I Want I Want I Want by ATIS547, on Flickr

We live in a world that professes we should indulge in our wants but only responsibly and of course consciously. After all we are in a worldwide recession and we can’t go around just wasting what little we have. So you know what you can do? Well create consciousness of course! And what better way to save than to create it in those who still have not had the chance to over indulge to make sure they don’t fall on the trap right? Make someone who has still not even been able to even reach the possibility of luxury feel it’s wrong to even want it.

Special offer on guilty feelings!

Consumerism by williamhartz, on Flickr

Guilt. We all feel it right? It’s also specially harsh when it’s things you have professed to believe or do and you find yourself going against it. It goes on different parts of life. Something that I have been seeing a lot of is with economy. Considering we have the highest rate of unemployment on US soil, you can imagine what goes on. And jobs keep going down. Working in a mall with mostly high end stores (at least for this country) I have seen people even scrounge up and just keep questioning themselves as they hand over their money. We are constantly exposed to the popular culture that is getting self conscious and damning the unnecessary splurge of money in this world wide recession.

But wait! There’s more!

sale sale sale! © by Paul Lauer by reduse.org, on Flickr

But here is the funny detail, people are feeling guilty of things they don’t even have. Being of the first generation to have reached adulthood with an almost complete exposure to consumerist culture I have felt guilty of wanting things I have never had and can actually afford well. By this I mean by not leaving my budget in zero. Now by no means am I saying consume mindlessly. It’s something that I saw pointed out in a documentary. The more developed countries are espousing to be frugal, but can you really tell someone who just reached their “american dream” that they are irresponsible for even aspiring to it? It works similarly with generations. Those of us in or just getting to our twenties have grown exposed to cable and to being raised to aspire to be more and want more. But when we do we are made to feel like we are bad people.

Act now!

Now, again, I am not saying go spend like crazy. But you can’t try to put on others the guilt for what you have done. Moving guilt around wont alleviate it or anything you know? No, the right thing, for all of us, is balance. You don’t have to feel guilty for wanting something nice. But remember what getting that entails, how it will affect your own savings or what you will have to balance out or give up. And is it worth it? No I don’t profess to know the secret to getting of the hole or being successfully frugal. Just my two cents on the tendency to try to make oneself feel better by putting others down for something one did. We are all on the same boat, so don’t tell the guy with no life jacket they are wrong for wanting one when you have one on. What do you think: is preventive guilt a good thing? Or should there be a different way to create preventive consciousness? Feel free to give your two cents on the comments.