narcissism

So in leu of my previous post about getting out and doing stuff, I attended a book club meet about The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in a World of Entitlement even though I hadn't bought the book yet, and am so glad I did!! We had a really productive discussion! I didn't know that you can hire paparazzi! Dang! While there were many good points brought up about Narcissism, the meet actually made me realize that the concentration of power and wealth in the very small group of elite is SO unnecessary and avoidable.  We were like, you only need so many cars and jets and crap.  So just think how much better everyone in our world could be if we did away with the unnecessary things in our lives.  While the rich have obvious frivolities, I have just as many in my more humble life than the top CEO of a corporation.  There are organizations with whom I could be better spending my money, there are places that I could be better spending my energy, and there are items in my possession that could be more useful to someone of less fortune than I.

So why do we horde all these things? Why do we not use only what we need and give away the rest? Because we think we're special.  We think because we've worked for it that it is our entitlement.  But I am wanting entitlement less and less now.  I want enough to keep me 'comfortable' in my same social arenas (like nice clothes, cell phone, etc) but even that is more than what I need.  So I think the best thing as a individual to do is to downsize as much as I can without alienating myself from others I need to network with.  Just cut back on the competition and bit and replace it with complacency for the material.