World Famous?

A BMW?

Every now and again, as I walk around, something catches my eye.

Something that quietly seems to broadcast a lot about who we are.

And raises a host of questions about what we will do to try to maintain who and what we like to think we are.

Or maybe wish we were.

I don’t know about you, but it never occurred to me to wonder whether the dealer who sold me my KIA Soul in 2014 was world famous. Of course a Soul is hardly on the same page as a BMW. ( Something about the likely unintended double meaning of that, is elixir for my soul) And Keene, NH may not have the cache’ of Beverly Hills.

But still.

Maybe you remember whomever it was who said we were each entitled to our 15 minutes of fame, as if that might be the high point of our existence.

Might I take comfort in imagining someone saying about me after I’m dead: “Oh, you remember him; he was that guy who drove a KIA Soul?”

It’s well known that we Americans love our cars, and that we can be seduced into buying a very expensive car by ads showing beautiful, obviously rich people, driving them to beautiful, expensive places.

Or, if we’re the more rugged type, in tough, all-terrain vehicles jumping sand dunes in the desert (which may not be a far drive east from Beverly Hills.)

My meditation practice is intended in part to curb my tendency to be snarky about other people whose habits I consider self-aggrandizing. I have been encouraged to see the ways my cynicism is its own form of trying to elevate my habits and choices over those of others.

As you can see from this piece, I have a long way to go.