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Thuy Vy Bui Nguyen

Professor Koning
English 113B
May 5
th
2014
Living Equally: Simple, Caring and Sharing
I always live simply because I am satisfied with everything that I already have, as long as
they are necessary and I do not waste any resources. Caring and sharing are also what I love to
do. They are not to only show people my kindness but to see them happy as I do is fair enough.
However, when I see my friends have what I want to have even though I know it is wasting
money and resources I feel bad for my self. Also, I want to be kind by sharing things to others,
but most of the time they returned the things but in a bad condition or they used my things more
than I do. I still have a thinking of Why me, why do I have to hold back living simply when my
friend can buy whatever they want, I want to buy more and there are times I think Why do I
have to share my things to others, I dont want to share since they do not respect my things, I
want what is already mine belong to myself only.
While many people are able to live simply and to care and share for example Bea
Johnson from Garbology written by Humes Edward, bell hooks in Where We Stand: Class
Matter believes that society find it is difficult to do so because of the material longing, the
hedonistic consumerism and also the possession mentioned in The System of Collecting
written by Jean Baudrillard.
It is possible for people think that we are able to live simply and to care and share, Bea
Johnson. She is another good example of living simply, caring and sharing. The Johnson family
is a upper class family, they have high income and a lot of money to spend, however they choose
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to live simply and less wasteful, which is to follow Bea Johnson 4Rs: Recycle, Reuse, Reduce,
and Refuse. Bea Johnson and her family recycles plastic products that she has by collecting used
material and let it go through processing that would turn it into new products, new materials,
rather than just throwing it away. She reuses most of the product she used rather than replace
everything as frequently. She tries to reuse everything by maintaining and repair products instead
of buying a new one. Equally important, she reduces what she already has, this help her from
having extra things in the house and also able to care and share with other people, especially to
those who cannot afford what she has. Furthermore, to Bea Johnson, the most important step to
do to live simply and to live waterless is to refuse. Bea realized there is the power of putting
things down instead of putting them in your shopping cart. Theres power in saying no, (Humes,
269). bell hooks also said that people can gain class power without betraying our solidarity
toward those without class privilege by living simply, sharing our resources, and refusing to
engage in hedonistic consumerism and the politics of greed (hooks, 108). These are what I
always believe in and follow, however it is hard to keep the thought long enough since every day
I have to see people consume what they want and not sharing what they have to others.
First, material longing is one of the reasons why people cannot hold themselves back
from wanting more things. In Where We Stand: Class Matter, bell hooks told us about her
childhood where she talked about her roommate, a white girl from a working class-
background, (hooks, 53) who would steal things that she want all the time and she used other as
the decoy, she cannot pay for what she want, she started to steal the product since she think about
the product to much and believe that she deserve to have one. What happened to hooks, also
happened to me a lot of times. For instance, I have to see a girl stealing phone cases while
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standing next to me. Not only one case she chose to pick multiple of design and placed them in
her bag and use me as a decoy. The girl was too young to be aware of what would happen if the
shop keeper got her. It was the id of their mind that leads them to do anything to have the
products that they want; it is material longing. Material longing makes you think of the product
all the time and gives you the feeling of wanting it so much that you would do anything to have
it. With material longing, people at young age do not think about whether they are allow or able
to pay for the product, they just want to have to product. Most of young people experience
material longing that may lead to hoarding and stealing behaviors. So in the end, material
longing happened especially when you keep think about the product even though you know you
cannot or should not have it; you cannot be fulfill.
Furthermore, by having material longing, people do not aware of how other people feel
about their behavior toward the products that they want; they are not caring and sharing. It is
hard for people to live caring and sharing if they have material longing because they think for
themselves first before others. They belief that they deserve to have what they want and they
cannot control themselves, lead them to doing bad things like the white girl in hooks story, she
steal things. Even though they know cannot afford it, they still cannot put their hand away from
the product but instead, they try to get it no matter what. For not caring for others people in the
shop especially as a student herself, she steal as she went to. And once you scarify yourself for
the products you would not care sharing it to others. The material longing makes those who have
more not to share or care about the poor, who might actually need the product because it makes
people have a feeling of need, they think they are lack of something and tend to think they need
everything they want even for something that is not necessary. bell hooks states When it came
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to the issue of material longing, the poor, working, and middle classes desired the same things
that the rich desired, including the desire to exercise power over others, (66) so even the poor
who do not have so much money they will buy the product blindly as they put themselves in a
higher class. Instead of leaving the things they cannot buy, they willing to do anything in order to
have it; material longing is the id in Freuds conscious theory. If you are able to hold back from
being material longing and able to think whether you should have the product or not, you are
moving toward the ego and super ego of the conscious theory, which is to be aware of what you
do and have, but because of material longing or other reasons that make it hard for your to
