It's the curse of living in a prosperous place, in a prosperous time. Yes, I know that we recently had a recession, but this is how my morning went today:
I am working from home today, a luxury that I get because I have a laptop and the internet.
Because I am working from home, I get to sleep in when I would normally be commuting.
I work in my PJ's until I feel like getting dressed.
When I get up, I make myself an exquisite cup of coffee. The beans are imported from some 3rd world country, where, as the bag assures me, my purchase of beans helps support the local economy.
Then I curse because we are out of Raisin Bran, and I make myself two pieces of cinnamon toast. I do this every six months or so as an easy, and probably terrible for me, breakfast.
So far, everything in my day has included luxury. I had coffee, great coffee. I had sugar on a whim. I got to sleep in.
While I was having my breakfast, I was thinking about how absurd it is that there have been times where sugar and coffee were luxury items; That kids had cake on their birthdays, not just out of tradition, but because it was one of the few times that they got sugar at all. Those times were long before I was born.
I don't appreciate much at all. I have a beautiful house, with a beautiful yard (that I spend time working on as a hobby, not out of necessity), but my house could be bigger and it would be nice to hire a maid service. I eat whatever I want whenever I want, and I hate it when I am out of something, even though all I have to do is run down the street and pick up literally anything I want. I choose to go hungry sometimes out of vanity, because I have so much that the risk of getting fat is greater than the risk of malnourishment.
I want to appreciate my coffee, my sugar, my house, and my other possessions, but I don't know how. I have so much, and I can get so much, that it is hard to give many things value at all.
I value the people in my life. I value the plants that I work hard to grow. I value the sun. I value experiences and knowledge. These are good things, but it is the fact that I cannot buy them, that they can be unexpected, and that they require work that makes me appreciate them. I just wish that I could appreciate more.
