I've come to the conclusion that I'm a spoiled whiner. The value of my house is dropping. Gas is expensive. My 401k is sliding. Wah, wah, wah. Poor me.
I was noodling around on Bankrate.com (I know, I'm a loser) and stumbled across this "7 Steps to Financial Abundance" article written by Wayne Farlow. While I have to say most of the advice is pretty recycled, "spend less than you earn" no-brainers, the opening premise of the article is pretty thought-provoking. Farlow says, "Do you live from a sense of financial abundance? Or does a belief in scarcity cause you to live in fear? I meet many people who do not feel they live in financial abundance, despite the fact that their wealth far exceeds the basic human requirements of food, shelter and clothing."
How many of us, regardless of how tight finances are, have roofs over and heads and food to eat? Even of those struggling through the foreclosure debacle, most will end up in rental housing and relatively few will be homeless. For the huge majority of us living in this country, the sputtering economy will really mean nothing more than less discretionary spending, fewer luxuries, possibly even -- gasp -- eliminating premium cable channels. Yes, we will have to squeeze those grocery budgets to make them go farther than ever. But at least we have grocery budgets.
The World Food Programme is announcing global crises from inceased food costs, riots, starvation and political upheaval. When I think about what actual scarcity and real abundance are, it reminds me that I am very, very lucky that I have to stick to my grocery list, skip impulse items and clip coupons. WFP has a goal of reducing the number of people living in extreme poverty by half. Meaning instead of one billion people without adequate food, clothing and shelter -- not to mention health care and education -- there will only be five hundred million living in such conditions. Even if they are successful in this goal that leaves an impoverished population equal to one and two thirds that of the United States.
In relative terms, nearly all of us live in unprecedented abundance. And those living in true scarcity would be astounded by all that we have.
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