continue living simply or to start doing so.
Second, why is it so difficult for people to live simply? One of the reasons is because of
the pleasure of consuming. To bell hooks it is another thing everyone have to deal with when
they try live simply because to her, people at all classes, poor or rich will also want to buy more
what they want. In Where We Stand: Class Matter, bell hooks said that hedonistic
consumerism has agreed voice that support you to buy things, it said that you dont owe other
people anything; youve worked hard to get your stuff, they should work hard; or youve earned
it, you have a right to spend it on whatever you want, (60). With such thought, it is hard for
people to give up on buying more things, even though to those who do not have money they will
think they deserve to. Moreover, some people believe in the American Dream that people
deserve to buy what they work hard to have, however this is hard for people to start living simply
because they do not know what is necessary and what is not to buy anymore, in the end they will
consume a lot of thing for themselves. Bell hooks said that she was glad for not being a victim
of hedonistic consumerism, (60) because she has been living simply and saved up a lot of
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money for herself. I am a victim of hedonistic consumerism, I used to think if it is my money I
have the right to use it, however as a student, I do not make much money and I have my future
dream to prepare for so I was able to hold back and living simply to save the money.
Not only hedonistic consumerism makes it hard for people to live simply bell hooks also
stated in her book that hedonistic consumerism lead individuals with class privilege to live
beyond their means and therefore to feel they are in a constant state of lack, (Where We
Stand: Cass Matter, 60). It makes people spend more beyond what they have. As for the victim
of hedonistic consumerism, individuals who make a lot of money but spend way beyond what
they earn speak of themselves as though they are poor and needy (Where We Stand: Cass
Matter, 60) bell hooks said, they cannot help themselves from reducing what they already have
or their list of want but instead they cannot control themselves from getting more. Moreover,
since many believe that the more they have the more they can show to others that they are rich,
they are in higher class so they are not easy to satisfy. As for myself, my parents send me money
to use every month because I am not able to make money yet. At first I used to be a victim of
hedonistic, I spent more money than what I actually allow to use and always think that
everything will be fine since my parents will still earn money; I did not care about how hard my
parent work to earn the money. But as I grew up, I start to realize how hard it is to make money
by myself I am not a victim of hedonistic consumerism anymore and as I mentioned earlier, I
found it better to living saving money for my future goal.
Finally, in every one of us we have at least one thing, that we possess or we want to
possess, and living simply is something that is hard to do if we want to possess what we love.
When we think of consumerism, it gives us confidence while achieving our goal. Jean
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Baudrillard states in The System of Collection that the loved object, which can be what we
work hard to get, being the realm of successive and homologous terms, offers security (10).
Then we start feeling need as we want to consume because we think it will help us. That object
makes you feel powerful and feel happy for its existence. You possess it is like you control it,
only you have the right to say what its called and tell what it means. Therefore you consume
more and you are satisfied with what they consume; they do not feel guilty even if they have
waste something. Since, you want to have more, consume more even if the things you consume
are not necessary, then how can you start living simply. Because everyone have their own loved
objects to possess, bell hooks had her fancy car too but in other to practice living simply she
choose to possess a an expensive used car which was still much cheaper than a new model.
(hooks, 59)
However, as you possess your loved objects, Baudrillard believed that the more we try to
possess our loved object, we do not want to share it with anyone and this affect us to live caring
and sharing for others. For example, as I mentioned at the beginning about how people borrow
my things and not taking care of them, therefore, the more I want to possess what is mine, I do
not want to lend them to other. I loved to care and share, just like bell hooks said, they are the
gesture in keeping with [our] recognition of interdependency and commitment to sharing
resources (Where We Stand: Class Matter, 59). However, just like bell hooks and her car, she
loaned it to a friend, it was returned needing repairs. Suddenly, [she] found [herself] more
attached to this material object and also more protective of it, (Where We Stand: Class Matter,
59), I was scare that they will break it or did not use it properly. Possession gives you fear as you
try to lend someone else your resource and thinking that they will damage it.
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In conclusion, people consume resource in order to satisfy the material longing,
hedonistic consumerism and possession even though everyone knows it is possible to live
simply. It is depending on each person will to give up on what they have or to give up on getting
what they want, and instead they need to care and share their resources with other. As for me, I
will continue living simply, because I realize the value of what I need or need not to consume, I
will not be the victim of material longing and hedonistic consumerism. However if I need to care
and share with other my resources, I choose to share them with anyone who respect my help.











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Works Cited
Baudrillard, Jean. The System of Collecting. The Cultures of Collecting Harvard
University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ed. John Elsner, Roger Cardinal. 1994. 9-10, Print.
May 5
th
2014
Hewitt, Dawn. "LIVING SIMPLY: Simply Living Fair Offers Ideas for People Seeking
Harmony with Earth." The Herald - Times, (2010): May 5
th
2014
Hookss, bell. WHERE WE STAND: Class Matters New York: Routledge, 2000. Pg. 60
-108 May 5
th
2014
Humes, Edward. Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash. Penguin Group. New
York: Avery, 1994. Print. May 5
th
2014

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