Check this shit out. Yeah, “for reals” as my daughter would say. Just look at that picture! A fucking Star Wars TOASTER. Now, Sky Mall has a reputation for peddling the ridiculous of the ridiculous, but we’ve all seen shit like this everywhere around us. Stuff we know we don’t need and many of us realize the negative impact producing and disposing this useless garbage has on our planet. But here’s the thing: this toaster, or the fact that it exists I guess, brought me a moment of pure joy. I almost laughed out loud and thought of several people that would also love this creation.
For some of you this may be a pretty clear example of everything that’s wrong with our capitalistic/consumeristic/materialistic society. It’s easy to shrug off a friggin’ Darth Vader toaster. But think of all the things we buy that we justify “needing”, simply because we *want* it. It’s tough, right? I didn’t have a lot of material wealth growing up, so now I struggle with wanting to provide every creature comfort (and form of fun entertainment) for my kids. Beyond that, *I* like fun/nice shit for myself too. I’m a total Apple-product-whore and I thoroughly enjoy any “rock” of sweet geek “crack” out there. Shit, I pretty much eye anything that’s well-made. I definitely temper a lot of my consumer desires by thinking of their impact on our planet and the people on it, but I am far from perfect. It’s something I think about a lot. Do you struggle with this too? How do you cope? What are the material things you can’t seem to let go?