It’s the next Great Depression. Isn’t it great?

A year and a half ago I bought a top-o-the-line Volkswagen Touareg, and I was pissed about it. This car could do nothing right. Know what I hated? I hated that it thought it was smarter than me. It’s bad enough that I allowed the thing to shift for me, but this car “dinged” at me when I didn’t have my seatbelt on, then it dinged at me when I was low on gas, it even dinged at me when I needed to add air in the tires. I hated it. Why did I shell out all the cash for a “luxury” vehicle anyway? I wasn’t a happier person with this car. It didn’t make my life any easier. I sure didn’t feel successful driving it. That was two years ago. Fast-forward in time to yesterday a thought shocked me while I was driving, “I like this car, now. It’s comfortable, it’s a smooth ride, it’s got seat warmers for Pete sake, what’s not to like about that?” And at that moment I realized, I’m changing. My attitude about my stuff is permanently changing. My addiction to stuff is changing.

Here’s where it all started. Last Sunday, I went to the park with my son. He’s a toddler now and he absolutely loves going to the park. Now, granted I am a recent dad so some of my experiences are definitely seen through new eyes. But, I also think that this is a “new world” and this has a lot to do with a new attitude that I have. You know what I mean, by “new world” right? This new-bad economy–unemployment–war–debt–General Motors-Fanny Mae-stock market-healthcare-global warming-world? Okay, lets get back to the park and my attitude. First off, Caleb (my son) had a blast. He spent most of his time climbing, sliding and staring at new faces. I also had fun. Of course watching him enjoying life on earth was a joy but I also saw something that really opened my eyes. It was an empty 2-liter bottle of Safeway Select Grape soda sitting next to the trashcan. For anyone else and probably for me at any other time, this would have just been trash but, this time it shifted my paradigm. It cause me to look around for a moment and actually see what was happening around me, people were having fun. I saw a couple barbequing hot dogs on a tiny Smokey Joe, four people sharing a blanket and playing cards, two friends in lawn chairs enjoying the weather. I too, was totally enjoying myself just taking it all in. This ordinary piece of recyclable trash, this bottle of soda reminded me of when I was a kid and how we would go to the park with generic soda, bring peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a blanket and just play. The last 10 years of my life has had none of this. I’ve been too busy shopping, spending and consuming.

I belive this economy is a good thing. It’s giving us a reality check. Our lives were spinning out of control with a blind addiction to collecting stuff. When we did take time to go to a park to have fun, it was a park with an entry fee, expensive food and a $5 dollar fee to park in the “closer” parking lot. And we were miserable. The expensive food sucked, the “close” lot wasn’t close enough and the bathrooms at the park… in these shoes? I don’t think so.

Good for us, for being yanked off of our miserable pedestal, brought back down to earth where fun is free, food is fuel and we appreciate life.
I think this new world is the best thing that could’ve happened to all of us. We needed it.

Think about it. Are you less happy right now than when you were shopping at Banana Republic every weekend and complaining about the freshness of your sushi? Or maybe, just maybe you’re appreciating little things like a roof over your head, TV night on the couch and if you happen to be one very fortunate man like myself, sitting on a bench at the park with your son on a sunny 72 degree afternoon staring at a nostalgic piece of recyclable trash. Isn’t it great?