Keeping Up With The Yadevs (How American Materialism Compares With the World's)

(Another repost from 2007 from my old blog "Discipline for Justice")

The Yadevs are a middle-class family of six from Ahraura, India. The book Affluenza shows a picture of the Yadevs in front of their home with everything they own:

1 small house (probably about 500-600 square feet), 3 beds, 4 blankets, 3 paintings with frames, 3 duffel bags (full of clothing), 1 chair, 4 large gourds, 5 small gourds, 1 ladder, 1 bicycle, 2 large baskets, 4 frying pans, 5 cooking pots, 6 small cups, and the clothes on their backs and shoes on their feet.

 

My family (The Mosses) are a middle-class family of four from South Carolina, USA. This is a list not of everything we own, but of everything we got rid of in a recent spring cleaning:

3 small baskets, 3 dish drying racks, 1 water filter w/ pitcher, 1 teapot, 1 water bottle, 1 medium canister, 4 storage jars, 1 wooden spoon, 2 storage racks, 1 cheese slicer, 1 small bucket, 2 tea pitchers, 1 Etch-a-Sketch pen, 1 colander, 10 small storage bowls, 3 coffee mugs, 6 cooking bowls, 4 dinner plates, 12 baskets, 5 tote bags, 5 pillows, 6 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of slippers, 1 baking tray, 15 children's books, 3 pairs of baby shorts, 6 pairs of baby shoes, 3 baby hats, 3 onesies, 1 bib, 1 wine rack, 2 jigsaw puzzles, 2 purses, 1 cup, 3 sponges, 3 paintbrushes, 3 pictures with frames, 2 cookbooks, 1 vase, 1 flashlight, 3 bottle openers, 34 baby toys, 1 computer mouse, 4 stuffed animals, 2 computer games, 1 telephone, 2 TV trays, 2 blankets, 2 lamps, 1 spatula, 13 compact discs, 16 VHS movies, 1 infant pillow, 1 video baby monitor, 1 backpack, 1 stool, 1 suit, 5 dress shirts, 1 pair of shorts, 1 world map, 3 books, 4 t-shirts, 1 pair of jeans, I pair of pants, 2 bras, 1 headband, 1 pair of gloves, 2 baseball caps, 3 neckties, 3 pairs of socks, and 7 coat hangers.


Yadev total possessions:  70   
Moss total possessions thrown out:  244 
 
(Even after our spring cleaning, our stuff still filled up a house 3 times the size of the Yadevs'.)

Update: This photo essay published by Peter Menzel in 2013 shows the possessions of families from around the world. It reinforces what I learned about American materialism from doing this post.

Then he told them a parable: The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, "What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?" Then he said, "I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry."

But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

- Luke 12: 16-21