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Escape from Affluenza

Posted on 6/12/2007

Your doctor examines you and asks about your symptoms. "Well, Doc, I've got swollen expectations, shopping fever, chronic stress and exhaustion." He looks a little more closely and then pronounces, "I know what it is. It's Affluenza!"

You, too, may be like the patient portrayed in the PBS special "Escape from Affluenza". This hour-long special mixes a light, tongue-in-cheek approach with a serious subject. Can you really be happier living a simpler, more natural lifestyle?

The show's hostess, Wanda Ubanska, and her husband answered that question a few years ago by moving to the country and adopting a slower-paced existence.

Wanda introduces the viewer to a number of people who have come to simple living from widely varying backgrounds. We meet a personnel director who earned a "six-figure income." His function? To tell other employees that they were being "downsized" and losing their jobs. Finally, it was his turn to join the unemployed. Today he works as a physical therapist making one-fifth his old salary. He finds that there's more time to spend with his family. Not only have they learned to live on less than he makes, they're paying off bills that were accumulated during his "big income" days.

Along with interviews, the show intersperses some history and even a light-hearted look at some ads from the 1950's. One section examines how the frugal lifestyle of the original settlers has fared over the centuries. Noted proponents including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Abraham Lincoln are quoted. Attempts to foster simple living from those first settlers to the hippies of the '60's are discussed.

Some have turned their passion for simple living into a vocation. Dick Roy left a lucrative legal career to form the North West Earth Institute, a private, non-profit organization that provides creative opportunities for citizens to consider how their habits and values affect the earth.

Others were motivated by events to examine their lives. Evie was climbing the career ladder when she was diagnosed with a terminal illness. She decided that she wanted to be remembered for "understanding love, understanding service and a feeling of wholeness." Her recovery has not shaken her conviction in her new-found, simpler life.

Today's simplicity advocates come from a variety of philosophical backgrounds. Some are environmentalists concerned with the one ton of solid waste the average American produces each year. Others come from a religious view that dates back to the Puritans and Quakers. A third group has decided to turn their backs on the "rat race" and embrace anti-consumerism.

As you might expect with a movement that's looking for a more fulfilling, less commercial lifestyle, much of the energy comes from grass-roots activists. We meet Cecile Andrews, the author of "Circle of Simplicity", in which she promotes small support groups for simple living. The goal is not merely a less cluttered life, but rather "putting positive things in place of negative things". Members meet regularly to share goals, ideas and success stories.

Not all viewers will be ready to jump into this new way of living. Few are likely to imitate the gentleman who uses a kayak for his daily work commute. One 15-year-old exercises the prerogative of every teenager, the pursuit of rebellion. She openly questions her parents' frugal lifestyle and spends less time at home because it's "boring."

But, even if you're not ready to sell everything and move to the country, you'll find this a thought provoking and entertaining hour. At the least, you'll learn something (that there are 25 times as many self-storage facilities as there were in 1970). You might be motivated to change something, like the way you brew your tea (a claimed lifetime savings of $600). Then again, you might be the one who quits your high-tech job to pursue a career in acting, as did one gentleman interviewed.

The biggest problem with "Escape from Affluenza" is that the people who could most benefit from watching the show won't have enough time to do so. They'll be working a second job to keep up with their credit card bills, or wandering the malls looking for a cure for depression.

But if you can spare an hour, this show deserves to be on your "must-see" list. In fact, you should watch it with someone who is important in your life. Oh, and don't forget to schedule some time to discuss it afterwards. You're bound to find some material for an interesting conversation in "Escape from Affluenza".

The author, Gary Foreman, is a former Certified Financial Planner who currently edits The Dollar Stretcher web site and newsletter.
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