Realizing...No One In My Family's Had It Better

Years ago we bought a flat screen TV and stuck it on the wall in our bedroom. It wasn't the biggest TV and it wasn't the best one available. It was your basic JVC--I don't even know how big it is.

And, as things go, since we bought that TV my wife and I have found ourselves in stores where they sell TVs. Of course, there's the newest and greatest models--some at amazingly low prices. I wonder what it would be like to see a big game, or the latest movie on those things with the sharp picture and heavenly sound systems. If I rationalize hard enough, I can even justify the purchase.

But then I think...

Why?

The TV on my wall is better than any TV anyone in my family ever owned, not including my present family. I'm talking about all of my family that went before me. The first TV I remember our family having was one my father actually built. That's still an amazing thought to me. He ordered the kit from a company and built it. My dad would flip if he lived to see the day when a TV with a screen more than twice the size of the one he built could be lifted by one person and hung on a wall like a painting. That was science fiction stuff for him.

So, when I pass by those big boxes containing bigger and better TVs, there's absolutely no reason to buy them. The one we have still works great and it's better than any TV anyone ever had.

Today, as I looked across the street at my neighbor's car--a car he's thinking of getting rid of this spring--I wondered what it would be like to be able to afford a newer car. Then it hit me, the cars we have, the house I live in, the almost unbelievable live me and my family live is better than any cars, homes, living conditions of any of my family that lived before me. 

We live in a society where we're supposed to want more, and not only to want it, but to feel like crap if we can't get it. What a lie! We're more than what we own. We're more than where we work, or we should be. Realizing how amazing my life is is something I should do more often. I'd sure be a lot happier person if I could. I know past generations sure would be.