Things I have learned - Are we happier today?

Today’s Wisdom: Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

– Abraham Lincoln

By Bill D. Ward

Way back when I was about eight years old, I outgrew the little bicycle I had started out on. One would anticipate that my parents would have taken me to the hardware store and bought me a larger one. But in 1958, that wasn’t necessarily how things worked.

Instead, we drove out to my grandparents’ farm and retrieved the rusted and dusty bike my mother had ridden in the 1930s. It was a bulky Crown bike with a heavy frame, wide handlebars and thick tires. It was probably a cool bike when she had it but by 1958, well, not so much. At least I could say it was unique among my friends.

To my parents’ credit, it did serve the need. It got me to PeeWee baseball, to the park, and in the fall to school. None of the kids gave me too much grief about the old bike, perhaps because they all lived in homes with tight budgets, too. There but for the grace of God go they, as they say.

Evidently that exhausted my parents’ supply of antique bikes, as my sisters got new modern bikes when they reached eight. But who says life is fair?

Anyway, one of the things I have learned is that we have lost the understanding of the difference between need and want. I needed a bike and my parents solved the problem in a reasonable way. My want of a shiny, new Schwinn was not relevant to the issue. 

The bike I ride today has a high-tech, lightweight frame, eighteen gears, a fancy derailer system, a water bottle holder and a plush, cushy seat. I don’t need any of it. I can repeat that comparison on a whole host of other possession I own. Cars, appliances, houses, stereo systems, these and more all are full of expensive elements that we don’t really need. We just like to have them.

Are we all better off for all the fancy stuff we own today? Maybe. Happier? I suspect my mother was a very happy eight-year-old farmgirl when she got her new bike. I guess whether all the fancy stuff really makes us happier is one of those questions where we just go, “Hmmmm?” I’m just sayin’.