I am very materialistic. Bring me a handbag with genuine Italian leather, and I’ll helplessly run my fingers over the softness, admiring its craftsmanship and desiring it for my own. Show me the new Peach and Lily find with stem cells that promise skin miracles, and I’ll endeavor to empty my bank account to hold the tube in my own hands. Tell me about the new pieces released by Jluxlabel, and I’ll be the first to click on “Add to Cart.” Yes, I breathe materialism. I enjoy purchasing nice things, and surround myself with them as one would trophies. I, of course, recognize that this materialism has developed partly because of privilege—without safe finances, I could not indulge myself as thoroughly as I do. 
Indulgence comes easy to me. I have never realized just how easy it comes until I recently saw a 50 percent off sale in Guess on Fifth Avenue in New York City, walked in, saw a cranberry handbag and purchased it immediately. This all happened in under five minutes. My companion commented, “You’re like Ariana Grande. You see it, you like it, you want it, you got it.” Indeed, “7 Rings” is most certainly “my anthem,” I replied. Coveting items and then immediately purchasing them comes easy to me.
An easiness which the capitalist market capitalizes on. As we headed back to our hotel with our Guess purchases (my companion did end up purchasing something—she spent at least a half hour pondering a potential purchase, which I have never done), and entered Times Square, it wasn’t until I saw the flashing lights, moving images and the horde of excited people—myself included—that I truly comprehend the irresistible nature of capitalism.  
And it is irresistible. When someone as materialistic as I gazes in longing at a designer handbag or eyes the new red-bottomed heel designs, they cannot resist. Capitalism is also fooling. When I see the new Swarovski necklace or window-shop the jewels on Forty-Second Street, the human rights abuse to procure those jewels as a result capitalism is far from my mind. When I have my new Guess bag slung over my shoulder, I do not remember that the bag was likely made by an individual barely surviving on a devastatingly low wage. And when I stand in the epitome of capitalism, an environment that breathes irresistibility, the devastating effects of capitalism are forgettable for a moment in the gargantuan screens of Times Square.
It’s almost as if I stand in a Kingdom of Lights, Hidden Blood, and Irresistibility. The lights have captured my attention in a way that I am blind to the blood that was shed to build those lights, and I am lost in its irresistible nature, a slave to my own materialism. Materialism is what capitalism thrives on, that is why the lights keep flashing on charmed faces. We all stand in this kingdom, and we all continue to unwittingly reign as puppet monarchs dancing on the irresistible strings of capitalism.