Is America The Most Materialistic Society In The History Of The World?

First I want to thank Bob for inspiring me to write this. Your encouragement meant a lot

This past weekend my husband and I attended a wedding reception that was more like a class reunion. Two of our classmates from high school got married. Our graduating class of 1980 now includes many couples who married within our class. In fact, my husband and I are from the same graduating class of Upper Dauphin Area High School.

The conversations I had at Ben and Lisa's wedding reception were quite interesting. We talked about the economy, our high school years, Obamacare, the muslim religion, Lymes Disease...even Jesus was a topic of conversation. But I noticed that no one seemed to be talking about material things.

There was a time when conversations with my classmates had a more competitive nature. Everyone wanted to know who had made something of himself and who was living the good life of wealth and luxury. But we must have grown beyond all that because now people were talking about  more important things, like staying healthy and spending time with family. It was as if we finally realized how unimportant material things really are.

My husband's friends were razzing him about his recent retirement at the young age of 50. They might have been a little jealous, but they have no idea what sacrifices were made to make that possible. I married someone who loves to save money even more than I do. And because of all those weekends we spent at home, the vacations we never took, and all those material things we wanted but never bought, we are now able to live on his retirement income. We have no debt and I only work part time doing things I love...teaching art and writing.

Instead of trying to accumulate material things, we made a life out of living simply without a lot of stuff. While everyone else was increasing their debt, we were working at getting out of debt. And now we're reaping the rewards.

When I look around I see so many people who bring unnecessary stress into their lives because they love to have stuff that they can show off to the neighbors. If they wouldn't have wasted all that money over the years they could probably have a simple house that's paid for. They wouldn't be dependent on others and they wouldn't be a slave to the debt they've accumulated.

To me success has nothing to do with how big your house is, how expensive your car is or how sharply dressed you are. Success is being smart with what you have and doing the most with what you've worked for. Success is having peace of mind and not being a slave to your stuff. Success is realizing that stuff can't make you happy and showing off your stuff brings little satisfaction.  It's savoring simplicity and using the extra time it gives you to appreciate what really matters.

Click on the link below for more about our materialistic society.
Is America The Most Materialistic Society In The History Of The World?