I'll admit that at first I bridled when I read the subject title, thinking 'God! More racially charged dialogue!', but after I read the first few paragraphs I relaxed, since you speak truth here. All of my life I have railed against how compliantly Americans have let themselves be led down a primrose consumer path, regardless of the greater , adverse consequences of their unreflective outlook on life. It has indeed become the norm to subscribe to the American, corporate-induced 'produce-consume' cycle without any hesitation as to possible deleterious effects on the natural world such unrestricted consumption may have.

Plato summed it up quite succinctly in his 'Apologia' (ho dè anexétastos bíos ou biōtòs anthrṓpōi ( ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ ): "The unexamined life is not worth living." Tragically few people today bother to examine the consequences of their mindlessness and we see the results of this despoiling outlook all around us.

Of course, balancing the need to live as 'PART of nature', rather than as a despoiler of the natural world's resources is always incredibly difficult, due to the need to balance economic need with respect for Mother Earth, but with the right leaders...thoughtful, intelligent and possessed of balanced regard...we can still act to save the planet from thoughtless human depredation. No one ever5 said it's easy but I am convinced it CAN be done!

Someone recently made the statement (elsewhere) that the Finns have an exceptionally cogent outlook on life in that they understand that material excess is both needless and unwise. In other words, they know that it is far preferable to be satisfied with 'just enough' to bring happiness and satisfaction. I have been fortunate enough to spend quite a bit of time with my friends in Finland and that is certainly true! Very fine people, the Finns: a nation whose people I greatly admire.

Both Bodidharma and Plato expressed this in their various ways. In the latter's context, 'Never drink a cup to its dregs (the 'Golden Mean'). Or "Nothing to excess." We definitely have a serious problem with that in consumer-America!

Thanks for laying it on the line so articulately, Crystal.