He Who Has the Most Broken Toys….

Last night I saw something I’d only heard about before. It was a bumper sticker bearing the famous slogan…

“He Who Has The Most Toys When He Dies, Wins!”

I’d heard it before, of course, as an example of the futility of materialism. (My favorite counter-slogan: “He who dies with the most toys is still dead.”) So actually seeing it didn’t surprise me as much as the, um, vehicle of the message. This materialistic bumper sticker wasn’t on just any car. I mean, this is Chicago, where you regularly see people cruising in BMWs and Jaguars and Lexuses (Lexi?) and Mustangs and any other fancy car you can fantasize about.

The car that bore this triumphant paean to material possessions?

It was a Honda Civic.

Judging by the scratches on the bumper, the dents in the body, and the rust on the muffler, it was a Honda Civic from 1995 or so.

(Not this one exactly, but about this good looking.)

Maybe the driver just had an ironic sense of humor. I hope so. Either way, it’s an intriguing point about your philosophy of life. If your value–whether you “win” at the game of life–is determined by the number of cool toys you own, then what does it say about you when your toys are, like everything else in the world, getting older and falling apart?

The Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer thought the same way:

In our culture nothing has exhibited such folly more than our automobiles. Go to a showroom and see the pride with which a man drives out his new car. Then think of an automobile graveyard or a rusting, stripped, junked car, abandoned on a city street. They are shells screaming out tremendous sermons against all practical materialism: “You’re fools! You’re fools! You’re fools!” And Christians–as well as any others–can be such fools with their wealth. (Ash Heap Lives)

It’s bad enough that he who dies with the most toys is still dead–but he’ll probably even outlive the toys. The new jacket will go out of style. The new shoes will wear out. The new computer will be obsolete in five years. The new sports car will make its way to the scrapyard. Our most cherished possessions are disposable. If that’s what we live for, then we’re living for the landfill.

Probably the most pointed words on the subject came from a certain Jewish carpenter:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
–Jesus (Matthew 6:19-21).

He who dies with the most toys probably missed the point of living in the first place.

Rust in peace.

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