Gourmet Scented Pencils

Have you ever noticed all the nonsense for sale? I genuinely think that our entire culture may be insane. There are these societies of people all over this planet who live their lives with strictly the bare minimum. They have just enough food. They have clothing adequate enough to cover their nakedness. They have rickety shelters to house them. There may possibly be somewhere in existence one ratty old toy to entertain the children of the household. The divide between the cultures is intense. And I'm not going to even say "woe is them... poor, poor people... how very sad." I've seen some very happy unaware "poor" people. I wouldn't try and convince them for one second that they need more toys for their children or higher quality clothing. I haven't any right to judge the cultural divide. I believe everyone SHOULD have adequate food, and shelter, and clothing, access to medical care and education. The fact of the matter is there is plenty to go around so these things shouldn't be begrudged anyone. It just doesn't make common sense when they are. BUT that leads me away from my point.

I noticed a pack of Gourmet scented pencils at the store the other day. The THINGS we've come up with!!! Really, really, gourmet pencils!?!? There are moments in the day when my eyes open and I notice all the trinkets, all the toys in the toy department of the store, all the gadgets in housewares, all the accessories for our vehicles and I wonder what we're all thinking. Have we actually gotten to the point where we're just trying to find stuff to spend money on? I certainly know that the house I'm living in contains oodles of nonsense items. WHY?

Why does anyone need to take money they've earned, money they've spent time laboring for from their wallet (or for that matter money they don't even possess yet because they're using a charge card and borrowing the bills from a credit card company) so they might own gourmet scented pencils? I think we've come too far. I really think we may have lost it.