The signs that we’ve become a society with too much disposable income are not just signs; they’re flashing red lights. No one likes to be reminded that there are people starving all over the world, including in this country, but THERE ARE PEOPLE STARVING, folks! So is there really a need for:

• Halloween decorations? Or even lavish Christmas displays beginning right after the orange dancing pumpkins come down?
• Pet bakeries/pet day cares/pet spas/and one of my favorites….
• Pet wipes? (Pet wipes! Are we serious?)
• Teenagers in cars I will never hope to own/schools having to clear land to park all those cars
• Athletic shoes that cost more than my wedding ring/shoes for every conceivable sport, even if you don’t play that sport, you just want people to believe that you do.

It’s obvious we’ve all got too much stuff as it is. Just take a look at all the self-storage businesses that have sprung up recently. Some intersections have one anchoring each corner, staring each other down from across the street. Isn’t it clear that if we have so much stuff that we can’t fit it into our homes, then maybe we don’t need all the stuff after all?
I rent a storage space, too. And every month when I pay the hefty bill for storing things I don’t know what to do with otherwise, I kick myself. Why can’t we just throw it away? Aren’t we the disposable nation? Why are we holding on to this stuff?
Don’t get me wrong about pets, either. I love animals and have a pet myself. But the little bugger eats cat food from Wal-Mart and stays by himself when I’m gone for a couple of days. (He probably is just as happy about that as I am.) If I go away for longer than that, I barter with a neighbor for pet sitting, so my cat is rid of me either way.
Yet, regardless of all of this affluence, we do have kids in this country who go to bed hungry every night, not to mention those in other countries. I don’t care what your politics are on that subject; I just believe that no child anywhere should be hungry, especially when we all waste so much money. Couldn’t we do without just one of the things that we spend huge amounts on every year and feed someone else or fix something important for an elderly person in our own community?
Maybe we should designate one weekend soon to drag everything out of our storage sheds and have a huge garage sale. Just think of how much money we’d raise. It’s worth a thought.