Call Me Citizen

I'm short on blogging time this week, so this is a repost from 12/5/07 back when most of you wonderful folks hadn't yet discovered our blog. Hope you like it.


I’ve been called a lot of names throughout my life, but one that continues to make me cranky is “consumer.” According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to consume is to “do away with completely”; to “destroy”; to “spend wastefully” or “squander” or “use up”; to “waste or burn away.” Yes, I know it also means to “utilize as a customer,” but that’s the fifth and last definition given.

The whole of my life is not about buying and using stuff, so why should I be identified by only one small piece? I wonder about all of us being called consumers. Yes, we consume; but, if we identify with BEING a consumer – if everyone from the government to the media to retailers to even ourselves refers to us as consumers -- then are we going to be more likely to fall into the self-fulfilling prophecy of consuming more than we normally might? Will we choose the “save the planet by buying green stuff” route, which doesn’t begin to solve our global problems? Will we care a little bit less about those around us and the impact of our choices? Studies have shown that people rise (or fall), according to the expectations given to them. If we embrace a culture of consumerism, is that who we become? Is that all we become?

I prefer citizen. Citizens are members of “a state” or inhabitants "of cities and towns." Citizens do much more than consume (at least, that’s the implication). Citizens participate in their communities; citizens demonstrate leadership and take active part in building a healthy, sustainable, compassionate world for all. Consumers lay waste to their surroundings. A person can be a citizen who purchases products and services. But a citizen is so much more.

So, call me citizen. (Or at least, please stop calling me consumer.)

~ Marsha

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