Stuff

Think of all the things you have spent money on in the last year.  Now place each of those things in one of two categories: "needs" and "wants".

My guess is that many of us end up with the "wants" category quite full.

Most of human existence has been focused on survival - filling our most basic "needs" in order to stay alive.  But many of us and our babyboomer parents haven't had to think about survival at all.  We have more than we need and our focus instead is on getting as many of our (often material) "wants" fulfilled.  What a drastic difference as compared to the rest of human history!

One of the by-products of this shift from a need-focused to a want-focused culture is a lot of stuff.  This video offers an interesting reflection and analysis of stuff.