Generation-Y Consumerism and Success Perceptions

Does success in life mean, being internationally famous like Elvis or MJ, and having the lavish spoils of “super success” i.e. having a big old house, shiny cars and every other status symbol that you can think of; then having an “untimely death” to make you an iconic legend?

If that is so, then classical composer J.S Bach from 300 years ago would not have qualified for “success.”

He is considered by most to be the greatest composer to ever live, and if you have seriously studied any musical instrument you probably would have played one of his pieces. Yet in his time he was relatively unknown.

There is a saying, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.” Indeed, this is the case right through history. From the Catholic church at its zenith, where artists found employment painting pictures of saints and composing “sacred” music – doing what they were told to earn a crust; to the Medici of the renaissance, the wealthy banking family who financed Leonardo and Michelangelo.

This has continued to today where record companies will finance whatever sells, or at least what they think sells. However, the result of record company’s patronage often has the shelf life of milk, instead of fine wine – and yet we buy it.

Just like most other things we do not need, we buy into the hype of these “successful” people and into the presumed life they lead, spreading the disease that plagues most in their quarterlife; the deadly disease, “success-consumerism.”

Symptoms are:

1. Having 2+ credit cards, of which at least one is maxed out, and you are applying for another credit card to buy the latest Ed Hardy bedazzled shirt.
2. You measure yourself not by how much money you have in the bank, but by the amount of credit organizations are prepared to lend you.
3. You have a million dollar condo and you tell yourself you’re a millionaire, forgetting about the 110 percent mortgage.

In our quarterlife, we become susceptible to the wiles of the deadly disease “success-consumerism,” simply because we want to feel successful.

So, why is the idea of success via consumerism so catchy?

I think it’s because it plays on our basic need to be loved, and if you’re wearing designer underwear you are just a little bit better than everybody else, and everyone you know will look up to you with reverent oohs and aahs because you have somebody’s name written where very few will see it, and thus you are loved – well kind of.

This fake love/self-esteem will do because real love is in such short supply in this world.

So film, music videos and advertising have began appealing to us earlier on, calling their tune with the brilliant creative minds of our day just doing their job, earning a crust.

When you were in your teens all you want to do is fit in, and you haven’t got a chance of not getting ensnared by consumerism because the house you see on TV, movies or music videos is way better than yours; and the edited biographies of so called “reality show” lives that are so much more desirable than yours how can you not aspire to consume whatever your hero is consuming.

So what happens is you start training yourself to listen to music that you don’t even like to fit in, you start wearing clothes that look ridiculous and don’t suit you just to look ‘cool.’ You start cussing like dem guys from da hood cuz dey steet yo, da real deal – and its cuz you only want da truth.

The sober reality is, eventually after being plugged into popular culture for too long all you have to show for it is a wardrobe full of clothes you don’t like, a stack of CDs you never listen to, friends who are losers that you used to think were super-cool (and who just won’t go away), and bills, bills, bills.

Warren Buffet, the world’s second richest man, has something to say about success in his biography Snowball. Later in his life when asked to define what success is he would say something to the effect of “it’s having the people that you want to love you actually loving you.’”

What is funny about that statement is that having people love you most of the time is a result of giving. Giving money, giving time, giving respect, giving love and giving forgiveness – the complete opposite of consuming; and I do not hear many pop songs about that.

How would I define success?

I’m not sure I’m old enough to answer that question but I have a suspicion that it starts with being able to wake up every day and love what you do, regardless of the pay – but being able to pay bills sure is nice. What a quandary.