There are those types of statements that might seem logical or to make sense, but when examined, just aren’t all that sensible. For instance, we will have heard of stories of our grandparents or great grandparents that they didn’t have access to indoor plumbing or television or the internet or to cell phones, and the impression that we are given is that they must have therefore been poor and dissatisfied; whereas, the truth of the matter is that it would be more appropriate to judge their position in society by comparing them with the same types of people in that day and age. So too, when we turn the clock back to earlier times, there is a need to recognize that when everyone else also doesn’t have indoor plumbing, or air conditioning, or electricity, then we are, for all intents and purposes, on the same wavelength that they are on, which means we are about the same in regards to our living conditions. Therefore, to believe somehow because we have modern conveniences that we are therefore in better shape than even Kings were back in medieval times is to read the tea leaves wrong, because power is power, and those that have power, despite their lack of modern conveniences are always going to be in a lot better position to have a quality life, then someone who simply has a cell phone and not much else.
It is a shame whenever there are articles written, pretty much stating that the poor in America shouldn’t complain so much about their lot in life, because they have ready access to food, shelter, transportation, heat, as well as entertainment at the control of their fingers. Sure, all these accouterments have their place as well as their value, but when we look at and compare ourselves to others, and see that we are leagues behind what other people have achieved and thereby own, it isn’t going to give those who lack much satisfaction. Indeed, we live within a construct in which our happiness, to a certain extent, is how we favorably compare to others of the same general background as well as to those that we admire, and when we recognize that we are far, far behind, we aren’t going to feel much satisfaction that we have a smart phone, as compared to grandma simply having had a house phone.
In every society, there are classes of people, and the division of those people has everything to do with what their class position is in that society, as well as the accouterments that they have accumulated or have exclusive right to. In today’s world, the poor may well indeed have conveniences that didn’t even exist back then, which makes their life more comfortable than it would have been years and years ago, but how we measure our success or lack thereof in life has everything to do with whether or not our position and achievements in life are that which is respected by our peers, or whether we are seen as having failed to make good, where there is plenty of good to have been made.