“I’m puzzled by the last paragraph. Is the author trying to lecture us?”
Most definitely:
“Just over a thousand years later, no one remembers the object or the person who owned it. And no one will remember the stuff you once owned during your time on Earth either, so stop buying things you don’t need.”
IOW: “Don’t be such a materialistic ingrate. Our Leader is doing the best he can. You don’t need all those material things you used to spend money on anyways. So what if all your disposable income now goes towards necessities?. So stop charging on your credit cards cuz it’ll make you upset by election time running out of credit and having to choose between eating or paying the electric bill. We can’t have that in an election year. Hush little children”
‘bout that.
That sounds about right.