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If there’s one paradox at the heart of modern life that troubles me more than most, it’s this:
The more we buy, the poorer we become.
Growing up in a backwater village on a quiet Greek island there were plenty of things we went without. Decent healthcare was for the people on the mainland, and electricity had yet to make it up the mountain. We were privileged to own a small mill powered by a local stream, but what we did and didn’t have never really bothered me. At least, it didn’t until my friend was given a scooter.
It was a beautiful thing, with smooth running wheels beneath a solid, highly varnished wooden frame. For a minute I was plunged into a pool of envy and self-pity.
The writer C.S. Lewis once observed that “seeds grow in dark places”, and from my poverty emerged a curiosity and resourcefulness that refused to let me wallow. I studied the scooter, analyzing it from every angle, and once I was back home I set to work building my own.
Finding the wood was easy, but the wheels were another matter. For a while I was stuck.
And then I remembered the mill, and how from time to time my father would perform some routine maintenance on it. Hidden beneath the heavy top stone was a perfectly o-shaped metal casing with ball bearings inside. It sat over the central shaft and allowed the mill to rotate. Better still, my father had a spare. I had my wheels after all.
With the help of my little brother I dismantled the mill, removed the metal ring and completed my scooter. It rode perfectly and drew admiring looks from the other scooter owners.
The mill, however, was trashed and my father was angry. I paid for my actions that same day, and I never again dismantled anything without permission, but the experience stayed with me all the same. It taught me about respect for other’s property and the importance of honesty in relationships, but more than anything it lit a fire within me for problem solving and engineering that has never gone out.
There’s a story about Socrates touring the markets in Athens.
Someone stopped him and asked why he was there.
“I’m looking at all the things that I do not need,” he said.
Those words of Socrates could be applied to so much of what constitutes everyday life for so many of us today. We spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need. It helps the billionaires and their corporations who are selling us this junk, but that’s about it.
Being a dutiful consumer of the bigger car, the bigger house, the latest clothes or tech or whatever it is we’re being told we really need, it’s not exactly helping the planet. We know that don’t we?
That’s not the only problem with all this stuff we’re buying. It’s not just the earth’s resources which are getting depleted, it limits our development in so many ways.
That leaf blower robs you of the cardio you used to get from your rake, and the cheap replacement for your broken appliance takes away your curiosity to rip the back off the thing and try and figure it out for yourself. Those tall gates and high fences might have made you feel safe at first, but what’s the remedy for the isolation you now feel as a side-effect? That garage full of tools and must-have bargains might make you feel like you can tackle any task, but it’s taken from you the opportunity to visit your neighbor, asking for a little help and advice and deepening your relationship in the process.
The more we buy, the poorer we become.
We need so much less than we think we do, and being short on resources isn’t the fearful state that we have been led to believe.
Being in need, finding ourselves in a position where we must figure stuff out for ourselves—often with the help of others—that’s the place from which real growth can come.
Having less, living more simply, feeling the need more fully—that’s the path to true wealth.
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George E. Danis is a successful businessman, organizer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Born into poverty in rural Greece, George entered the U.S. as an illegal immigrant, yet decades later was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in recognition of his philanthropic endeavors and promotion of democracy. Highly active in politics for four decades, George was a fundraiser, advocate, and advisor to governors, senators, and presidential candidates. His new book is Go Far, Give Back, Live Greek (Amplify Publishing Group, Aug. 6, 2024). Learn more at www.georgedanis.com.
