The Greedy and the Diluted

Unless you've been living under a rock on the tip of a mountain of a deserted island, you probably already know about the PS3 craziness. Something about this upsets me. Let's make it clear that I don't see anything wrong with the hardcore fans camping out in the streets for a few days to pick up the first few $600 consoles. The fans are out there because they enjoy the anticipation and like the Star Wars fans, it's the wait that excites them perhaps more than the actual product itself. What bothers me is the greedy who will capitalize and the diluted that will let themselves be capitalized upon.

Here is the sad irony. We have people with homes, jobs and families camping on the streets to make a quick buck and people on eBay spending $10,000 (that's right, 10 GRAND) for a piece of plastic and silicon. All while you have people without jobs, without homes, without money, without food, without hope. You have people who live in the gutters, not because they are lining up for a console, but because they have no other choice.

Somewhere in my gut, I get the feeling that none of those people who will dump $10,000 so easily into a console would even make direct eye contact with a homeless person, let alone do something positive that can lighten the load of suffering among our society's have-nots. It's been reported all over the continent that people have been handing money to the homeless to make them stand in line. How many of these people will give money to a homeless person any other time in their lives?

What is it about our society that has skewed our perception into thinking that our material possessions are somehow worth so much more than another human soul? What has dehumanized us so much to think it should be our priority to be wealthy and to flaunt it, instead of being a decent, caring person? I'm not saying that we should all go out and hand a homeless person a cheque for $10,000, nor am I saying you shouldn't buy products. What I am suggesting is that we check out priorities in life and value what is most important to us as members of humanity and maybe, every once in a while, give a helping hand to a charitable foundation and to someone who needs it.