The End of Affluence? Puh-leeze!
by Jim Cerone
“The sky is falling!” “This is the worst economic crisis in 100 years!” “It’s the end of affluence in America!”
Give me a break. Are you kidding me? Take a long, critical look around. What do you see?
Let me help. What you see is unbridled abundance. Compared to our grandparents and great-grandparents, we live in the midst of ridiculous excess and we are incredibly wasteful.
Do we even know the meaning of ‘essentials?’ Traveling by plane recently, I was struck by the ubiquitous cell phone, which has weaseled its way into every waking moment of our lives. My seat-mate literally talked until the moment the forward door slammed shut. Then, she twitched nervously until the wheels touched down. In the gate area, I half expected hand-to-hand combat for the electrical outlets.
Can we imagine how our ancestors lived? Could you survive having twelve people in one house sharing one bathroom? Ladies and gentlemen, we have no idea how to sacrifice or go without.
Do any of us need 100 channels of cable television, three cars, four bedrooms, 3000 square feet and five different salad dressings? Has your cupboard every really been bare? How many beverages does one family need? If you’re like us, you have bottled water, milk, three different kinds of juice (including juice boxes), coffee, tea and soda. Heck, how many refrigerators do you have? Does it make any sense to pay for the electricity to run the one in the garage or basement when it’s almost always completely empty?
Here’s my catch phrase to get us through this economic ‘downturn’: WWGGD? What would your great-grandmother do? Great-grandma could feed the entire extended family on a few bucks a week.
Forget adjusting for inflation, by the way. Numbers don’t mean anything. We’re talking about a mindset. You want to adjust something? Adjust our entire collective attitude. We feel ‘entitled’ to everything. Let’s face the ugly truth – we are all spoiled brats!
Want to solve your own personal economic dilemma? Cancel your cable, satellite, movie subscriptions, cell phones, internet, and sell a car or two. Let your lawn grow naturally and pick weeds by hand. Shovel snow. Rake leaves. Learn to use a broom. Tired of high gas prices? Carpool, ride a bike, walk or ~gasp~, take public transportation! My grandfather rode three different buses to get to his job in the 1930’s.
Our grandparents fixed things. Us? It breaks, we throw it away. Does anyone know how to darn socks anymore? Will our granite countertops keep us warm when the weather turns cold? If we had any shame, we’d be ashamed, but we’ve learned to block all that out.
I’m not some new age guru who wants you to sell all your possessions and go sit on a mountaintop. I am pointing out that we live in amazingly abundant times. To suggest that we are headed for economic collapse is downright comical and more so, irresponsible.
What about retirement plans and college funds? If we lived within our means and didn’t rack up debt in the prime of our life, we’d have money for our golden years. Or, heaven forbid, we’d do what our grandparents did – work hard and then be taken care of by our children and grandchildren. Pass on the wisdom from our generation to theirs. Teach them a trade. Book learnin’ ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. We need a lot more plain old common sense.
We’ve been on one long consumption binge that may finally come to a halt. In my best Stuart Smalley voice, “that’s okay. Because we’re good enough and we’re smart enough and gosh darn it, all we really need is to eat and sleep for goodness sake.”
Author - Jim Cerone
Essentials? Food and shelter, boys and girls. That’s all we need. What we need is more family time and fewer gadgets. What we need is good health and less medication. Unplug. Take a walk. Breathe in some air.
We are unbelievably rich and fortunate. We’re going get through this with no problem. Oh, sure, we may have to learn to live with less stuff, but that’s going to be good for all of us.
(Editor’s Note: Jim Cerone is a respected industry leader, seminar speaker and author of “The Perfect Host”. His message, with this latest article, should give all of us pause to reflect on the things we should truly be thankful for this Thanksgiving . . . family, friends and the enormous wealth of love and happiness that surrounds us. These rich qualities of life far outweigh that which is achieved through monetary means!)
