Commerce is Everywhere!

The woman at the coffee shop stares at the menu board, her fingers unconsciously touching the worn leather of her wallet. Three dollars for a simple coffee. Five for something fancy. Seven if she wants breakfast. The mental calculations play across her face like shadows – a dance as old as currency itself.

I see commerce everywhere.

It’s not just in the obvious places – the shopping malls, the grocery stores, the Amazon carts waiting to be checked out. It’s in the hesitation before saying yes to a friend’s dinner invitation. It’s in the couple arguing in hushed tones about whether they can afford to have a baby. It’s in the artist who waters down their vision to make it “marketable.”

We’re all playing roles in an endless economic theater. The barista performs cheerfulness for tips. The businessman projects success through his carefully chosen suit. The influencer curates their life into a product, selling not just goods but the promise of a lifestyle.

I see commerce in our emotions:

– The worried commerce of buying medication for a sick child

– The desperate commerce of the job seeker’s new interview outfit

– The celebratory commerce of wedding preparations

– The grieving commerce of funeral arrangements

– The hopeful commerce of a first-time homebuyer

– The fearful commerce of emergency savings

– The obligatory commerce for a child’s birthday party gift for a friend’s child who hurt your child’s feelings or pushed them down on the playground.

Every human interaction now carries the weight of monetary value. When did we start measuring friendship in coffee cups and shared meals? When did we begin calculating the ROI of our relationships? Even our dreams come with price tags attached – the cost of education, the cost of starting a business, the cost of taking a leap of faith.

We’ve created a world where creativity itself must justify its existence through profit margins. The painter doesn’t ask “What do I want to express?” but “What will sell?” The writer doesn’t ponder “What story burns inside me?” but “What’s trending in the market?” The musician doesn’t explore “What sounds move my soul?” but “What will stream well?”

This commercialization of human experience has become so normalized that we barely notice its suffocating presence. It’s the water we swim in, the air we breathe, the invisible force field that shapes our choices before we even make them.

But here’s the truly disturbing part: we’re not just participating in commerce – we’ve internalized it. We’ve become walking, breathing advertisements for our personal brands. We curate our lives not for joy or meaning, but for marketability. Our worth has become inextricably linked to our net worth.

What are we losing in this grand exchange? What parts of our humanity are we trading away in these endless transactions? The spontaneous act of creativity that doesn’t need to justify its existence. The simple joy of making something without wondering if it will sell. The freedom to dream without first consulting our bank balance. The ability to GIVE without worrying what we are giving up in order to do so.

Perhaps the most insidious aspect is how this commercial lens distorts our view of human potential. We’ve created a world where a child’s first question about their future isn’t “What would I love to do?” but “What jobs pay well?” Where passion is fine as a hobby, but practicality must rule our major life decisions.

The next time you walk down a street, try to see it through this lens. Watch how commerce choreographs our movements, dictates our choices, and shapes our interactions. It’s not just about the exchange of money for goods and services – it’s about how the very possibility or impossibility of these exchanges shapes our reality.

And then ask yourself: What would human creativity look like if it were truly free? What art might emerge if we could create without concern for marketability? What innovations might spark if we could dream beyond profit margins?

I see commerce everywhere, and I wonder if we can see beyond it – to a world where human potential isn’t measured in dollars and cents, where creativity doesn’t need to justify its existence with a business plan, where value isn’t always synonymous with price.

Until then, we’ll keep dancing to commerce’s tune, our wallets keeping time, our dreams sized to fit our budgets, our creativity bound by the golden handcuffs we’ve grown to love.