Woodland Mall Visit

This afternoon a group of my friends and I headed to Woodland Mall. We entered from the food court and right away I could see people buying and people selling. The bright signs of each vender were high above the glass cases full of food and cooks making orders. As we entered the part of the mall with the stores, we began to look around. The first thing I noticed was how bright it was inside. Pahl mentions in his chapter that the Mall of America did not have any windows and that was true of Woodland as well.  Like someone said in The Persuaders, there were a lot of green plants and vegetation in the middle of the all four of the oversized halls of the mall. Even thought there wasn't a fountain it still felt as if you were outside or under a canopy. The ceilings were high and open. Of the many stores in the mall the one that was the busiest was the Apple Store. Every time we went past I noticed a bunch of people in the store either playing with the samples or talking to a worker. It hit me that even though our world is getting older and older, the need for newer and newer technology or consumption grows stronger. The mall creates a place for people to belong and have meaning. They buy things to feel better, stick with the status quo or even just to buy something at a place where the whole idea is to buy something. Not to say that is wrong, but for some people they only buy something that they actually have use for or need. In fact, I needed some new shoes because I was getting rid of some of my older pairs that I don't where anymore. I needed shoes but I was able to control why I bought them. We went into other stores but there was not anything else that I really needed. Sure I wanted some other things and the stores did a good job enticing me but it wasn't worth it to me to buy something that I would use as much as a pair of shoes. The mall is like a church in the way that the different stores use tactics that they think will entice you into buying their product, like a church showing love, having community and being welcoming can give off a good impression of  Christianity or other religions. The mecca of consumerism is the mall, while the mecca of religion is the church. The similarities are interesting to think of as variables in an experiment. The church or the mall (consumerism)? "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money". Luke 16:13