And Don’t Forget to Make a Wish
This may be one of the most trying years some folks will have to find something to be thankful for. So much has drastically changed for so many in such a short time. If someone would have told you ten years ago what our country’s economy would be like today could you have imagined it?
What’s happened to America is about more than real estate, bad loans, over extended credit and bail-outs. It’s was a long time in the making to not only get our finances but our perspective of what is important in life, so backwards. The aftermath isn’t helping matter much, either.
The daily bombardment of bad news is grinding and exhausting and, quite frankly, this country is just too tired and drunk on misery to look away. It’s an addiction. It’s everywhere you turn; TV, the web and in print. Sure, everyone says they could all do without the constant connection but most can hardly wait to see what happens next.
Maybe everyone is just looking for a way to feel better. If they get to watch someone else’s sordid or woeful life story unfold in front of them, maybe they feel better by comparison.
In the spans of less than half of a century, as a nation went from watching Leave it to Beaver’s mom baking cookies to watching The “Real” Housewives of Orange County get new boobs and jewelry, as a source of entertainment. Why? I guess not only does bad news sell but so does the tragic, cosmetically enhanced daily life of a group of Stepford’s who couldn’t afford their homes and cars, either.
Things really have gotten way off track. In retrospect, things went wrong when it was mostly the material things that people found themselves valuing and not the things that really mattered like good health and family. Times have changed and while it may be difficult for some folks to not get their morning orange juice dispensed through a hand carved ice sculpture, that fact of the matter is that it wasn’t what was really important.
While our consumer nation was busy keeping up with the Jones’s by buying McMansions, cars and stuff that they couldn’t afford, the hands of time kept moving. There probably isn’t a person that wouldn’t turn back those hands to enjoy more time with their children, their family, their grandparents or someone they miss who has passed on instead of worrying about a car or a home.
If you’re healthy and have the good fortune of spending this day with your family, people who are borrowed family or just a group of friends you consider family, enjoy it and be thankful for them.
If that’s the only thing in life that you have, consider yourself fortunate. There are many people who wish they had your riches and would trade places with you right now regardless of where you live, what you drive or whatever credit score is.
Money can buy many things but it can’t buy back time, health, family or true friendship.
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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area. Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor. If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.
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