the mall

i went to the mall today with my room-mates.
the reason i went: i love my room-mates.
but this did not change the fact that i detest the mall.
when i was younger, i had a teacher who disliked the mall which i thought was a little strange.
after all, the only time i went to the mall was when we were on a search for a specific item. going to the mall was special, and had a purpose. but i've since then discovered that my kind of mall shopping was a rarity.
today i was reminded of why i dislike the mall:
-advertisements of models selling not only the clothes that are barely on their bodies, but sex
-credit cards and bills handed over quickly-people justifying high prices or not even caring anymore
-richness taken for granted
-spoiled people becoming more spoiled
-materialism-its not enough to have accessories. we must have accessories to accessorize our accessories for the item we didn't need from the beginning.

needless to say, i didn't buy anything today and i was a little happy to leave the empty decadence.

i hope i'm not just feeling guilty-because guilt will all too soon pass away. i hope this is a reminder of the presence of the holy spirit in my life, showing me the best way to live. even as i write that, i feel like that sounds a little self-righteous. that's not my intent. i have mall-shopped before. i've even bought things there.
however, i not only could easily survive without the mall, i think we could benefit from the absence of this fixture in american culture.
and maybe, just maybe, we would have the opportunity to get our focus off of our own wants to look to the rest of the hurting, needy world.