Shopping or Love and Care?

By Klaus Döring

Plastic money (or better known as credit cards), loneliness, and advertising—that’s a dangerous mixture, leading more and more people straight into shopping ecstasy.

We were on the way to a shopping mall. Yes, they are really tempting us with their offers. The credit cards of many people glowed—everyone is all right for the money.

We don’t need decent clothes anymore! Our shoes make us a laughingstock. Top stylish or even the latest fashion for a few pesos? Sure, we can afford it!

Women especially (really?) arrange to meet very often for substantial shopping sprees. It’s just fun, but sometimes it becomes a competition: Who gets hold of the most stylish and best special offers? It’s paradoxical; actually, they are not able to afford it. In spite of their strained financial situation, many people engage in unnecessary, carefree shopping. They feel happy, content, satisfied, and relaxed.

Is shopping a substitute or vicarious satisfaction due to a lack of love and care? Yes, for a short moment, shopping satisfies and eases mostly unfulfilled longings for love, appreciation, attention, and affection.

The shopping ecstasy will be followed by a happiness intoxication. The new dress becomes a four-leaf clover and a lucky break. But we become addicted…

Disastrous, unlucky, and awkward in shopping is that the special offers are not really needed. That’s the point: it’s just a quick thrill that can be felt while shopping for useless things. Clothes, shoes, jewelry, or cosmetics will be used just once or once in a while; then, they will be cleared out, concealed, or hidden from other people. Our conscience pricks us. Depression follows, an empty inwardness causes pain—until the next shopping ecstasy!

It’s a dangerous vicious cycle that can lead us to financial ruin. Experts have long warned: “The limits between pleasure, desire, frustration, and ecstasy shopping are fluid.”

I remember the lady yesterday trying to pay an astonishing amount with three credit cards—each time hearing the cashier say, “Excuse me, ma’am, there is a problem with your credit card.” The lady walked away, saying the wonderful sentence: “Okay lang, actually, I don’t need all this stuff!” Wow.

Let me clarify: I don’t want to spoil anybody’s shopping mall stroll. Not everyone buys excessively or is addicted to shopping. Boisterous and superfluous “reward shopping” can be absolutely normal. Only a persistent, irresistible shopping compulsion requires immediate action.

By the way, love and care are emotions inherent in human beings. They are crucial in every relationship. Care refers to a feeling of concern or interest or the act of attending to someone or something. Love, on the other hand, has a broader meaning.

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You can email me: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook and LinkedIn or visit one of my websites:
www.germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com.