Today is Black Friday, and everyone is shopping their little hearts out. Nothing I could justify buying, nor was there anything I wanted. With inflation on the rise and wages being stuck, I know there have already been articles of people slipping further and further into debt. ERAP, a finical assistance program that helped individuals who were having difficulties paying their rent, has suspended taking applications and will soon stop assisting individuals altogether. Still, people shop, and still, people get to eat.
I can say that I am flat broke. I don’t have money for you, but I myself am alright. Furthermore, I have put all my efforts and funds into Toyko. Japan is where there are things that I want and wish to experience. Everything that is offered is bland and passé. Still, I know that most don’t feel that way, and kids certainly do not share the same sentiment. At the mall today, as I walked around looking at the sales, I thought back to my own childhood.
As a kid, it was neat and fun to command an army of toy soldiers or have a world of cars. Toys still have a special place in my heart but in novelty and in collections only. I remember having an impressive G.I.Joe collection growing up that could have gone up against Cobra any day of the week. In the end, before they were all started for obsoletion, many showed the toll playtime had taken on them. Working for money, turning around, and spending it on abstract items and notions has always been odd. Again I guess it’s because I place different values on things.
Still, with the prices of tangible items and consumables and the capitalist side of the holidays, I can’t help but think just how much we have further that we will push ourselves into debt. Even my friend at coffee this morning stated that a new truck he saw on TV was $109,000. I had to wonder how on earth people would ever make it and how they would continue to make it. Still, these notions didn’t stop people from lining up and spending a minimum of $10 for coffee.
Anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about coffee and its design, flavor, freshness of the roast, and experience. But as prices continue to soar, the overall quality and experience have started to lack compared to what I used to get.
You would think being broke is terrible, but quite the opposite. Being broke means, you are more aware of your spending and not willing to sacrifice quality and experience. The other important idea behind being broke is that you're more conscious of what you want in and out of life, what you are willing to do, and what you are willing to give up to get the desired results. Maybe saying I am broke isn’t entirely appropriate, so I will say that it’s an evolution of the idea of starting off broke but being finically sound of mind and moving forward from there.