Reply #9: I think people who don't know what they're missing.....

[kitty1]

tend to be at a happier place than people who have a storehouse of stuff.
If you look at the some of the children that are shown in an African vllage.
They just seem to radiate joy. They know how to express love and contentment even amid horrible poverty. They're happy to just be.
They don't know that they're missing out on Nike and PS3, because they've never seen it. Yet they still manage to find excitement in the life and people around them. I know there is real misery too, we've all seen that. But their outlook as a whole is so much more hopeful.
Our ancestors didn't have much, and yet they we're likely more at peace than we are because they didn't feel the need to aspire to expensive things like we do now. They had a spirit filled life that sustained them. There was no media like there is now to deluge them with ads.
There is so much consumerism in our time. Corporations subtly make people feel like they'll be left out of the good life if they don't snatch up the next hi tech gadget or anti-aging treatment out there.
There is also so much competition when it comes to attaining wealth and therefore being "successful"
Not that there's anything wrong with being rich. But it shouldn't be your highest or only goal in life.
People are going into debt to try and fulfill themselves.
We should all try to be more positive and give back. It's all about priorities.