Do we have it too good? My initial answer is "no" looking at my own life. We are a one income family, own one vehicle and are currently renting. My kids are not in a thousand activities, we do not own a high-def TV and God forbid, we don't even have TIVO. Of course, the irony is the bar I've set to define whether or not we are prosperous. This bar has been upped considerably since the years of The Great Depression and I have to wonder, has the bar for our values and beliefs been pushed down in the process?

My parents were children of the adults who went through The Great Depression. They were taught to save and to live modest lives for fear of running out of or losing the basic necessities of everyday life such as food and shelter. So, some of that was passed on to me as well. My dad would go on tirades about lights being left on and plates not being emptied. If we were caught on a nice day plopped in front of the "stupid tube" as he called it, we would be summoned to outdoor chores.

Consequently, we were raised with good work ethic and to not be wasteful. The further we get away from the Great Depression, though, the less afraid we are of the consequences of not working hard or being wasteful. My generation has experienced some of the most prosperous times in American history. The 1990's was a decade that made many people wealthy. The down-side to this is that with increased luxuries in life, one also moves further and further from any sort of suffering.

I'm afraid it's finally reached a point where our idea of suffering is so far removed from true suffering that we find it hard to imagine what life was like way back when... when people in New York City and New Jersey set up tent cities and fought for food and fire wood; when the average American couldn't afford milk much less frivolous things like today's "TIVO". My daughter says things that just blow my mind and I wonder how I will make her understand that I haven't "ruined her life" because I won't get her a cell phone at 9 years of age.

We complain when we have to wait in line at a restaurant because we're "starving." The cable or satellite goes out and we panic. We can't afford 3000 square feet and have to settle for 2000 and no guest room. Our vehicle is only a Honda Civic and not a Mercedes. My clunky old CD player isn't nearly as convenient as the iPod. Oh the misery of it all!

So, yes, in short, I believe our values and beliefs have been overshadowed by our prosperity. We are pretty lucky in this country and have forgotten what true suffrage is really like. I definitely recommend Cinderella Man, Ron Howard's film starring Russell Crowe about underdog Jimmy Braddock during the Great Depression: drive your Mercedes over to your local video store and watch it in surround sound on your high-def 42-inch flat screen tonight with your family while TIVO records your usual programming.

Learn more about this author, Mary Franz.
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