A memory...
An Anthropology professor I have taken a few classes with said something in class once that really struck me. He asked us to look around the class room at the shirts all of the other students were wearing and examine what was on them. There were sports logos, bands, beverage companies, etc. The professor said to us "Isn't it interesting that corporations have cleverly designed a way to turn us into walking billboards? We pay money to them to advertise their product through the designs and logos on our clothing." That was not a pleasant thought for me, I hate how blatant and omnipresent advertisement is. On highway 14, in between Evansville and Janesville,( my home town in southern Wisconsin) there is a massive McDonald's billboard that is less than 10 feet away from an old cemetery. That kind of social enslavement to advertisement is very, very disheartening and so the prospect that I was in a way a walking billboard... was not one to my liking. So now, when you look into my closet, you will find no logos, no advertisements, nothing. My shirts are simple, of one solid color. Next time I see that professor, I will remember to thank him for swaying me far away from that social conditioning. Now I am more aware and mindful, I will not pay to be a corporation's unwitting advertisement.
Simplicity. Mindfulness. These are the keys to Zen.
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