heir expectations, and the false sense of security which consumerism fosters will be shattered. This is how consumerism kills.
             Most people do not realize that consumerism offers only short-term ego-gratification for those who can afford the luxury. It offers only frustration for those who cannot "buy into" the "lifestyle". It exists only as an incomplete system of false values that people seem to substitute for a diminishing cultural heritage.
             Beneath consumerist tendencies lies an insecure America striving to fill an image projected in media advertising. Our self-awareness and self-worth have been grossly distorted. In short, we are reduced to what we wear. The mindset is that, no matter what a person does, they are never good enough. We are either too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, too smart, too dumb, or simply "so totally last month."
             The only way to fix the problem is to buy those new hip-hugging, low-rise jeans with the rhinestone halter and matching earrings. No one seems to realize that, even if we do succumb and buy the jeans and halter, we will never be done. Next, our skin will not be perfect or our haircut will be wrong or outdated. The cycle never ends. It must be stopped.
             A quote from a "Madonna" song sums up this notion, and the society who
             Each possession you possess helps your spirits soar
             Something's better than nothing, yes!
             But nothing's better than more, more, more
             As Madonna put so succinctly, what could possibly be better than having more,
             more, more? Well, the Catholic Bishops of the Columbia River Watershed have a
             As people have become more absorbed by material things and less conscious of spiritual and social rel
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