Maybe it wasn't the plastic wrap and the pizza at all. Maybe it was the fact that my wife had asked me to change my daughter's diaper. I was probably upset that I had to change a disposable diaper instead of dealing with a cloth one. It was rather annoying to have to walk 10 ft. to the garbage can to throw it away. Maybe I suspected that the trash was getting full and I would have to make the arduous journey of 100 ft. to the dumpster to throw it out. I was disturbed that the dumpster would be magically emptied and the trash taken somewhere I don't know about. I was probably distressed that I wouldn't have to worry about it after I made my difficult trek to empty my trash.
Maybe it wasn't the diaper, but my daughter. Maybe I was upset that I wasn't allowed to experience the discomfort of pregnancy. Maybe I was annoyed that because of modern medicine, I didn't even have to have my hand broken off by my wife because she didn't experience agony during labor. Maybe I was distraught because my son was sleeping in his own room nearly 2 years old, when 150 years ago he most likely would have been dead by now due to cholera, polio, malaria, mumps, measles, small pox or a host of other diseases that he has been immunized against. I was probably annoyed that she sleeps in her own room on a comfortable mattress in a home that is perfectly climate controlled.
Actually, the real problem worth complaining about is that I had to stop reading my book. I had to put the book down that I had to go almost 2 miles to go check out for free at the library. That was 2 grueling miles in an extremely reliable car on paved roads with stoplights to protect me and police to enforce traffic laws. I was annoyed that if I was to be in a car accident on the way to get my free book, I would have highly trained professionals come to save my life. Not only would they save my life, but they would protect me in case it wasn't my fault. And the most terrible thing is that I wouldn't even have to bribe them in order for them to do so.
I obviously had a lot to complain about. I can imagine a greater world where my life would be better. Maybe I would be happier living back in the days of the Romans when the average worker earned barely enough to feed his family with a day's work. If I couldn't pay my taxes, then my wife and kids could be taken and sold into slavery and I could be imprisoned or killed. Of course, I could always revolt and have my people massacred, my wife, sisters and mother raped and my land salted so nothing would ever grow there again. If I lived in the days of the Romans, I would be living at the high point of human civilization to that point in history. Of course if I lived with the Romans, I would have missed out on the Dark Ages. I can imagine a better life working a nobleman's land. If I was lucky enough to feed my family with what I grew, I could have the surplus taken from me to support my lord's crusades or quests for power. I would have been much happier when because of improper sanitation the plague came and killed one in three people I knew. Yeah... that would have been the life.
Actually, in all seriousness, the biggest problem with my night is that I had to get up off my extremely comfortable couch and tear my eyes away from the flat screen TV. Let's face it: my generation is the biggest bunch of spoiled, selfish complainers the world has ever known. We cringe when we are asked to do anything that violates our electronic stupor. The rest of the world can sink to Hell as long as Verizon keeps sending my texts and Facebook keeps me up to date on my friends. I can just imagine the status: "looked out the window and saw Armageddon happening. OMG! I hope my internet doesn't turn off! :)." Or I hope my cable stays on, or my XBox Live account doesn't get cancelled. I think that it's fascinating that when the greatest generation was my age, they went through a war (one that was close and personal because friends and loved ones were dying, and not politically annoying like our current wars where those who aren't in the military are more likely to know 2 or 3 people killed in car accidents rather than knowing 1 killed in the war), they also went through the birth of nuclear energy, when they were kids they witnessed the first flight and automobiles becoming mainstream. They then saw jet engines turn the world into a tourist attraction. A little down the road they saw a man get to the moon. They saw plumbing and electricity reach the entire country. They saw the birth of the Interstate highway and the self serve gasoline pump. Now they are beginning to be old and are kept alive by open heart surgeries and a myriad of other medical procedures that were unimagined when they were kids.
When I was a kid, the internet was just starting to become big, so I might be able to say in 80 years that I was alive for the invention of the internet. What else will I be able to say? I was alive when the xbox 1440 came out? Maybe I will be able to say that I was alive when the I Phone 16 1/2 came out or the PS 12. Maybe I will be able to say that I was there when the nations of Google and Facebook went to war. One thing that I am pretty sure of is that I won't be able to say that I was alive when the flying car was invented (the way I dreamed when I was a kid). I won't be able to say that I was alive when hunger was eradicated. I will probably be reading about those poor people in Africa who can't even buy food on my IPad 40. I won't be able to say that I was there when the cure for cancer came out.
