I brought a new phone; it is the latest and greatest . . .

it is “Incredible”

Why then did I feel sick the next day?

I hadn’t even received it yet

That day I was talking to someone who referred to what she called the “siren’s song of consumerism”

Yes, that is it

“You have $100 credit”

“It is time to upgrade”

“It has been almost two years”

“Buy one and get one free”

“Come on in. . .”

Suddenly I find myself crashed on the rocks

Waiting impatiently for the phone to arrive on my doorstep

However in the light of this day

My old phone was fine

Actually I loved it

Why do I need more, better, different?

I have a land line phone that is at least 10 years old

It is fine

It works as a phone, even when the power goes out

And yet in our rapid assimilation of technology, that phone is obsolete an embarrassment – I hide it in the pantry hoping no one will notice it.

Now my phone must, email, calculate tips and show me my friends’ Facebook status the instant they change it. My phone needs to play my music, be my GPS, my running tracker and the tool to launch my budding movie making career. I must be able to see the calendars’ of my business colleague’s, children and husband at a moment’s notice and God forbid I check voicemail now the phone does it for me.

How can I create sufficiency when I am caught in the more is better, technology is my salvation and I want it therefore I should just get it culture?

 Am I ashamed for these wants and desires?

Is our western society, culture and context equivalent to living in what Audre Lorde called the “master’s house?” Is Lorde right, that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house?”

Am I just an “agent of oppression” unable to let go of my greed and unending need for more?

Do I have the tools to emerge from scarcity when I am the one at the Verizon store a week after the Incredible was launched drooling over and succumbing to the latest technology gadget?

Is sufficiency the place for me to let go of all I have been trained to Do and allow myself to just Be, regardless of the phone I may or may not own.

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