What are we talking about today?

I'll get back to theme days once I find a groove of posting regularly. In the meantime, most of my posts are about some variation of books, bikes, buses, or Broadway. Plus bits about writing, nonprofits, and grief from time to time.

This blog is mostly lighthearted and pretty silly. It's not about the terrible things happening in the world, but please know that I'm not ignoring those things. I just generally don't write about them here.

13 October 2007

Ooh, look! It's new!

So Sparquay made some comments about contentment and wanting new stuff the other day.

Which, of course, set me thinking. I think I have the opposite struggle than a lot of other people. Our culture lends itself to wanting more and striving after stuff that is newer, faster, better, shinier, etc. I am (gratefully) pretty much free of that kind of want. I mean, I like new stuff, but growing up in a low-income home has taught me the difference between needs and wants. If I need something, then that is a priority. If I want something, well, that's different. How much does it cost? What will I use it for? Will I really use it? Will it fit in my house? Do I really like it enough to spend my money on it? And so on. And after all that, if it is still something I want, then I have to save up to buy it. That's just the way things work in my life.

Unfortunately, this opens me up to a different temptation: smugness. I struggle with being proud of my budget-keeping ability. I sneer at your iPod Nano, because I bought the much more sensible iPod Shuffle. My car is 10 years old and makes funny noises, and half the time I walk or cycle anyway, so don't bother me with your shiny late-model whatever. No, I don't want to go out to eat, thank you; we eat at home.

Paul said godliness with contentment is great gain. What is arrogance with contentment, then?

2 comments:

Aaron said...

Haha, I think my wife would prefer that I had contentment of any sort. I think the most content I've been was when I was in Scotland. I didn't really care what we had or didn't have. I guess it helped knowing that we were only going to be there a short stay. Maybe that's what I really have to get in my head... We're only HERE a short stay. Then hopefully I can keep away from smugness.

Su said...

I don't think you have the same propensity toward smugness that I do. So you'll probably be all right in that respect.