We strive to have the biggest house, the most expensive car, and send our children to the best schools, yet only a few succeed, while most fail to reach that lofty goal. The game is rigged against most of us, but that doesn’t stop us from trying. We worship the powerful, the well-known actors, and sports figures, and we reward them by paying them way beyond their worth. A mediocre football player makes many times what an educator does, and a singer becomes a billionaire. In at least one country, the youth are rebelling and saying Enough is enough.
Young people, watching their parents sacrifice for rewards that never came, began asking whether ambition itself was worth the trouble. Some decided that if the game was rigged, the smartest move was to stop playing. They live simply, rent instead of buy, save instead of invest. Marriage and parenthood — once the natural arc of adulthood — feel optional, even burdensome.
Seen one way, this is resignation. Seen another, it’s rebellion. And if you squint a little, you might even see it as wisdom. After all, Buddhism has been saying for 2,500 years that endless desire is the root of suffering. Peace comes not from satisfying every craving but from letting go.
The Low-Desire Economy: What Is It, Is It Happening in the United States, and Can It?
It’s hard to imagine an economy built not on ambition, growth, and restless striving, but on something quieter: the decision to want less. That’s exactly what seems to be happening in Japan. Faced with a declining and aging population for years now, people there have begun working fewer hours, skipping promotions, living modestly, and often choosing not to marry or have children. To Western economists, this looks like a disaster. To politicians, it’s a puzzle. But to the Japanese who are living it, the mood is less catastrophic. They don’t always see themselves as victims of stagnation; some see themselves as simply opting out of a race that no longer feels worth running.
