We live like kings
We really do.
This past week I had the chance to visit the home of someone who lives somewhere on the Wasatch Back where the real estate prices are steadily climbing. His house would have been considered a mansion by the standards of pretty much any other time in history. The man has his energy consuming house, and fuel consuming automobiles and recreational vehicles that go along with living in a sprawled out recreational area.
A hundred years ago, someone living in the same location would have had to grow their food there, and travel would have been much more limited. People wouldn't have had the luxury of spending so much time waterskiing in the nearby reservoir, or driving into the city on the other side of the mountains.
What we (including myself) forget is that for most of human history, life was hard. Diseases wiped out entire villages, people labored from sunrise to sunset, and rarely did you leave the place in which you lived and worked. People didn't watch Oprah, or spend time reading self-help books on how to be happier. People didn't have the time for such luxuries; they believed that they would get their reward in the next life.
Who knows what the future holds in store. Maybe our condition will drastically return to something like what I've described, or maybe not.
It does give one pause...
This past week I had the chance to visit the home of someone who lives somewhere on the Wasatch Back where the real estate prices are steadily climbing. His house would have been considered a mansion by the standards of pretty much any other time in history. The man has his energy consuming house, and fuel consuming automobiles and recreational vehicles that go along with living in a sprawled out recreational area.
A hundred years ago, someone living in the same location would have had to grow their food there, and travel would have been much more limited. People wouldn't have had the luxury of spending so much time waterskiing in the nearby reservoir, or driving into the city on the other side of the mountains.
What we (including myself) forget is that for most of human history, life was hard. Diseases wiped out entire villages, people labored from sunrise to sunset, and rarely did you leave the place in which you lived and worked. People didn't watch Oprah, or spend time reading self-help books on how to be happier. People didn't have the time for such luxuries; they believed that they would get their reward in the next life.
Who knows what the future holds in store. Maybe our condition will drastically return to something like what I've described, or maybe not.
It does give one pause...
posted by Utah Peaknik at 11:59 AM
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