Materialism

Looking around in my home it seems that everything I have was purchased at one time or another. We as Americans are such huge consumers of goods, both good and bad. a lifetime of purchasing things and and receiving gifts begin to clutter our lives and our homes until we are forced to either trash the commodities we once felt obligated to buy or recycle, give them away, or find other places to keep them(an attic or garage closet, maybe even a storage unit). It is this overwhelming urge to spend on those extra things we have grown accustomed to as Americans, a people of excess.
Lawyers are supposed to have expensive cars, clothes, houses, and the rest, a life of luxury basically. How can we break the addiction for material goods, it pretty much is ingrained into us from the moment we are born that success equals things. Success can be measured on many levels but in its most basic and true form success involves meeting goals and getting where you want to go in a career sense of course. In a society which puts so much emphasis on money, materials, and excess there is little room for morality, righteousness, and charity. This unfortunate truth scares me to death as someone who is entering a field that is based upon morality and righteousness and all too often is associated with a materialism and excess and skirting ethic behavior in favor of enhancing material wealth. While looking at all these facts now I have made a small goal of my own, which is to use every ethical and moral fiber of my being to avoid such pitfalls and to do soemthing with my career that I feel morally and ethically successful, with material wealth being inconsequential. Let's see what happens...