As you can see over there in the margin, we are trying to gather a group of folks who blog to tell stories around two broad themes (May 15th thru the end of June). The themes are Glimpses of Redemption & Unfinished Stories and I am excited at the group that is forming to tackle these topics. I would love for you join us by sharing stories of beauty within hard realities. You do not have to write like Hemingway or have the following of Justin Beiber. All that is required is a telling of an honest story focused on one of the broad themes.
You can find out more information as well as see some tools here. I would really appreciate it if you would join us and I even think it’s going to be a lot of fun. Be sure to let me know if you plan to participate [matt(at)99balloons(dot)org].
______________________
Here’s a thought I’ve been thinking but not yet articulating and thus cannot tell if its worth a darn. All my thoughts make perfect sense until I speak them to another, and then they seldom do.
As of late, I see a metaphor for life being lived out in exponential form. One that I do not think anyone would actually voice or own up to; rather, it’s surfaced by evidence within actions and not byway of any real acknowledgement that a shift has occurred at all. But it has. In fact, I have felt the pull myself to see my own days through such a lens.
Drumroll…….. and here it comes: Life as product.
Person as company.
Communication as marketing.
Others as consumers.
I could name and blame a few catalysts to this phenomenon including social media, reality television and the hyper-consumerism of western society. Though instead of lamenting this opinion, I am more out to put my finger on it, rather than point my finger at it. A metaphor is just that, it does not encompass the whole of reality; it’s merely a way to understand a larger topic. Life probably has a lot in common with a product. But I do see significant downfalls when life as product serves as the go-to metaphor that one silently ascribes to and builds a life upon.
When you are a product, you must be predictable. We do not expect Apple to sell tacos. They build gadgets and we’ve already slotted them in a space whereby our expectations set their trajectory. This works well for companies, but not for people. People should change and zig and zag; oh how I hope I am ever-changing. Cause I am not who I want to be. Not as I was made to be. I am in process. The minute I ascend to the top of gadgetry and all are looking for the next generation of whatcha-ma-things, I’m hopping in the airstream to go cross county selling tacos.
Instead, I see folks with blogs writing the sequel, social media feeds replete with redundancy- folks branding themselves and only wading in on the certain topics that we have all come to expect. That is fine if that is really who you are, but I don’t think it is. I think a product mentality has slipped in and you’ve hemmed yourself in to what you think others like and expect from you. Well, surprise me.
Though I am certain this mind frame builds a bigger audience, it also makes you caricature of yourself and stunts the very thing you have to give- you. All of our mess ups and attempts and failures- these end up being what we have to offer- if we’ll stop photo-shopping away all the warts from the stories we tell.
And don’t get me started on the falsity of the self-marketing for the product known as me; on the low end, half of social media is total posturing and posing. Why? Cause we’re immersed in marketing, we swim in it and do not even know we’re wet.
If you spent minutes setting up the instagram photo, I think you missed the point. But we all do. This rant is most for me.
I have found a better metaphor for life and I truly believe that my life in the end will look different if I follow it versus following the life-as-product metaphor that I see handed out in hundreds all around.
Life is a story. It is wild and unpredictable and the characters we’ll come across- man, they’re weird and wild and I am one of them. I am not a product and neither are you. You are a page in a chapter of a book that has no ending.
You are a sloppy, unedited work in progress and those are the stories I want to follow.
5 Comments
As you can see over there in the margin, we are trying to gather a group of folks who blog to tell stories around two broad themes (May 15th thru the end of June). The themes are Glimpses of Redemption & Unfinished Stories and I am excited at the group that is forming to tackle these topics. I would love for you join us by sharing stories of beauty within hard realities. You do not have to write like Hemingway or have the following of Justin Beiber. All that is required is a telling of an honest story focused on one of the broad themes.
You can find out more information as well as see some tools here. I would really appreciate it if you would join us and I even think it’s going to be a lot of fun. Be sure to let me know if you plan to participate [matt(at)99balloons(dot)org].
______________________
Here’s a thought I’ve been thinking but not yet articulating and thus cannot tell if its worth a darn. All my thoughts make perfect sense until I speak them to another, and then they seldom do.
As of late, I see a metaphor for life being lived out in exponential form. One that I do not think anyone would actually voice or own up to; rather, it’s surfaced by evidence within actions and not byway of any real acknowledgement that a shift has occurred at all. But it has. In fact, I have felt the pull myself to see my own days through such a lens.
Drumroll…….. and here it comes: Life as product.
