Twenty years ago I was not a happy chappy. But I should have been - it was Christmas and our family was grilling in the backyard of our Western Sydney home. Furthermore, I had just received the most awesome gift a boy my age could ask for - a Donatello TMNT figurine. Being a nerd, he was of course my favorite, but he was not happy at all - the mighty Ninja Turtle's staff had dropped into the fire. And as this Soundgarden music video depicts (in a somewhat creepy manner), fire is the enemy of all plastic toys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg. What was Donatello without his staff? Probably about the same as his Renaissance namesake would have been without his sculpting tools: less awesome. MUCH less awesome.
It's funny how we mourn over inanimate objects the same as we might mourn over more, well, important losses. I've since become less prone to this strange depression but part of me is a little deluded and still assigns 'life' to mere objects. Seriously though, it's just stuff - get over it, David! Only in the past few years have I realized how overrated materialism is. Yoga has definitely helped. The asanas are my toys and the mat my playground. And I don't think I'll ever run out of toys given that the great yogi Tirumalai Krishnamacharya witnessed Ramamohan Brahmachary perform 7000 distinct poses.
So this Black Friday ask yourself: do you really need that snazzy new smartphone with the built-in can opener and all the other gizmos?
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