Reply #26: Not to mention the zoning laws and the builders

[gratuitous]

Where are the little houses for the couple just starting out or the couple just ending up? How much less house could many of us realistically live in? But we’re pushed by zoning laws and by builders (not to mention the omnipresent lenders) to buy as big a house and as much house as we can possibly afford. I’m as guilty as the next person, with a four bedroom house for just Mrs. gratuitous and myself, but we could make do quite well with much less.

I’m reminded of the story of a refugee family our church sponsored from Ethiopia or Somalia (I forget which, just offhand). After they’d been in the country for a few years, they were very proud that they finally had a house with a guest bedroom, and showed it off to us: Their family of nine had three (count ‘em!) bedrooms: One for the Mother and Father, one for the kids, and now one for guests. In their culture, all the kids slept together in one room, and they didn’t sleep very well if separated from their siblings. It really was an object lesson in our consumerist culture.