Then she and about 10 of her friends started the Willing Workers Club and met every Monday night at someone's home, and started saving 50 cents or a dollar a week. I ask him how his stories of childhood poverty play in today's consumer-driven environment. So our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. We consume more than we can hold, and we also consume more than we can wear, and we live beyond our means because we're driven by this media culture. He's particularly concerned about the effects on children and women.
Women buy far more shoes and dresses than they can ever wear.
And he feels that poor children are a vulnerable target. The wealthiest private schools in the country tell their kids to wear a blue blazer, gray pants, and a white shirt, to school. . . . But the poor kids have to throw a fashion show every day, with designer labels. Just watch the poor kids in school. We need to shift the emphasis from clothes to some other kind of values, what's important.