To steal and twist a metaphor from one of my favorite alternative medicine practitioners of all time, Capitalism is the greatest thing in the world, except for a nice MLT (mutton, lettuce and tomato...where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomatoes are just ripe!). I love capitalism. There is almost unlimited potential for human achievement within the infrastructure of a capitalist society.

But I detest consumerism. We are not just a material culture, we are a culture obsessed with disposable objects. I can't stand getting a drink from a fast food restaurant in a paper or styrofoam cup that I can't reuse as a TV drink cup or even as a sandbox scoop for the children. I never saw the purpose in having a drawer full of knives or more than two full sets of dishes...one regular, one formal. As for pots and pans, you don't need more of any one type than you have burners, and, let's face it, folks...there's only so many ways to blend/slice/grate something.

But the area where consumerism is starting to truly frighten me is in medications. We believe that we need a medication for every little symptom that starts up, when the truth is that all too often the best prescription is a little sleep and a lot of fluids. We don't believe that we should have to be subject to emotional highs and lows, but should tranquilize ourselves into a numbed, stoic state. It is, we believe in our best interest.

I fear a nation where one is so doped up on the tranquilizer of the week that they are no longer mesmerized by the awesome beauty of the Chicago skyline as they approach over Lake Michigan. Where the Grand Canyon is just a big ditch because the magic of the "house of stone and light" was lost somewhere back over Hoover Dam with the last dose of Paxil washed down with a Dr. Pepper. Where the magic of the playground is forever forgotten as our stepfordesque progeny await their turns at the slide devoid of any ability to conjure up the magic world of imagination that produces a dragon at its base that will devour you if you don't disembark at the precise second.

Sure, there will be fewer broken legs, fewer homicides, fewer suicides. Sure we will be a more orderly society. But where will be the daVincis when all who possess that potential are locked away in a telemarketer's office forever because a high school guidance counselor and a psychiatrist convinced them of the futility of their daydreams? The same madnesses that brought us the Dahmers and Geins of the world also brought us the Poes and the Van Goghs and their unmistakable contributions to the world we know and (those of us not yet on a prescription of choice) have come to love.

So let's say no to the mindset that demands we dope ourselves up beyond the ability to feel, to love, and yes, even to hate and fear. Let's say "yes" to the wondrous magic that is brought about by a world in which emotion is so important.