The Problem of Excess

This morning as I was driving Carolena to school I glanced in the review mirror to catch a glimpse of Nils in the mirror by his carseat. When I glanced back I saw that there was a Kroger sticker on his mirror. Kroger stickers are always all over my car.

What is it with American excess? It is making me insane. Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly thankful for the time, place, and circumstances in which I live. In fact, I give thanks to God everyday for clean running water, my dishwasher, and my washing machine. Really. However, in so many ways I think that the excess is just too, well, excessive.

Why does my child get a sticker every time we go to the store? She doesn't even care about the sticker. She only cares (tantrum style) if she doesn't receive one. The sticker itself couldn't matter less. That is why you see so many Kroger/Target/WhateverStore stickers stuck to the carts, because kids don't care!

I keep thinking about Laura Ingalls with her corn husk. In Little House in the Big Woods Laura doesn't even have a doll. She literally wrapped a blanket around a corn husk and used that as her one toy. And I have a child who has more toys than she can play with and for the most part doesn't actually give a shit (pardon my french) about any of them. Besides her special "whoppie frog" and Howie I could probably slowly sneak every toy out of this house and she wouldn't notice or care.

Every year for Christmas the Ingalls girls were giddy with anticipation and yet they weren't even sure if Santa would show up or not. Carolena will never worry about whether or not Santa will bring presents. The Ingalls girls were happily surprised to find a small amount of Christmas candy and one gift per person. They would marvel over the one present and savor the candy with delight. We can have candy any day of the week. Carolena sees candy in every single checkout line we ever stand in. We don't have candy that often, but certainly it isn't that big of a deal when we do. And don't get me started on Christmas. Geeze Louise. "Let's celebrate the incarnation, God come to Earth in human form, by giving each other a bunch of crap that no one needs or even cares about."

What is it with the excess? While we have made our lives so much easier and I am thankful for the access to so many things, I think it's just gone a bit too far. It's too much. What saddens me is that it cheapens things that could be special. It could be special to get a sticker every once in a while. It could be special to get a new toy. It could be special to have cookies, or gummies, or candy, or whatever fun food every once in a while. It could be special to get that one really awesome gift for Christmas and savor it. But it isn't. The excess is the norm now. And I don't like it.

So, I'll keep buying less and donating to thrift stores so that the stuff doesn't overwhelm us. I'll keep cooking at home so that going out to eat is a treat. I'll ask Santa to keep the Christmas gifts low-key. I'll ask the Easter Bunny to bring stickers and the Toothfairy to leave quarters. I'll work to give our family balance so that we don't fall prey to the excess. I'll keep working on Becoming Leona. Let's just hope those damn Kroger stickers don't kill me first.