Why, materialism?

Remember when you were young and you didn't know the difference between Nike and K-Swiss or New Balance and Puma? Remember when you could wear hand me down clothes without thinking twice about it? What about that first car you had that you were so excited about, but since it was most likely used and abused you didn't think twice about that extra ding you got while shopping at Wal-Mart. Wasn't it great not caring whether someone gently rear ended you, or that someone who accidentally spilled coke in your floor board? It was as if you had all of the luxury and satisfaction of being able to wheel yourself around without the stress or burdens imposed on you when that rock from the driver in front of you suddenly nails your windshield with a bulls-eye.

What happened to those days? What causes the materialistic culture that surrounds us to silently, methodically creep into our own, uninhibited lives? Is it due to the fact that we spent so much money on our precious that we can't bare to see harm come to it? Is it societies way of keeping us in track with the lives of others who care more so about their possessions then human well-being? And if so, what happens when we reject the social phenomenon that is keeping us at bay by employing actions that could be certainly described as loony. Such as parking where no other vehicles could possibly open a car door into your own, or continually buying new clothes so people don't remember you re-wearing the same thing, or possessing such crazy things as thousand dollar watches or accessories. What has society made us into?

I, for now on, shall be conscious of my actions when it comes to matters of a materialistic nature, and I shall reject philistinism for a much more appreciable way of life. Don't be a slave to materialism any longer and perhaps one day society will yield to you and wake up from this so called lifestyle of physicalistic behavior.