Applications of Economics: Smashed up hearts hung out to dry

I am like a child, I am capricious. I am human, I need... I want... I want even faster than I can think of wanting. Every thought seems tuned to the next thing I could possibly think about wanting. I am easily seduced by the things of the world. Had I the means I would be the ultimate consumer. I would make purchases as the fancy took me and even before I had derived full satisfaction from the product I purchased, I would have moved on to the next one, and the next one and the next one.

The above is the description of the perfect consumer. I learned this in my second year at Manchester. If we were to get technical then I suppose you would have to replace satisfaction with utility. Even before I learned about the principles associated with consumerism I learned about diminishing marginal utility. This theory can be applied to many things and most of these things are physical. When you have a bar of chocolate and you eat it, you enjoy it immensely. The more bars of chocolate you eat the less you enjoy each consecutive bar. Eventually you get to the point where every new bar of chocolate you eat makes you worse off than you were before you had it.

Sometimes we get like this with relationships. We race through them because let's face it they're fun. At least there's plenty fun to be had in the chase. Once we've consumed the object of your fantasies we're off like a shot in search of the next one. We forget that the concept of diminishing marginal utility still applies. You enjoy each success less and less till the success sucks the life out of you. In terms of relationships I think it's because with each new one you leave a little piece behind and if you fly through them too quickly there's not enough time for the bit that you've left behind to return.

This, Mena is what I think of when I hear the words smashed up hearts hung out to dry. If we would stop for a moment and allow the bit that we've just deposited in someone's jar to return then maybe we wouldn't be so smashed up.

Happy Days,
Afam.