Strive to impress?

Marge and I like to drive down country roads just enjoying the ride and not having a particular destination. I should say I like drives like this. Marge will ask where we are going, and I have to say I don't have a clue. On our journeys one thing we have noticed is that homes are simply getting massive. Huge! Homes that appear to have multiple bathrooms and bedrooms and who knows what else. There is no way the family has need for such a house. No way.

I grew up back in the 1950s, so it's been a couple days ago. Mom and Dad were up in years when my brother and I came along, so we grew up around aunts and uncles who were, in our opinion, old. Mom and Dad didn't seem old, but when I graduated from high school, Dad was 65. You probably had some awesome aunts and uncles, but I'd stack mine up against yours any day of the week. My kinfolk may have been a little outlawish, but they were good people.

Dad's brother, Uncle Mick, lived way out where there weren't any towns and very few roads. Uncle Mick and Aunt Mildred had two children, a boy and a girl, and raised them in a two-bedroom small home that couldn't have been over 800 square feet. My Grandpa and Grandma Piihl raised three girls and two boys in a two-bedroom sod home that maybe was close to 900 to 1,000 square feet. Mom and Dad raised two girls and two boys in a two-bedroom home that was maybe 1,000 square feet. My Aunt Johanna and Uncle Bertie raised three girls in a two-bedroom home that was maybe 900 to 1,000 square feet home. All the homes were small. Today they would be looked upon as being way too small, but they made do with what they had.

I kind of wonder if it's not a result of "foot-itus." If you have a 12-foot boat, you want a 13-foot. But when you get a 13-foot boat, you then want a 14-foot. This goes on and on. Same with cars and everything. Even coffee. I have a roaster that does maybe a pound at a time. It would be nice to be able to roast a couple pounds at a time and have more control over the heat and air and other variables. Coffee-itus or simply foot-itus.

Marge has used a pressure cooker her entire life. If a cut of meat is tough, she can use the pressure cooker and really tenderize it quickly. A pressure cooker simply raises the temp above 212 degrees or the boiling point. I believe at 10 pounds of pressure, the temp goes up to about 240 degrees. Now the craze is insta pots -- just a glamorized pressure cooker. Foot-itus. But doesn't all this foot-itus boil down to simply not being satisfied? To strive for more and better and easier and faster and such are good reasons to reach above where we are or have. But there are times when simply being satisfied makes good sense.

One other short coming we humans have is neighbor-itus. We are totally satisfied with our 12-foot boat until we see our neighbor has a 13-foot boat. It seems like he is shoving that boat in our face, so we decide to get a 14-foot boat. Funny how envy has a way of tearing away our common sense and causing us to strive to impress. From clothes to vehicles to recreation to whatever striving to impress has empty rewards.

Striving is good in many areas, but it's a real downer in others. Knowing when to strive and when to rest satisfied is real wisdom.