The Philadelphia (cream cheese) Story

i was shopping at spar the other night, and in the dairy aisle, i happened upon a tub (well, several) of philadelphia cream cheese. which doesn't seem like a lot. but here, it is everything.

i didn't buy it. i wouldn't have used it anyway. but i liked knowing that it was there, that it was available. that it was waiting.

and it got me thinking about myself. about the way i am with these things.

how i loathe materialism
of the life i seek in india, when most people seek to leave it.
how i want what most "normal" people turn away from

and it got me thinking. is it because i am a product of a rich-enough-family? of parents who never have to turn down my requests? it it because i've always had, that i have the ability to turn away? is it because i have the luxury of turning away that i do?

i think whats at the core of it all, is choice. for, the poor strive to be rich because they don't want what's given them. and the rich, well some strive to be richer, and others, like mccandless slip away, trying to fight it all. because we have that choice.

if i were born and brought up in india would i love it as much as i do? if i were poor would i embrace a simpler lifestyle?

to be different? or to live? or are they just the same?