In the context of trying to be a conscious consumer, sometimes that is the question.  Of course there are further, interrelated questions, which lead to weighing options, then making the decision To Buy or Not To Buy.

The first might be: Why?  Why would I buy something?  Is it necessary?  Food is necessary but do I want to stock up on groceries or grab take-out? 

The first thing I ever bought with my 5-cents-a-week allowance was a bag of marbles. I think it cost 69 cents. After a few weeks of having money for the first time, the burning question for this six-year-old was, "what am I going to buy?" I didn’t even play marbles as a game. It was just to have them. I liked their perfect roundness, their colours inside clearness, the way they sparkled and the sounds they made clicking against each other.

As soon as one heavily-marketed holiday is over, consumers are bombarded with the next.  In Canada, it seems the Christmas decorations go up in stores before the Halloween candy gets discounted.  South of the border, today, the day after American Thanksgiving, marks the launch of the Christmas shopping season.  It is known as "Black Friday" because it is the point in the year when retailers' books move from the red to the black.  The holiday season is often looked upon as make-or-break time, and can account for up to half of retailers' annual profits.

Buy Nothing Day, the brainchild of artist Ted Dave, was first organized in Vancouver in September 1992 as "a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption." The campaign challenges consumers to go a day without buying anything -- "a 24-hour consumer detox." I remember being at the Railway Club one year on BND, when it was suggested that we wait to pay our tab till after midnight -- beer, after all, is something to buy (the irony was not lost on us that if we stayed later, we'd consume more.)

3 months ago I asked the London Drugs on Granville Street to stock recycled toilet paper. They never did. Last week I spoke to the manager and made the same request. At first he responded that recycled toilet paper didn't exist. I told him I was able to buy it from their Hastings Street store.

He then changed his tune, and said because they had such a small store there wasn't room to stock recycled toilet paper, and no one would buy it. I said- oh so you did stock it before?

Revitalize value saved, respect life purposes;

>Collect credits.

>Strengthen respects.

>Organize networks.

>Promote values.

I have developed a severe dislike for 7PM: zero hour at the shelter, the point in time where those waiting on the seven o’clock rule for whom there is a bed available get in and you tell those for whom there is no room that they must leave and you close the gates. At which point you get to tell anyone who comes that there is no room and that there is nowhere else in Abbotsford, not even a barn, to find shelter in.

A short time ago a forwarded email came to me asking if I knew anyone in need of help. There was a church group who wanted to help some of their fellow Abbotsfordians in getting on their feet and moving forward with their lives. Towards that end they had requested suggestions for people they could help.

Hey out there,

Want to join a small group trying to make a big change?