Sky
It’s an established fact about newspapers that no-one reads page two. I don’t know why this is, but it’s true. And so editors throw a few nothing articles on there, like weather and so on, but it’s mostly pointless.
As it happens, I was flicking through a Daily Mail this week, and on page two, a headline caught my eye. It was one of those filler articles; a small column called something like ‘Budget Busters’. The writer offers weekly advice on how to beat the recession, how to come out of the current financial difficulties ahead of the game (or ahead of everyone else, at least). And this weeks advice? Get Sky.
That’s right – the best way to save money right now is to commit to shelling out an extra £25 a month for the next couple of years. ‘But’, points out the article, ‘It’s a fiver off at the moment’. Brilliant! I can save myself £5 by spending £25. No wonder we’re in this mess if that’s the kind of advice people are following.
For me, the issue here is wider than simple financial gormlessness. We’ve lost the ability to distinguish between necessities and luxuries. The unspoken drift of the column is that, whatever the financial realities of the moment, no sane, self-respecting person should be expected to live without their Sky package. High definition television is not one of life’s necessities. It’s a bonus. A nice bonus, I guess (I’m a freeview person myself), but a bonus none-the-less.
What about you? Are there things in your life that should be luxuries, but that get treated as necessities? Perhaps worse, are there necessities that have been pushed away into the role of luxury – something that you roll out once in a while for a treat, when really you should be making it a part of every day life? Is the bible a once-a-week ‘treat’ or a daily pattern? Is prayer a conversation or a monthly catch-up? What’s the most important thing you do on a Sunday?
If we want to live our lives ‘ahead of the game’, then we need to make sure that we don’t fall into a life of luxury, and run the risk of losing sight of the most important things. Instead, let’s hang on to those necessities, because in the end, that’s what really matters.
