I'm not much of a shopper - pretty much can't stand it, in fact - and I'm definitely not a hunter of luxury goods. But this story about a diamond necklace, from Reader's Digest, grabbed my attention nevertheless. 
You see, it's not really about the necklace. It's about a group of women who bought the necklace together, finding friendship and confidence in the process, and worked together to raise funds for various charities. It's a very unusual story, and I can't do it justice in summary here. You'll just have to read it for yourselves! (Photo from Reader's Digest.)
Thursday, August 14, 2008
308: hope shared in 15.24 carats
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2 comments:
What a great tale! There's much evidence that most consumer purchases have only a minimal and transient impact on happiness (so your distaste of shopping is well-placed, eazibee!) It's adverts and shop displays that create the need for 'retail therapy', and we'd do just as well without either.
But this tale is interesting because the unusual manner in which a luxury purchase was made has activated lots of the things that do tend to produce genuine sustainable happiness - community bonding, friendship, novelty, and improved social status. With the exception of the last of these, the pursuit of which is generally a zero-sum game, wouldn't it be great if we could find ways to shop which generated these real sources of happiness? Instant cooperative, anyone?
Yes, good points, Diana - thanks.
I must admit, as I read this story, I wondered why this way of buying and sharing goods doesn't happen more often. Perhaps people think they'll use things more than they actually do and want to have it 'reserved' for their exclusive use; perhaps people don't trust each other enough to share evenly. Many things can't be shared unless you have exactly the same needs - or clothing size! But other things could be, especially rarely used goods such as jewelry and handbags.
I've noticed that there are an increasing number of rental services for such goods opening up - perhaps that's as close as modern society can go to what you're suggesting? But sadly it only really helps with 'improved social status', as well as saving people money. The other things you cite, such as friendship, and the increased charitable activity engaged in by the 'diamond girls', would seem to offer more in terms of their potential to increase happiness...
E
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