For questions 1-9, give yourself 2 points for true and 1 point for false. For questions 10-14, give yourself 0 points for true and 2 points for false.

If you scored:
10-15 You're presently in no danger but be on guard, this thing's sneaky.
16-22 Warning: you have mild Affluenza. You need inoculations to avoid a full-blown case. (see below)
23-30 Cut up your credit cards and call a doctor! Change your life style; you're killing yourself.

Inoculations to protect against Affluenza

1. Before you buy, ask yourself: Do I need it? Do I want to dust (dry-clean or otherwise maintain) it? Could I borrow it from a friend, neighbor or family member? Is there anything I already own that I could substitute for it? Are the resources that went into it renewable, or non-renewable? How many hours will I have to work to pay for it?
2. Avoid the mall. Go hiking or play ball with the kids instead.
3. Figure out what public transportation can save you (time, money for gas and parking, peace of mind).
4. Become an advertising critic. Don't be sucked in by efforts to make you feel inadequate so you'll buy more stuff you don't need.
5. Volunteer for a school or community group or church project.
6. Splurge consciously. A few luxuries can be delightful, and they don't have to be expensive.
7. Stay in - have a potluck, play a game, bake bread, write a letter, cuddle a loved one.
8. Make a budget - know who much you are earning and spending. Each dollar represents precious time in your life that you worked. Are you spending money in ways that fulfill you?
9. Pretend the Joneses are the thriftiest, least wasteful people on the block. Then try to keep up with them.
10. "Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." (Matthew 22:21)

The Cure:

"I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
(John 10:10)

When we find our worth in externals (possessions or appearances), it's never sufficient. Advertising seeks to create a need where there is no need, to give false answers to superficial questions, to feed hunger artificiality created. Our deepest need, as humans, is to be, in fact, fully human. To be at home with each other and our Creator. To discover a peace which the world can not give. When we die, do we want said of us: she was sure successful? Or do we hope they will say of us: she was a true and loyal friend, a faithful companion, a person of joy that to be around was accounted a blessing? St. Augustine wrote: "You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you." The restlessness of our hearts can only be stilled by God's abiding presence most often experienced in a human community, like the church. Materialism is a false God.

Stewardship has been called the very Heart of the Gospel not because it's about making money for the church's treasury. Stewardship, the recognition that all things come from God, is a joyful acknowledgement that we have been entrusted and invested by our Creator with a variety of gifts and talents, time and abilities which are given into our care to provide for ourselves and our loved ones and to expend in caring for God's world. In our anxiety, we become unbalanced. In our neediness, we make unworthy choices.

At its most simple level, stewardship is a reminder of accountability, to manage well. At its deepest level, it calls us to dethrone false idols of consumerism, foolish pride, superficiality and consumerism and to worship with the substance of our lives - our time, talents and treasures - the true God of Creation. To make habits and choices that honor God and the world God has made for our enjoyment and delight. (To strive for peace amidst the clamor for war is a matter of faithful stewardship, for war is always wasteful).

The flu season will pass. Next spring, this year's epidemic will be quickly forgotten. In some households, its effects will be lingering and devastating. Some will bitterly and sadly wish that they had heeded the call to take precaution.

Affluenza continues to devastate the planet Earth. Lives (and ecosystems) are being destroyed by our wasteful consumption and abusive selfishness. Since 1950, Americans alone have used more resources than everyone who ever lived before them. Each American individual uses 20 tons of basic raw materials annually. Americans throw away 7 million cars a year, 2 million plastic bottles an hour and enough aluminum cans annually to build 6,000 DC-10 airplanes. Americans' total yearly waste would fill a convoy of garbage trucks long enough to wrap around the earth 6 times or to reach half way to the moon. Even though Americans comprise only 5% of the world's population, in 1996 we used nearly a third of its resources and produced almost half of its hazardous waste. We, as people, are a danger to the survival of the planet itself; we threaten, by our behavior, to unmake creation.

But there is also good news: of the Americans who practiced "voluntary simplicity" by cutting back their consumption (in 1996), 86% reported feeling happier as a result.

Unlike the flu, Affluenza is preventable and, for those who have it (most of us!), easily curable. It is a matter of choice.