Living A Good Life

I admit from the get-go that I'm a copy cat. My friend wrote a great piece on the wealth we have in America. It nearly made me regurgitate from my previously unacknowledged greediness. It's something I've been pondering lately, so here's my take on it.

We have an 8 room house, plus 3 baths, 6 storage closets, a huge entryway, and a garage-storage area, and a 3-level deck in our sizable yard. Oh, and a greenhouse. And that's nothing compared to many homes on this peninsula. The "big" houses are a few miles away; you know, the 17 room ones where husband and wife can go days without seeing each other. Probably on purpose.

At least I can say we use 7 of the rooms and all of the baths almost daily, but that's only because I'm home all day; we could survive with less.

We have clothing we never wear, and never will. Steve and I are trying to pare down our closets and give usable pieces to Goodwill. Still, we'll have too much left. Maybe if we could only keep a suitcase worth we'd do better in paring it down. And we'd still not be naked; we'd still be ahead of most people on earth.

I like Sam's attitude. He owns 2 pairs of shoes. One for home; one for everything else. I told him he needs more, and he replied that if he can only wear one pair at a time, why have more? He also has three pair of pants. Two for home (with the extra for wash day), and one for work. It might be Aspergian, but it does make sense.

Our pantry is mostly full. It's bigger than our closet. Every month or so I throw away things that have expired. What a waste. Why do we buy food then not eat it? Where are our heads?

Our library has thousands of books. True, most are Morgan's and she is slowly taking a few each time she visits, to read then give away. At least, I think she is. We could sell them for a quarter each and buy a small boat.

While it's true that I am not healthy, that I live in constant pain, thank God I am reminded of my wonderful life by people like Leura. I live in a mansion, have more food than I can eat, am warm in my perfectly fine old clothes, have all the books to read I could ever want, and am finally to the point where every day I can say, "Thank God for all this." Seriously, I do that now.

I don't personally know anyone who lives in poverty. If you're reading this, you are "wealthy" compared to most of humanity. Remember that, and go give some of your stuff to someone who needs it more than you do. If you can't make yourself do that....