Dan Pink's sarcastic reply to the wastefulness of Americans in the passage "Abundance" from his book, A Whole New Mind, thoroughly explains how the abundance created by our great-grandparents has caused Americans to search for purpose and meaning through aesthetic and spiritual means. Pink reveals a new light to this country's wastefulness by using captivating statistics that shame stuff-loving teenagers, like myself. To top it off, Pink uses diction that truthfully describes the surprising size of aesthetic industry.
Pink reveals the extent of greed in America by explaining how "Self-storage - a business devoted to providing people a place to house their extra stuff - has become a $17 billion annual industry," a larger industry then the movie business. Now think about how many times you head out to the movie theater a month, how many movies are stacked next to your TV, how much you spend on your entertainment. A lot. The fact that Americans spend more money on storage containers proves that Americans have more abundance then we know what to do with, and how we've become so accustomed to it that it holds no personal value to us.
In a "shopping excursion" Pink and his wife were able to choose from "Mossimo designer tops and sweaters, Merona blazers, Isacc Mizrahi jackets, and Liz Lange designer maternity wear." His kids had about the same. Pink emphasizes the fact that almost everything you buy at the local store is a designer product. He again emphasizes this by saying that world famous designers such as "titans" Karim Rashid and Philippe Starck, "design all manner of goods." The word titans paints a vivid picture of famous Greek heroes, and undefeatable large mythological creatures, whose impact is more far reaching then can be described. The abundance of stuff, led to a thirst for aesthetically pleasing stuff. And the abundance of aesthetically pleasing stuff, has led to a search for purpose in things like yoga, and meditation.
"The pursuit of purpose and meaning has become an integral part of our lives" just about sums up the reason for the passage "Abundance." We, Americans, have become so accustomed to abundance that we can no longer be happy with what we have. Dan Pink carefully explains this through humorous diction, literary devices, and astonishing statistics.
