CXXVI. Gaudiness Galore, Negativity Implores -

To be a sophisticate is contrary to remarking upon your material goods, quality-proof as they may be.

How do those who have means to purchase the newest models/editions of this, that, or the other, utilize said purchases without displaying them?

The wordiness of that question ensures that I remain vague because I am addressing a personal scenario. I do not feel a need to name the person or persons that I am referring to.

We all have something ‘nice’. We are all in possession of some luxury. You may suggest that I am falling into the generalization trap. If you’re reading this, you own, or have access to, a computer device. Perhaps you’re reading this on your mobile phone, your iPad, a laptop, or a desktop.

We all have problems.

In the past couple of years that we have welcomed the acronyms “YOLO,” “You Only Live Once”, and “LOL”, “Laugh Out Loud,” we have also embraced the apt-phrased “first world problems.” These problems may pale in comparison to problems faced by those people lacking sanitation, water, or food. 

It is worth remembering that problems are not comparable. If you’re stressed due to finances or burdensome educational expectations, the effects can be intrusive and obtrusive on life. 

I have a fading memory of high school, or quite possibly middle school, English class. We were reading Tennessee Williams’ “Glass Menagerie.” I recall connecting with the unhappy character though I was not unhappy myself. I think I was intrigued by such a far-fetched idea for a youthful girl who had Ivy League paraphernalia all over her closet door. Could anyone really be so unhappy if they had a choice?

The unhappy character was in a quagmire. He had to support his family economically, but in the process, he was dissatisfied with his job. The decision to adhere to the walls of the gaping hole that sucked him of life while providing for his life by means of monetary compensation, was a pain comparable to what others may experience without money.

So, how do we refrain from being gaudy while also tastefully displaying our worldly possessions?

You’re wearing nice shoes, and you know it. I own a pair of shoes that scream, “notice me!” There are people standing in front of me and I feel their eyes directed my way. They’re staring at my feet. Should I make eye contact with them, why, that may be considered gaudy. 

Social Media: Facebook posts, tweets, instagram too - all with the possibility of being connected and therefore redundant, are breeding grounds for the happy, well-adjusted, and annoyingly successful.

You do not want to boast and therefore attract unwanted attention.

Perhaps you don’t want good attention either, as in the form of “likes.”

You may just want attention. You want to serve a purpose, namely, to be a reactionary agent. So you post your work, self-proclaimed accomplishments that they are, and let them dwell on other’s news feeds.

People may proclaim oohs and aahs, serving to hamper your anonymity, yes, but also serving to suggest that you are better off than you actually are.

I suppose a need for acknowledgement embodies the feeling that you are better off than you once were.

Gaudiness is the consequence of straddling the past and future and means you’re in motion. Furthermore, how gaudiness is perceived depends on the subjective rose-colored glasses of your spectators, so to speak- and spectators’ line of sight, or their vision, is stagnant.

How’s that proclamation for gaudy?