Person as company.
Communication as marketing.
Others as consumers.
I could name and blame a few catalysts to this phenomenon including social media, reality television and the hyper-consumerism of western society. Though instead of lamenting this opinion, I am more out to put my finger on it, rather than point my finger at it. A metaphor is just that, it does not encompass the whole of reality; it’s merely a way to understand a larger topic. Life probably has a lot in common with a product. But I do see significant downfalls when life as product serves as the go-to metaphor that one silently ascribes to and builds a life upon.
When you are a product, you must be predictable. We do not expect Apple to sell tacos. They build gadgets and we’ve already slotted them in a space whereby our expectations set their trajectory. This works well for companies, but not for people. People should change and zig and zag; oh how I hope I am ever-changing. Cause I am not who I want to be. Not as I was made to be. I am in process. The minute I ascend to the top of gadgetry and all are looking for the next generation of whatcha-ma-things, I’m hopping in the airstream to go cross county selling tacos.
Instead, I see folks with blogs writing the sequel, social media feeds replete with redundancy- folks branding themselves and only wading in on the certain topics that we have all come to expect. That is fine if that is really who you are, but I don’t think it is. I think a product mentality has slipped in and you’ve hemmed yourself in to what you think others like and expect from you. Well, surprise me.
Though I am certain this mind frame builds a bigger audience, it also makes you caricature of yourself and stunts the very thing you have to give- you. All of our mess ups and attempts and failures- these end up being what we have to offer- if we’ll stop photo-shopping away all the warts from the stories we tell.
And don’t get me started on the falsity of the self-marketing for the product known as me; on the low end, half of social media is total posturing and posing. Why? Cause we’re immersed in marketing, we swim in it and do not even know we’re wet.
If you spent minutes setting up the instagram photo, I think you missed the point. But we all do. This rant is most for me.
I have found a better metaphor for life and I truly believe that my life in the end will look different if I follow it versus following the life-as-product metaphor that I see handed out in hundreds all around.
Life is a story. It is wild and unpredictable and the characters we’ll come across- man, they’re weird and wild and I am one of them. I am not a product and neither are you. You are a page in a chapter of a book that has no ending.
You are a sloppy, unedited work in progress and those are the stories I want to follow.
5 Comments
-
on April 27, 2013 at 8:52 pm
I worked at Life Styles several years ago, and even there the folks receiving services were referred to as ‘consumers’ instead of another term like clients or residents. I’m not sure if it’s still that way but seems to speaks to our culture – the ‘consumer’ label seen as positive and a path to inclusion in the community where everyone’s busy buying/selling/marketing.
-
on April 27, 2013 at 9:20 pm
I hadn’t thought of that….interesting insight for sure
-
on April 28, 2013 at 11:17 am
I think selling “life as a product” is a way for us to validate. If we have lots of followers, likes, thumbs up etc we feel as though we have accomplished something and it keeps us from the more important task of actual growth. “Why do I need to work on my marriage when I have 10,000 blog followers? They like me the way I am.” Or “I must not be that bad of a parent/christian/person/employee because I have so many facebook friends.” Jesus grew in wisdom, stature and favor which means we should be also and that growth is measurable. Distractions from growth are just that, distractions. Social media isn’t bad, but it can’t be how we evaluate ourselves or others.
-
[…] friend Matt Mooney recently wrote a piece titled life in the land of consumers. In it (which you need to go read right now) he write about “finding a better metaphor for […]
I worked at Life Styles several years ago, and even there the folks receiving services were referred to as ‘consumers’ instead of another term like clients or residents. I’m not sure if it’s still that way but seems to speaks to our culture – the ‘consumer’ label seen as positive and a path to inclusion in the community where everyone’s busy buying/selling/marketing.
I hadn’t thought of that….interesting insight for sure
I think selling “life as a product” is a way for us to validate. If we have lots of followers, likes, thumbs up etc we feel as though we have accomplished something and it keeps us from the more important task of actual growth. “Why do I need to work on my marriage when I have 10,000 blog followers? They like me the way I am.” Or “I must not be that bad of a parent/christian/person/employee because I have so many facebook friends.” Jesus grew in wisdom, stature and favor which means we should be also and that growth is measurable. Distractions from growth are just that, distractions. Social media isn’t bad, but it can’t be how we evaluate ourselves or others.
[…] friend Matt Mooney recently wrote a piece titled life in the land of consumers. In it (which you need to go read right now) he write about “finding a better metaphor for […]