Years ago I saw an interview with Ben Affleck. I believe he was promoting the movie Pearl Harbor. He talked about his grandfather, a World War II veteran whose advice was ‘Don’t be a consumer’. Ben Affleck may seem an unlikely source for life wisdom but I think about ‘not being a consumer’ often.

There are lots of ways to interpret it including ‘make something with your life’ but ‘create – don’t consume’ is what it means to me.

Interestingly, that interview happened before Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and before much of the other evidence had emerged suggesting we are consuming this planet to death.

My intention for Christmas 2012 is for it to be one of less consumption and that is really not easy. We are constantly bombarded with opportunities to consume more and more and more – at the store, sales promotions in my e-mail/on fb, and at restaurants with gigantic portions.

At every turn I see something that would be just perfect to give ___________ for Christmas. But most everyone I know has way too much stuff and it’s bogging them down. My cousin CW coined the term ‘shiteria’ to describe his mom’s many possessions that he has helped move quite a few times. Everyone in the family uses it now and knows exactly to what if refers.

I’ll let you know how well we don’t consume this holiday in January.

By the way, I thought Argo was a great movie and really liked The Town from 2010. Both starred in and directed by Ben Affleck.

What do you think?