Most Americans are faced with
too many options whether it’s in what to eat, which show to watch or video game
to buy. We tend to be a materialistic society, those of us who have jobs and a
family to support. Then there are those with few options other than surviving because of unemployment,
health issues or other challenges. Third world countries fill our newscasts
with scenes of starving children, riots and social upheavals that limit choices
for those families and individuals. Our own cities in America are filled with
homeless hopeless people with no options, struggling to get by day after day.
Is
the goal of life to acquire more and more of the abundance of life’s goods or
to reach out and share our wealth with other less fortunate in our society?
Periodic floods, tornados and disasters can bring out the charitable side of
prosperous citizens as they reach out with time and services to help others.
Unfortunately, it takes a disaster or joblessness sometimes to bring home the
reality of simpler values like shelter, food and security needs being
appreciated.
There’s
nothing like having an electrical outage to bring us back to less advanced
times where we provided our own entertainment, grew our own food, etc. It
amazing how popular the show Survivor
is. I wonder why? Perhaps, because we all wonder if we could survive without
shelter, finding our own food, making do with what nature provides us. Few of
us know how to garden, build a simple shelter, etc.
Simpler
days had their value. Teaching basic skills: how to build, repair, cook, clean
and entertain ourselves was not a
game but necessary for real SURVIVAL. We’ve become a society of consumers who
greedily demand more and more choices not giving thanks for what we have. Many
don’t believe in a higher power who gives us values and purpose for life. Too
many choose a selfish existence centered on getting more and being better than
others.