In Dou Wentao's program "Round Table Pie", there is an issue about consumption and face. The guests were Leung Man-dao, Ma Jiahui and Xu Zidong.
Dou Wentao talked about a past event.
Around the 1990s, a man came to him and asked him to officiate at his wedding, and the price was very high. Dou Wentao agreed.
On the eve of the wedding, the groom flew over, shook out a pile of cash, and said to Dou Wentao: "I told us locals that Dou Wentao is my buddy, and when I heard that I was married, he had to come to help me officiate, and he couldn't stop me." When you go, you must help me with this, don't say that you are invited with money, but to help friends..."
Dou Wentao also agreed. On the day of the wedding, he got off the plane, and the groom came to pick him up in a luxury car, which was unprecedented. At the scene, someone asked Dou Wentao: "Are you really his buddy?" ”
Dou Wentao replied, "Yes, back then..."
Enough face. The wedding was extremely luxurious and extremely successful. On that day, the whole town was paying attention to this grand wedding.
At midnight, the groom drank too much and said to Dou Wentao with his tongue straight, "I tell you the truth, my wedding is fake." ”
He married the locals. His girlfriend is abroad, and they don't want to get married so soon. However, for the sake of face, he arranged the wedding in advance.
Image source: Panorama Vision
Because their family was too poor when he was a child, he was beaten, scolded, and looked down upon by his neighbors, relatives and friends. The number of humiliations endured is uncountable.
Later, when he made money, he wanted to do something to show all the people who looked down on them. So, there was this wedding.
After listening to the story, Liang Wendao and the other four did not say that this was vanity, so why bother... They have another, gentler and deeper understanding.
Ma Jiahui said, "How do you say that?" Because that face becomes your resource, you can become the leader of that society. There's a rational costing..."
Xu Zidong also agreed: "This thirty thousand yuan is face." The things in it are the same, why should I spend thirty thousand yuan to buy it? Because the people next to me look at me differently. The bag you use for thirty thousand yuan represents that your identity is different in the hearts of others. It goes beyond practical value. The spillover part is the potential resource..."
I think it makes a lot of sense.
Someone pays for the moment, such as buying clothes, buying food, or going on a trip.
Some people pay for the future, such as loans to buy houses, buy cars, invest in education to buy children's futures, buy face with huge sums of money, buy a leadership position, and buy a family in all directions in the city.
These consumption patterns are beyond reproach. The only thing to see is, is it worth it? If it's worth it, it's a good deal.
Whether it is a view of life, emotions, or consumption.
You take pleasure in luxury, I am beautiful in frugality; you like pearlescent, I love simplicity and neatness – nothing to blame.
Everything depends on your own inner needs, the level of economic ability, the cost performance and rate of return after rational calculation.
All you have to remember is this: choose freely and then take charge.
Author: Zhou Chong, Source: Reader Magazine, No. 14, 2018, original title "Consumption and Face".