Next time you complain about wanting to make more money...

[tasha99]

I tell my kids this all the time. Only in America are we considered poor. We have food, a roof over our heads, a car that is reliable, my kids go to school rather than work, we have a tv and time to watch it now and then, etc. etc. So we buy our clothes at Walmart and Goodwill rather than Saks--so what? I occasionally hear "When I have kids I'll make sure I can afford them!" (esp. from my petulant teenage daughter), but even she is aware of how lucky we really are.

I also try to tell my kids that the true measure of wealth is time, not money (after you have enough to live on). It's important to find a job you like because you'll be spending time there, and it's important to really think--do I want the time or the money? I know too many people who are chasing down the dollar, miserable with their work but doing overtime because they feel they don't have enough things. Everyone has their own choice, but I think a lot of people devalue time, which is finite in our lives, and over value money.

 

[okeydokey]

I tell my kids this all the time. Only in America are we considered poor. We have food, a roof over our heads, a car that is reliable, my kids go to school rather than work, we have a tv and time to watch it now and then, etc. etc. So we buy our clothes at Walmart and Goodwill rather than Saks--so what? I occasionally hear "When I have kids I'll make sure I can afford them!" (esp. from my petulant teenage daughter), but even she is aware of how lucky we really are.

I also try to tell my kids that the true measure of wealth is time, not money (after you have enough to live on). It's important to find a job you like because you'll be spending time there, and it's important to really think--do I want the time or the money? I know too many people who are chasing down the dollar, miserable with their work but doing overtime because they feel they don't have enough things. Everyone has their own choice, but I think a lot of people devalue time, which is finite in our lives, and over value money.

How true.

 

[NotUrsula]

No, it uses a different definition of the word "rich" than that which those of us in the western world apply. Again, the ability to feed and provide shelter for one's family makes one a very rich man in most of the world. Income provides that means, as they have no way of accumulating what we would call wealth.

Actually, they do have ways of accumulating wealth -- traditionally, they marry it, and normally it comes in one of two forms, livestock or jewelry. Possession of 100 head of cattle might not seem like riches to you and I, but in a village in Burundi, that's a fortune, and that man will have enormous influence locally. He can sell milk and even meat and leather (though usually they won't butcher the cattle unless forced to it, or for a VERY special occasion), and rent out animals to pull plows and carry burdens for others.

Even the Bible mentioned "rich" men who were very wealthy comparative to the others around them -- every society has some means of generating real wealth in its own context, and even in outside contexts, if engaged in the trade of valuable things.

 

[scrapquitler]

If you make $48,000 a year, you are in the top 1% annual income in the entire world.

In fact, if you make just $10 an hour and work full time, you are in the top 12% in the world.

Some perspective ---> http://globalrichlist.com/

that sounds great, but for me, in my area, if I earned $48K a year, I still wouldn't be able to provide adequately for my family...so its kind of irrelevant to compare me with the rest of the world.

 

[Colleen27]

I tell my kids this all the time. Only in America are we considered poor. We have food, a roof over our heads, a car that is reliable, my kids go to school rather than work, we have a tv and time to watch it now and then, etc. etc. So we buy our clothes at Walmart and Goodwill rather than Saks--so what? I occasionally hear "When I have kids I'll make sure I can afford them!" (esp. from my petulant teenage daughter), but even she is aware of how lucky we really are.

I also try to tell my kids that the true measure of wealth is time, not money (after you have enough to live on). It's important to find a job you like because you'll be spending time there, and it's important to really think--do I want the time or the money? I know too many people who are chasing down the dollar, miserable with their work but doing overtime because they feel they don't have enough things. Everyone has their own choice, but I think a lot of people devalue time, which is finite in our lives, and over value money.

That's something I really try to pass on to my kids too. Fortunately we haven't hit an age/stage where they're so interested in keeping up with the Joneses that they feel like we're poor, but I suspect it'll come eventually. We made deliberate decisions that have given us less money but more time and more freedom, and while DH & I feel we live comfortably, it might not look that way through teenage eyes when we're saying no to an iPhone or whatever the gizmo-of-the-moment is.

 

[minkydog]

Sometimes its easy to forget what real poverty is......

Indeedy! DH & I went on a medical mission trip to the back-country of Jamaica. No beautiful waterfalls, clear green seas, fresh seafood there. Just marked poverty. These were the people who had no power or running water, no bathrooms, and no medical or dental care AT ALL. We saw hundreds of patients who has trouble meeting their basic needs for food, clean water, and shelter. Parents who couldn't afford fever reducer for their baby with chickenpox. Adults with rampant STDs, asthma(from cooking over open fires), fungal infections. And that doesn't even start with the rotting teeth--we didn't see one single person over the age of 11 who had all their teeth and it was not unusual to see someone in their early 30s with no teeth at all! And yet, in all this terrible poverty we saw parents adoring their children. We never saw or heard a parent speak harshly or administer any physical punishment. The kids had NO toys, so they made balls out of tin foil, wires, and even wadded up scraps of paper. And they were happy.

We came home with a whole new perspective on what it means to be successful. It simply changed our lives from admittedly conspicuous consumption to looking outward to find others who need help. I can't help everyone, but I can help someone. That's what Jamaica taught me.