Spoiled

I was listening to the radio as I drove to work the other day and heard a commercial for insurance. The first time I heard it I thought it was a little clever. It talked about having walletitis and not being able to afford what you wanted. It listed symptoms and then said the cure was to switch to their insurance company and save hundreds each year. But then I heard it again the next day. And I was annoyed. As I listened, they talked about not being able to afford stilettos or the best seats at the game or to eat out at restaurants. And I thought, wow, we are a spoiled country (as a whole) if we are complaining about such ridiculous things. I'd watched the news the night before about the devastation in Haiti. And I have read about so many other millions of people throughout the world that don't have enough food to eat or clean water to drink. And frankly, even in our country there are those without jobs who are struggling. And this commercial seemed so trivial and made us sound like such spoiled babies. Now I realize it was a commercial, and that obviously not everyone is that way. I don't own any stilettos (I probably couldn't walk in them!:)) and I don't go to games. I do like to eat out sometimes. But I am guilty of being a little spoiled myself... If I see a food item at the store that I want, I can buy it even if it's not on sale. My family and I don't ever go hungry, we have plenty of clothes to wear, 2 cars to drive, and so on and so on. Just got me thinking. I sometimes wish for things I don't have and I sometimes feel like money is tight. But there are so many people around the world...and right here too... that have much more difficult situations. I am a little...okay, probably a lot... spoiled. We as a nation are as well and it doesn't seem that this economic downturn has humbled as a whole. I've heard a few people compare it to the Depression, which to me seems quite a stretch. I know that it has been very difficult for some people. I'm not trying to trivialize that at all; in fact, I'm trying to say the opposite. But as a nation, I don't think we've suffered nearly as much as our predecessors did during the Great Depression. And I certainly hope we don't have to. I hope we all will be a little wiser in our financial decisions, be a little more generous with our time and money, be a little less selfish and spoiled, reuse and recycle and go without a bit more than we did in the past. I don't think it's a bad thing to have a little "walletitis" from time to time. It makes us more humble and more grateful. At least it does me...