Tycoon-ism: Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. – Albert Einstein
We are bombarded with thousands of advertisements daily, from sun tanning lotions to new car models which advertisers say you need to buy. An average person, which most of us are, would take these ads in stride. But if we delve deep enough and ask ourselves some simple questions like: “Do I really need this?” or “If I buy this, would it add to my personal development or would it just add more clutter to my already topsy-turvy life?” then we might be able to have a better perspective on how to live our lives.
The problem is we tend to over complicate things and in doing so we fail to grasp life’s fundamentals. Man needs only four things to exist; these are food, air, physical protection and most importantly, his need for a relationship with His creator. As man progressed he has elaborated these needs to include fancy terms for simple things. Food included items like “all-natural” or “instant”. Protection included “”mansions” and “Ferrari”. Unfortunately, man’s relationship with God, lacking any physical nature was relegated to the sidelines of Sunday worship of 2 hours. Why the disparity in treating these needs? It might be because we have analyzed our physical needs so much to the point of ambiguity. We no longer know what we really need so we need not wonder why success and happiness for most of us seem a long way off. Find your purpose, know what’s important and then act.
We are oblivious to the price that our forefathers paid to have done the right thing at the right time when their beliefs were being challenged instead of bowing down if only to keep the peace. You can observe this when we see politicians squander our nation's wealth and we choose to stay quiet because we fear to be branded as a revolutionist. Or when we see celebrities - whom our children adore - flaunt their half naked bodies giving our children the impression that sex and beauty is all there is to life yet we don't do anything to stop it because we let ourselves be convinced that our celebrities interpretation of the right of self expression is the correct one. The price for this is a very low self esteem for our children and worse, a very low moral standard.
