Adopted Narratives

First of all, debt and righteousness ought not be compared, and I truly hope one has nothing to do with the other. Maybe how one gets into debt and for what cause can be righteous or not, virtuous or not. Nevertheless, debt seems to have gone from being something to avoid to something that people assume as inevitable. And part of this I think is because the vast majority of people are living according to some adopted social narrative that dictates what you should do and when. It goes like this: graduate high school, go to college or uni or trade school or whatever the fuck, graduate that, get job, buy house, get married, buy cars, get line of credit against house, start buying crap like flatscreens and vintage motorbikes (present company excluded of course) go farther in debt, don't understand why your so unhappy. Maybe I watch too much "Til Debt do us Part" (which is the best show to make you feel good about your finances), but you've got to notice how people do these things because "that's just what you do." It's everywhere. I was talking to my friend Chris last week who works for the Federal Gov't, and he had just returned from a conference for young federal employees that was basically a moving up the ladder shmooze-fest. He talked to some of the people there about why they wanted to move upward, and they didn't even give answers like "more power and responsibility" or "to effect change" or even "to make more scrilla," he got answers like "because that's what you do." If that's why presumably well educated public servants are playing out this narrative, I can only assume the rest of the corporate world is even worse.
So how did this happen? Somehow people think that living virtuous and meaningful lives has to involve buying a suburban home with room for 3 North Amercian kids and 2 North American cars (or 3 non-North American families and all of their motorbikes and mopeds). Maybe we watch too many movies and tv shows. Maybe advertising has become so effective that we don't even question whether we need a thing, only which one. It sucks and it's not going to change. And every once in a while I find my self sucked in too, worrying about where my parents were at my age and how people younger than me have kids and houses and high paying jobs. But you know what? Their lives mean no more or less than mine, and I often suspect (children aside, obviously they ought to fill a life with purpose) mine is more meaningful and I'm happier. I'm not distracted by the stuff I can't afford because I actually can't afford it. I don't have a line of credit or a home to borrow against that makes me start living way beyond my means, assuming it'll all work out because this is how it seems like everyone else does it and they seem okay. Fuck that garbage. I live in a tiny apartment, don't own a car, and only watch a tv we got for free. Liza's happy and I am too, we both like what we're doing and have a hazy but attainable plan, and will play it by ear. Like Liza said to me last week, "we've got our little apartment and we're both in school with no huge debt: you can worry about the distant future but you might as well just pick something and do it, and if you hate it do something else." Solid advice.

To answer your question from last post, it will take 12 months to finish an education degree which I plan to start next September. If I get a job, yeah we'll probably move into a bigger apartment and buy a car or something, and I'll probably spend a lot more on bikes. But I really hope that we can avoid the kind of rampant consumption that people seem to think provides meaning to life these days. Living simply is righteous in my books, and that's what I intend to try to keep doing.