I find this article entirely fascinating. Go read it and then come back:
Oddly enough, I sort of get where the guy is coming from. One of the things I’ve found in life going all the way back to being a low-income child to my current status as solid middle-class family man is that you tend to live to your income. If you’d have ask me as a kid what it’s be like to make what we make now, I’d have thought people like that were rich. Hell, when my wife got her first GM position we thought we were rich. The salary at the time was less than half of what we make now.
I totally get the idea of the hedonic treadmill. I’m guilty of it at times myself.
But I also remember being that kid that thought middle class families were rich and I get the other side too. I often laugh at what constitutes “hardship” for people today. Being unablke to take the yearly vacation or losing a chunk of the 401k with the declining economy and now having ‘only’ 6 figures in the account. I’ve read stories, seen stories and talked to people enough to know more than a few tales of “hardship” that are anything but. On the flip side, I have family members that struggle to put food on the table. In one ear I’m hearing about how hard it is to miss that week on some sunny island and in the other how someone hopes next payday gets here quicker so they can get some groceries.
I dont know what my point is. I just find it interesting. I get the idea that you don’t feel affluent even if you are. I feel that way sometimes and I know a lot of people that wish they were in my shoes. But I also cringe when I hear people talk about their “hardships” in a world where our expectations are so high. Like much of my life, I’m walking a tightrope between two distinctly different sides. It’s a curse in that shit like this makes my head hurt, but it’s a blessing in that I feel I have a wider perspective on how things really are, not just how I think they are.
Again, no real point. Just an interesting concept that made me think and I wanted to share.