaking the sanctity of a day that is essential to our wellbeing.

The way to personal wholeness is to accept God’s idea of one day in seven as a day of rest and freedom, a change of pace that will be productive and satisfying.

Writer: Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell Ryan is a former Editor in Chief in Canada and the UK. In retirement he is a copy editor of theRubicon and the author of theRubicon series called Resurrected Writers.

1 Comment to Thinkaloud | The consumed consumer

1. This has become a problem with kids’ sports teams as well — it is a real fight and takes a long view to take the Chariots of Fire stance with a little league coach.
Catherine W. on April 7th, 2008

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