- a beautiful home on Priest bay on Lk Mtka
- an old farm house with only an out house, and no heat in my bedroom. (thank God for that mummy sleeping bag)
- a large beautiful farm house with all the amenities
- dorm rooms and the basement rooms of 2 different "college" houses
- and several other apartments and homes
Being a "function matters" person, I was very happy in all of them. Now I live in a nice middle to upper middle class home in Plymouth, and am trying to figure out how to keep my daughters flexible and accepting of whatever their environment is at the time. My goal is that they are equally comfortable and happy in a tent, hostel, rustic cabin, dorm, basic hotel, upscale hotel, hovel, mansion or middle class home.
Now I am not saying that they should not strive to have nice things when those things make sense. However in my opinion, working for and choosing nice things occasionally within your means is much better and healthier than feeling, "they need" nice things to make them happy, comfortable, relaxed, successful, etc.
My current technique is to expose them to many of the above mentioned environments while they are having fun. Hopefully exposure will help them understand the importance of flexibility and have a greater appreciation of their pretty nice typical environment. (which is nicer than that of most folks in this country and around the world) I think this flexibility will help them honestly enjoy many adventures that some people either do not undertake or are "out of sorts" during....
By the way, so far they are doing great at being flexible regarding some of the strange places I take them !!! Any additional thoughts on how to keep up this belief system? (I thought about more volunteering in less affluent environments... help folks and promote gratitude for their own circumstances...)
Here are some other closing questions:
- Are Americans becoming too "particular", "fussy", etc in your opinion? Or is better and particular a good thing?
- How do you think this is supporting/promoting the consumer and personal debt problems in America? Or are they not related?
- How many 4000+ sq ft homes are necessary and what does this say about our culture? Or are big homes for small families a good thing?
- Any good or funny personal stories?
2 comments:
My Friend Jason left the interesting comment on my Facebook version of the blog. Thought it may trigger some comments here. Besides it is worth a read. John
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John, This is a matter of what you want to achieve in life: Happiness or Success. Perhaps they are not mutually exclusive, but hear me out: If, you feel like you deserve more than what you have, you will be discontented and strive to achieve what you desire. If, you feel like you deserve less than what you have, you will be happy and contented, but may not strive for greater success. Humility is a great source of happiness; but not necessarily a motive for success. The trick is to feel like you deserve less than what you have, but dream for success as a fun adventure. Then you will be happy and successful. There is a subset of the population (myself included) that finds doing with less as a fun challenge. Perhaps even entertaining. We want to share this entertainment with others. (You can replace the We with I, if you don't agree with me).
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Enough of my philosophical Bull Sht: Absolutely, there are a lot of people who could use a good dose of humility. Being fussy is never a good thing. People think that they deserve better without working for it. This is never good. I have stories, but are best not publicized on the internet. With the home size: no one deserves or needs a 4000 sq ft home. This is a tangible security blanket. Are they a good thing? Well, they aren't if the family cannot afford it. Beyond that, I haven't come to strong conclusions on the morals of having a variety of income/spending levels in the world. Generally I am not against it, since I have been convinced that the capitalist system is the best system devised so far.
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When you figure out how to teach humility, let me know.
Jason,
Unfortunately the best, brightest and most self confident of us require the biggest bat. Been there done that !!! (The BAT)
Hopefully, I can help the girls bypass a couple bat bruises. However, I understand sometimes folks are only willing to learn through experience. As I said, I could not hear much of anything early in my life. And even now I need to actively work at it.
Thanks for the thoughts.
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