Recently I received a forwarded email. Author put forward the popular view about Necessities v/s wasteful Luxuries. I didn’t agree with him. Below are the excerpts followed by my reply.
Original Post
- Author was habitual buyer of wasteful luxuries items. He owned an iPod unused for 6 months; a Handy Cam unused for 2 years; a DVD player unused for last 1 month.
- He said that people are not happy with what they have. They always strive for bigger car, house, TV, laptop etc. He questions if these things are actually required.
- I have a LCD TV and a smart phone. “My old man was happier with just a BPL TV and a modest cell phone”, he said.
- If we strive for things that make life easier rather than so called luxuries, we will be happier.
- “Our predecessors treated Necessities as Luxuries; we are looking at Luxuries as Necessities”, he concluded.
My Reply
- The reason of not using a lot of old things is that we get bored after certain time. Simple.
- Need is a subjective term. Helicopter might be necessity for Narendra Modi but is a luxury for layman like me.
- Lets stretch authors argument a little. Why even a modest phone when we can post a letter? Why even a BPL TV when we can have newspapers, magazines and kathputali shows?
- Today I check email on my smart phone, do video conference, relish 3D TV. It’s called technological advancement.
- Our predecessors had a set of Luxuries and so do we. Flight travel, a luxury earlier is a necessity today. My Dad avoids it still. Does it make me any wrong or him any right?
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