Wednesday, July 12, 2006
THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY
The stealing of my purse yesterday has left me musing on what makes my life feel complete and how our views on this have changed during my life time.
There was about £250 in my purse, which I suppose in this day and age is an average working person's week's wage.
It is a lot of money and yet I have not viewed it as a complete disaster.
I am sure that if somebody had lost a week's money during the 1930's and even in the 1950's then there would have been much consternation and wringing of hands and wondering how the family would feed itself for a week.
I certainly don't see Bill and I facing thin carrot soup for the week!
I am sure that the loss of the money will hardly change our lives and yet I know for sure that our income is at the lower end of average.
Now don't get me wrong I am sure there are still some folk who would find the loss of this amount of money as a real problem. I don't think they would actually face a problem with their daily needs, but it could be that some people are facing poverty at such a level that if they had been saving carefully for a special purchase then the loss would mean having to go without.
But generally it would seem that our society now accepts affluence as the norm, whereas 50 years ago some degree of deprivation was considered normal.
And yet we still have Poverty Action groups - and we have to ask who actually is facing poverty? The answer would seem to be that anybody who receives a below average income is considered to be poor, despite the fact almost everybody has a home with all sorts of electrical gadgets to help them in the home and electrical gadgets to provide entertainment - and plenty over for trivia.
This is not poverty - it is pandering to the envy that we all feel from time to time that others might be able to live in a way that seems to be better than our own. So, if I am not too alarmed about the loss of the money, what would I fear losing?
Well, I fear losing my ability to continue to live as I choose.
I want to feel in control of my own destiny.
I need some semblence of good health. That at least can't be stolen from me by others.
I want a life with peace and quiet and privacy.
I fear that these things can be stolen from us. The night the travellers came showed us that.
I want to feel secure that my life has some worth and dignity.
The threat of terrorisim shows that security can be fragile.
I think I have a right to these things - far more than I feel I have a right to riches.
The loss of my money has directed my mind to thoughts that show that the loss of money in this age of comparative affluence need not bother us too much.
It has also made me realise that I am very fortunate that for the most part the things that I do cherish as valuable are in my life in abundance, along with my family and friends.
I have noticed recently some threats to my peace and quiet and privacy which allowed a few worries to rise to the surface, but for the most part I am so happy with a life that has enough good health to keep me going and a gentle life style of my own choosing which I am free to pursue.
If I was a religious person I might just end with the words
"Thanks be to God".
There was about £250 in my purse, which I suppose in this day and age is an average working person's week's wage.
It is a lot of money and yet I have not viewed it as a complete disaster.
I am sure that if somebody had lost a week's money during the 1930's and even in the 1950's then there would have been much consternation and wringing of hands and wondering how the family would feed itself for a week.
I certainly don't see Bill and I facing thin carrot soup for the week!
I am sure that the loss of the money will hardly change our lives and yet I know for sure that our income is at the lower end of average.
Now don't get me wrong I am sure there are still some folk who would find the loss of this amount of money as a real problem. I don't think they would actually face a problem with their daily needs, but it could be that some people are facing poverty at such a level that if they had been saving carefully for a special purchase then the loss would mean having to go without.
But generally it would seem that our society now accepts affluence as the norm, whereas 50 years ago some degree of deprivation was considered normal.
And yet we still have Poverty Action groups - and we have to ask who actually is facing poverty? The answer would seem to be that anybody who receives a below average income is considered to be poor, despite the fact almost everybody has a home with all sorts of electrical gadgets to help them in the home and electrical gadgets to provide entertainment - and plenty over for trivia.
This is not poverty - it is pandering to the envy that we all feel from time to time that others might be able to live in a way that seems to be better than our own. So, if I am not too alarmed about the loss of the money, what would I fear losing?
Well, I fear losing my ability to continue to live as I choose.
I want to feel in control of my own destiny.
I need some semblence of good health. That at least can't be stolen from me by others.
I want a life with peace and quiet and privacy.
I fear that these things can be stolen from us. The night the travellers came showed us that.
I want to feel secure that my life has some worth and dignity.
The threat of terrorisim shows that security can be fragile.
I think I have a right to these things - far more than I feel I have a right to riches.
The loss of my money has directed my mind to thoughts that show that the loss of money in this age of comparative affluence need not bother us too much.
It has also made me realise that I am very fortunate that for the most part the things that I do cherish as valuable are in my life in abundance, along with my family and friends.
I have noticed recently some threats to my peace and quiet and privacy which allowed a few worries to rise to the surface, but for the most part I am so happy with a life that has enough good health to keep me going and a gentle life style of my own choosing which I am free to pursue.
If I was a religious person I might just end with the words
"Thanks be to God".
