US “Ah Col you're a smart man.”

thankyou for your comment. As I am keen to suggest, I “bluff” well.

I simply try to communicate, preferably with enthusiasm, passion and honesty, what I feel and “what I feel” (most of the 90%), is more important than “what I have” (some of the 10%),

Haralambos “Consumer society, and its fast paced life, does not allow one to fully convey their feelings. Instead, people replace this lost opportunity with goods and presents. So buying and giving displaces LOVE.”

Like US, I disagree.

How we operate and react within the greater society remains a matter of individual choice.

Maybe the question to progress the debate is

If you believe our societal values are so deficient, what would you suggest to improve them?

I know I have my views but do not want to lead this debate, which you opened.

US “'So buying and giving displaces LOVE.'
They're not mutually exclusive.”

Agree – I believe one of the best way of expressing love is through “acts of random kindness” and an unsolicited gift reflects a perfect harmony between consumerism and love.

Too much preaching and 'deep thinking'.

Let people work their own lives out for themselves.

Dear Haralambos,

One of the most attractive things about 'luxury' is that it comes in all shapes and sizes. It could be fresh flowers delivered at work, fine white bedlinen, a book you've been dying to read and, perhaps the greatest luxury of all, the time to read it. Or it could be a lifetime's supply of your favourite champagne and your favourite perfume (both French, of course), a month in Italy, season tickets to the Opera, or a morning in your favourite boutique with someone else's credit card.

The one distinguisable characteristic of luxury, applicable to its intangible as well as tangible forms is quality.

Quality, was the obsession of my father. His belief in dressing up both the mind and the body is one I wholeheartedly share. I loved dressing up, even as a child and playing "fantasy games" ...of being wrapped up in Baroque splendour. With the luxury of choice, you can go where you want in your mind. Safari in Africa, Boston in the snow, swimsuits in winter? Why Not? It's pure fantasy, and that's a fact!!

I agree with you Haralambos:

"Why fly so high that dreams obscure the view
Or run so fast you miss the flowers hidden in the early morning dew,
Why Take a crooked road, forgetting which way's home,
Or lose your zest for living, in a life that's not your own.

But come with me and rest once in a while,
Perhaps I recognise the hurt and loneliness
That hides behind your reckless smile ..."

Everyone has a point. Here is a conclusion we can draw from the many discussions about commodification of everything.

Consider this; we were evolved to be constantly terrified and never bored, always there were sabre-tooth tigers and enemies stalking us. Now some, not all, of 21st C humanity has it all pretty well sorted, freedom from being eaten, from homelessness, hunger and other nasty things. Now some of the fortunate folk are becoming restless and worried. Evolution apparently did not configure a way for us to deal with the cornucopia.

Therefore we can suggest to those who insist on telling the rest of us 21st C'ers that we are in a constant state of paralysed terror about terrorism that if this was true no one would even begin to worry about commodification