The most recent issue of Time magazine included a feature on how ordinary Americans are dealing with, affected by, and reacting to the economic downturn. I really appreciated the opening article (by Nancy Gibbs) for the spread, and especially this part of it:
"No one wishes for hardship. But as we pick through the economic rubble, we may find that our riches have buried our treasures. Money does not buy happiness; Scripture asserts this, research confirms it. Once you reach the median level of income, roughly $50,000 a year, wealth and contentment go their separate ways, and studies find that a millionaire is no more likely to be happy than someone earning one-twentieth as much. Now a third of people polled say they are spending more time with family and friends, and nearly four times as many people say their relations with their kids have gotten better during this crisis than say they have gotten worse.
A consumer culture invites us to want more than we can ever have; a culture of thrift invites us to be grateful for whatever we can get. So we pass the time by tending our gardens and patching our safety nets and debating whether, years from now, this season will be remembered for what we lost, or all that we found."
It's so funny and true...when I was little my parents were cripplingly poor and they both would still describe that time as the happiest in their lives. Recently, after getting the prestigious life and the 6 figure income they have just gotten a divorce. ~Kristen
ReplyDeleteOh, I love this - especially the part about our wealth burying our treasure. And the part about remembering this time for what we have found.
ReplyDeleteI am crossing my fingers that people learn to look for it :)
Love, cuz.