The reason that I won't be able to say that I saw the first man on Mars or the invention of flying cars or the creation of a subway system that instantaneously transports people hundreds of miles is because the person in my generation who is supposed to invent those things is on Facebook right now updating his/her status "Just beat my personal record on MW3 (that's an Xbox game) and now I'm going to the club because my parents just put money in my account!!" Our lack of gratitude has led us into complacency. I won't be able to say that I was there when we cured cancer because the entire pharmaceutical world will be devoted to making better diabetes and heart medication in order to help all those who are morbidly obese. We are not the millenial generation. We are the entertain me generation.
Now that is a pretty bleak portrait of the future. And the way to make that future a dream and the future where all sorts of amazing things happen a reality is for us to be grateful. Maybe if we were grateful for the internet, we wouldn't take it for granted. We would become the most highly educated generation in the world with experts in every field who know far more than anyone who has come before. If we were grateful for our food, we wouldn't eat so much that we became obese. If we were grateful for what we had, there would be less complaining and more doing. If we choose to be grateful, the sky is the limit (literally if you watched the Jetson's like I did growing up).
There is another way for us to be grateful. We could lose everything we have. Indeed that is actually a more probable future then the one with pinkray DVD players. Whether global warming destroys us because we'd rather watch TV longer than reduce emissions or whether the world gets tired of the selfish arrogant Americans and blows our way of life up, most likely if we do not value and therefore protect what we have, we will lose it.
So now I am going to stop writing this blog and see if I can make myself a better person. Anybody else willing to get off what you're doing and join me? Only the future will tell.
If you put your plastic wrap in the freezer it wont stick to itself. As for everything else, I wouldn't say that about our generation, everyone says we are all entitled to this or that but some of us still struggle to make ends meet no matter what we do, buy things second hand and all of those things. Some of us have had to bury our precious little children. So may I suggest that you live life in the moment that you are given and enjoy what you do have. Sorry if that sounds harsh but, all of the things that you have complained about are first world problems, some people in our generation are like you guys and have what they want and more, some don't generalizing and saying my generation is the biggest bunch of spoiled, selfish complainers the world has ever known." Sorry but i hate it when people make generalizing posts about these types of things, if you don't like it change it, no one controls your life and your feelings but you!
ReplyDeleteWhile this certainly is not a comprehensive statement (meaning that there are those who are not as I described), I would say from my own experience that most of our generation are exactly as I have described. I agree that there are those who struggle, who work hard and who have tragedy in their lives. Those people are the exception rather than the rule. Those who have experienced loss (and I am talking about real, substantial loss such as burying children rather than losing their level 600 WOW character) have my deepest sympathies. I have not experienced that level of personal tragedy and apologize if this post is insensitive to those who have.
ReplyDeleteMy post merely commented on the condition of those in our generation generally. I did not, nor ever would, say that EVERY person in my generation is a selfish, spoiled complainer. I would like to point out however that even the poorest of us have substantially better lives by living in this time than did the poor a century ago. I also want to clarify that I am talking about those in our generation in the U.S. not the rest of the world.
Those who have to buy things second hand (which much of what we own is) should be grateful that the option of buying things second hand exists. Our drab second hand clothing would be what royalty wore up until the late 1800s. Even if clothes and toys and furniture are second hand, they are substantially better than anything our great grandparents had when they were our age.
At the time of the Romans, a days labor for the average citizen would buy a day's worth of food (this is known in economics as opportunity cost and is the only reliable way to compare wages from now with those of antiquity) with a tiny bit of surplus. In the U.S. the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. So, those who are able to work at least part time earn about $145 a week or about $20 a day. With the cost of food the way it is, if we were to eat an ancient meal comprising mostly of staples (rice, grains, beans) and not meats (which our current culture has deemed necessities, but were very much luxuries in antiquity), $20 a day would easily feed a family. Our expense comes from advanced medical care, air conditioned apartments, electricity, gas for cars and other luxuries that would make any Roman emperor envious. And of course, that $20 a day does not include governmental supplementation in the form of food stamps, housing assistance or medicaid that is available for those who are that poor in our society.
We can all use more gratitude. We in the U.S. have so much that we take for granted. Maybe you don't, I don't know. Maybe you are perfectly grateful for everything you have. Seeing as you called me out while using the internet makes me think that this is probably not the case. Even when we have experienced loss, that does not mean that we cannot be grateful for all of the other things we have.
My post was an invitation to inspect your life and find if there are things that you are taking for granted and could be more grateful for. My experience is that all of us have those things in our lives. I urge you to take that invitation, ESPECIALLY if you have experienced significant loss. Nothing removes self pity and depression (often the negative symptoms that accompany true grief) better than gratitude. As I said before, I did not mean to be insensitive, but I will not ever retract the statement that we all need to be more grateful. The Savior Jesus Christ was the only one who was ever perfectly grateful, and He was also betrayed, tortured and killed. We can all follow His example a little more.