Thoughts at Romjul
Cos a monkey in silk is a monkey no less
– Rodriguez
It’s ‘Romjul’ that slow time in the festive season between Christmas and New Years, when many are on holiday.
It’s a perfect opportunity to retreat from the madness of the world, share time together, sit still and think. Lovely, lazy, lounging days.
Just before Christmas we went to see a tribute band playing songs by the artist known as Rodriguez. The band played many of his songs, and most of the tracks from the album Cold Fact.
Hearing ‘Like Janis‘ being sung live, I listened again carefully to Rodriguez’s brilliant lyrics:
“And you measure for wealth by the things you can hold….
And don’t try to enchant me with your manner of dress‘Cause a monkey in silk is a monkey no less.
On Christmas Eve PKP presented me with a homemade card. Under the tree he had drawn monkeys! Just a few days later I read a piece called ‘The Four Monkeys of Materialism’ by author Tara Button (‘A life less throwaway‘)
So much monkey business!
Tara Button’s article details what she calls the four monkeys of materialism;
1. Advertising
2. The Trend Monkey
3. The Status Monkey
4. The Attachment Monkey
I recall lecturing about the first one. Using psychographic profiling, advertisers target groups of the consuming public. If you are not taken in by brands, fads or celebrity endorsement, it’s unlikely that advertising will talk to you.
The trend monkey is the one that is all about ‘keeping up with the Joneses’. Why would anyone would want something that everyone else has? Through the lunacy of ‘look at what I have’, people are persuaded to compete with each other. For a moment I was reminded of the monogrammed everything in Monaco earlier this year. Some really do want that designer kak!
The last monkey, the Attachment Monkey, talks of how we hold on to clutter. I guess it can become part of a pattern of consuming; buy, store, buy more. Before you know it, you have a house full of stuff. More kak!
I thought of a cartoon by Bob Eckstein. The image shows an old man standing with the help of a zimmer frame, looking at all his stuff in storage. He says to his son standing next to him “one day Son all this will be yours”.
I reflected on our festive celebrations. We do it differently compared to a traditional Christmas. We keep it simple; bubbles and a braai (BBQ), buying just enough food to last for the two days of Christmas. We exchanged a few gifts. All were consumables, wrapped in brown paper bags; two books bought from a local thrift shop, soap, tea and iced cookies.
The brown paper went into the recycling sack. And that was that.
Many will complain thoughout the year that there’s not enough money for X or Y. But when it comes to Christmas there is all this excessive consuming and so little thinking about it. Why?
For us, conscious consuming has become a part of life. We buy only what we need. We set our own trends!
Society will continue to tell everyone to keep consuming. But it’s doubtful that the pointless purchases will make anyone happy for very long.
Watch out for those monkeys!
Maggie M / Mother City Time