The Value of Posessions
It struck me this morning on my walk with the dogs (day 6 in an attempt at 30 days straight) how many times the desire to own something is tied directly to our desire to have other people know that we own it.
The most recent incident for me was a bit of techno jealousy as I wandered through the HDTV section in a local electronics store and walked past an $8000 plasma TV. It wasn't huge, but I realized my primary desire to have one would be to show it to other people. It wouldn't really improve over the picture that I already have set up: definitely not enough to justify the cost.
In thinking about this, I've realized that part of my purchase decisions needs to be that I only want to be buying items that I would still want if I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about or show to anyone. If that's still true, it's likely to be meeting more reasonable needs instead of pure vanity.
