I was sitting on my bed the other day watching TV with my son and I saw this program about video games, some review and preview stuff. I remember sitting there, quite engrossed, when I suddenly got a thought in my head - What happened to Monopoly?
While being entertained by the addictive PlayStation universe I found myself longing for the good old days. A bygone era of ravenous joy found only in the cleromantic roll of a pair of dice. I didn't even notice that I was staring into space with a blissful smile on my face, as a result of the nostalgic state I had ascended to at that moment.
But I wasn't just reflecting on the loss of our board game pastimes. I contemplated the demise of world we used to know, the creatures we used to be. In our rapidly developing and ever increasing civilization it seems that somewhere along the way we lost our beautiful sense of wonder at the little things. The things that used to be enough for us to go on with. Somewhere along the way we decided that it wasn’t enough anymore. We wanted more. We desired bigger, better, faster, smaller, more efficient.
And what of this word, desire? Over the years I have observed an interesting aspect of Human nature. It is well known that, just like all the other animals we share this beautiful planet with, we possess the basic instincts – self-preservation, the need to procreate, the need for shelter, carnal lust, etc. What I’ve noticed is that we also possess another important characteristic which our neighbours do not – Desire. Now I’m no biologist or anthropologist but as far as I can tell, animals do the things they do out of necessity and not because it brings them a sense of pleasure to indulge in them. No, desire and pleasure are possessed by Man and Man (and Woman for you feminists out there) alone. And it is this inherent desire, along with self-awareness and intellect, which sets us apart from the rest of nature. But I digress. Let me continue with my observation.
What has become of our passions for the little things in life? Where are those Sunday afternoon cricket games outside in the street? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking for the good old days. What I’m trying to understand is what happened to that mind-set. We used to have that will to play a nice game of Uno with the family on the weekends. Now we spend most of our time either buying something or selling something. Our laptops and desktops are our new friends. Digital satellite television is our new weekend companion. Mobile text messaging is our new means of communication. And while we’re on the subject of mobile communication, it is interesting to note that short text lingo has evolved into a new language. LOL! This being my first attempt at blogging, I do not want to get too serious, just noting an observation and getting my first post in the bag. My question is this - Are we still Human? Or have we evolved into consumers?
