Market-driven morality

THIS came to my mind when a group of friends, all laymen and professionals working in different fields, talked about developments in the economy here and abroad.

They were amazed at the rate China is developing and at how it is fabricating imitation products whose quality varies according to price, material used, expected lifespan of the item, etc.

The Chinese, they said, can also produce high-quality copies that can last. But, of course, they will be more expensive than the usual ones that last only for a month or two. Still, they are much cheaper than the original, and can be a real good buy.

I remember that some years ago, in preparation for my ordination in Rome, I went to buy a new pair of shoes. When I saw a pair that I liked, I asked the saleslady if that pair would last long. She immediately retorted, “But why do you like it to last long?”

I took a double take before I could process what she just said. It went frontally against how I was brought up. I tried my best not to look third-worldly. I was not sure whether I succeeded.

Anyway, I just bought the pair because it was within budget—beggars cannot be choosers. But the retort of the clerk lingered long in my mind. As it turned out, the shoes were good only for a few uses.

Now, I can understand why there is need for products to move fast in the market. I have to apologize to my parents and elders, because I think there’s also a reason why products should not be made to last very long.

Business needs to go at a fast clip, so money circulation can get faster, employment can also go up, especially giving room to our creative minds who never run out of new ideas and styles. All these are good for the economy.

Besides, there are people, like the yuppies, who like to change styles very often and who can afford. In other words, there is demand or market for it, especially considering the growing population and improving economy.

And there’s the expected over-all effect that such dynamism will lend vitality and modernity to our society. That’s the upside.

The downside is that this market-driven behavior undermines one’s conscience, giving the impression nothing is permanent and absolute, everything changes and is relative, and leading people to materialism, consumerism, etc., all against the Christian virtue of poverty and detachment.

It takes away our soul’s moorings. It can harm the spiritual character and supernatural tone of our thoughts, words and deeds. Our attitudes can suffer serious damage, as they lose their linkage with God and his law.

All these can come about because in a market-driven economy, the tendency is only for external, purely social and economic values to be considered.

The finer values are often omitted. The work of one’s conscience is skipped, while the impulses of the hormones and emotions, and the play of the blind market forces are given full rein.

This is something which we should try to avoid always. In grappling with our material needs, we should never ignore the important role played by our conscience.

Our conscience is that judgment we make to determine whether a choice we
are making is good or bad because it truly brings us to God or away from him, or because it truly enriches us as a person, a good citizen, a child of God, or not.

The judgment made by our conscience goes beyond the practicality or convenience of a matter considered. It goes beyond purely human and temporal criteria. Rather, it brings us to our ultimate supernatural end.

I am afraid that many people, especially the young ones in developed but very worldly countries, are neglecting this. They appear to be at the mercy of purely human and temporal criteria.

The usual result is that they end up being selfish, self-contained and indifferent as well as vulnerable to other vices and weaknesses like lust, frivolity, disordered ambition.

We have to think of an effective strategy to remove them from this very anomalous predicament.