An iPad for a kidney? Don't laugh. It happened.

I've been mulling over the purchase of an iPad for well over a year. Typically I agonize over any purchase. Do we need it? What are the benefits? What are the pitfalls? Will this purchase make me any better at my job, in my vocation? How will it benefit the family?

Even after I answer all these things I still hesitate in my purchase because of what that purchase  will convey to the kids? I want them to know that people are more important than things. People are meant to be loved and things are meant to be used. So often we get that backwards. We love things and use people. I was reminded as of that as I read the following story of a kid who sold his kidney for an iPad and iPhone.

What message do you convey with your purchases and how you use your purchases? What message do I send when I buy and use something? I hate it when I see people with their heads glued to screen, be that the tv, phone or electronic device and ignoring the people in their lives, primarily because I hate it when I see that in myself. I know I'm guilty of not wanting to roust myself from the couch to bid goodnight to the kids and that's a battle I constantly wage. I get caught up in what I'm doing on the laptop, on the phone, on the TV, but I hope they learn from me that people are meant to be loved and things are meant to be used. I love it when I see the discipline of someone who takes their attention off of whatever to pay attention to a person. Love it! It always reminds me to do the same.

Now it's not a bad thing to have an iThingy or any similar device. The point is that the more things we amass, the greater the temptation is to be attached to those things. We weren't meant to be attached to things.

Love People. Use Things. (in that order)