It’s Super Bowl Sunday, the football event known for its multi-million dollar commercials. In my mind, commercials are best avoided; they are designed to make us want things, to plant seeds of discontent. If you’re like me, your closets and cupboards and garage shelves are overflowing with items you used once or twice, then wondered what possessed you to buy them. True liberation lies in freeing yourself from “thneeds.”
ENOUGH
The work-n-spend treadmill
can make it quite tough
to decide for oneself
just how much is enough
Some extra square footage,
a big SUV,
a fancier cell phone,
each touted as key
to a blissful existence,
a short-lived reaction
when this or that thing
doesn’t bring satisfaction
Less really is more,
like freedom from worry
Coffee at sunrise
with no need to hurry
Homegrown tomatoes
red-ripe from the vine
The fresh smell of laundry
dried on the clothesline
Meals made from scratch
Time for reading and play
Communing in silence
with nature each day
The treadmill can’t offer
what money can’t buy;
she’ll tease and she’ll tempt
but you needn’t comply
Turn off her commercials
Stop buying her stuff
Instead, count your blessings;
they’re more than enough
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JUST JOAN 42 
Hey! Haven’t seen you around in a while! I, for one, won’t be watching the Superbowl; I have no interest in either the game or the commercials. I’ll probably end up watching Law & Order re-runs or something… or maybe there’s a movie on Netflix. 🙂
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Yeah, I’ve been slacking a bit… I’m not a football fan, so I won’t be watching the Super Bowl either. I’m a fan of police and crime shows, too. I enjoy figuring out who done it more than guessing which celebrity will set their hair on fire or have a wardrobe malfunction during the halftime show. 🙂
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Beautiful poem so full of wisdom and advice for the people living in the ephemeral digital world!
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Thanks, Peter. At a certain age, you realize the best things in life aren’t things. The sooner you figure it out, the better. Happy Sunday! 🙂
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A great philosophy but I’m afraid our economy would take a real hit not to mention lost jobs lost wages hungry and homeless families. Capitalism needs consumers.
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Thanks, Holly. I’m not against buying things we really need, just silly things, like “new and improved” versions of things we already own or stuff to keep up with the Joneses. I agree that capitalism needs consumers, but consuming too much and accumulating too much debt is also a cause of hungry and homeless families. Anyway, I doubt that simplicity and making do are going to sweep the nation or have any real impact on the economy. Thanks for the comment. 🙂
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I agree with that for sure.
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I’m with you on this wholeheartedly. I’ve spent the past four months, with about another four months to go, cleaning up after my late father-in-law. Seems he didn’t like throwing things away. For me, the best thing to have is lots of time to relax. It’s free, and it disposes itself automatically.
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Thanks, Tippy, I figured you would agree after the mess Jake left you guys. Lots of time to relax sounds great, and yes, it disposes of itself easily. Maybe too easily. You think you have some and BAM! something eats that time right up. 🙂
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I quite agree! Think it’s just that rush you get from purchasing.
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Thanks, Marissa. I think you’re right, you do get kind of a rush when you buy something. Then you get it home and go, “What was I thinking? I don’t have time to breathe, let alone make my own pasta!” One time, I spent an hour in Bath & Body smelling different lotions before I finally picked one called “Clean Cotton.” The next day at work, just after I’d applied a big blob of it to my hands, a co-worker walked in and said, “Yikes! What smells like old lady in here?” Uh-oh. 🙂
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Love your poem. I watch the Super Bowl more for the commercials rather than the game. They are the about the only commercials I pay attention to. I’m a pro at zipping past them on the boob tube and averting my eyes from Google, Amazon, or Facebook adverts.
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Thanks, LTodd. A lot of people watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials. Not me, but a lot of people. I haven’t watched regular TV in years because a typical hour-long show includes 18-19 minutes of commercials. That’s crazy. Thanks for the comment. 🙂
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My favorites are the commercials aimed at kids, because kids aren’t impressionable.
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Thanks, Snoozing. I remember whining for breakfast cereals, toys, whatever was the “in” thing on TV commercials. I think that’s the idea… plant the idea in the kid’s head and let HIM wear down the person with the wallet. We didn’t get all that stuff, but a lot of kids did. Most parents weren’t as steadfast in their non-buying habits as mine. 🙂
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Hello my dear friend 🙂 True words to live by for sure. I thing that is a concept age brings to us, now we understand what really matters. I wish I had back all those hours in my 20s that I spent mall shopping. I’m also glad the Eagles won. Now we know T. Brady is only human after all, lol!
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So good to see you here, Lana! I think many of us jump into the spending fray when we’re young and by the time we realize we’re running in a hamster wheel, it’s too late. Sure, my parents warned against it, but I didn’t listen. And I doubt many kids do. Some things we have to learn for ourselves, and the sooner the light goes on, the better. I’m not much of a football fan, so it didn’t matter to me who won the Super Bowl. I’ll be watching the Winter Olympics though, my favorite is figure skating. Hope life and writing are going well for you. Say hello to Aunt Agnes and the gang for me. 🙂 PS: Kiwis rule.
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Kiwis do rule, ha ha! And soon it will be Spring, or in Kiwi lengo, Groping Season, lol! I don’t care much for pro-football either, but my spouse is a football and baseball fanatic. I’m glad we learn to value the truly important things when we are older. Aunt Agnes is doing well and avoiding the flu bug. She’s been soaking her feet in warm Epsom salt water in the evening watching reruns of the Golden Girls 🙂
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LOL, groping season is right around the corner! You need to write a book (maybe a series) about Aunt Agnes, you’ve definitely got the 411 on old ladies. I’ve got Epsom salt in the bathroom cabinet and I love the Golden Girls, esp crochety Sophia. Yikes, what does that say about me? It’s too bad we have to dramatize and complicate our lives in order to see the value of simple things; when I was young, I would have rolled my eyes at all the stuff that makes me happiest now. What are you writing nowadays? 🙂
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Oh I loved Sophia too, ha ha. Not really sure what it says, lol. I’m ready for spring and anxiously awaiting a Kiwi report. Aunt Agnes swears by Epsom salt, I kinda like it too, if only I had time to put my feet in some. I have packed away my writing utensils which would mainly consist of pens and pencils, ha ha. How’s your poetry coming along? I think you should put together a chapbook. 🙂
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Exactly! Love The Lorax, by the way.
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Yay! Someone else who knows The Lorax and what “thneeds” are! Thanks, KE. 🙂
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This is exactly my topic in the past few years. I have been feeling the weight of all my possessions bearing down on me. I sense a dire need to get rid of the mountains of unnecessary stuff packed into every nook and cranny of my household. It seems to be a futile battle. The minute I create some new empty space, something slithers in to fill it . . .
(PS. Full disclosure: I would buy a Thneed if I ever saw one for sale.)
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Helpful tip from a simplifier friend: Pack anything questionable (keep or get rid of) into a box (or several) and put it in the garage. Mark it with the date, but not the contents. If a year goes by and you haven’t opened the box to retrieve anything, throw it out. How can you miss it when you don’t even know what’s in it? 🙂
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A beautiful way of salvaging one from a mind twirled by the urgency of spending when better alternatives lay within. Its smart and deeply satisfying. I think this poem serves as a powerful advice especially to individuals suffering from impulse buying. Its a nightmare.
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Thanks, AK. Our culture is all about convincing us to buy the latest car or appliance or gadget, but the older I get, the more I realize that the best things in life aren’t things. 🙂
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Something to remember you by ” Best things in life aren’t things.” So true!
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