Dear Editor
Listening to the radio, I was struck by the juxtaposition of two articles. In one, a couple in Regina hosting two young African refugees was dismayed to learn high school tuition would be $10,000 per student. In another, a luxury goods company was announcing the debut of Billionaire Vodka at $3.75 million per bottle. The company is confident the product will be a sell out like their $2.75 million Billionaire Champagne.
You might quickly recognize that you can change the first situation with a donation, but what about the second? If you look through the diamond encrusted bottle, you will recognize that like all luxury goods, it is simply a status symbol. The status exists not in the material good itself but in your own mind. When you stop granting status to owners of material objects, the need to acquire them for yourself will atrophy. You will free yourself from unproductive harmful stress and, if others change too, the new social norm created can grant status to people for other reasons.
Imagine a world where status was given to owners of virtues: compassion, courage, discernment, forgiveness, integrity, justice, peacefulness, service and others. Better yet, instead of imagining it, start practising it by recognizing the virtues in yourself and others - a free and environmentally friendly way of quenching our thirst for status.
Nancy Carswell
Shellbrook
