Abundance and Apathy

My mind has been in turmoil lately. I've been considering the dual effects of abundance and apathy in our society. I'm no philosopher, but I'm convinced that one stems from the other.

Consider this: we have more stuff, more time, more tools, more information, more food, more toys, more space, more stores, more...you get the picture. Our lives are abundant! Even those in our society who claim welfare or are "underprivileged" have much more than people who lived just a few decades ago.

This trend is also in my own family. When Mark and I were married, 19 years ago, we had nothing except a car. Little by little our life situation improved. After two grueling years of school, Mark had a real job. A few years later, we bought a house. A few years later, we bought a second car. Then we bought a bigger house with a garage. A few years later we bought an even bigger house with more land and a two-car garage. Our lifestyle kept improving, our income kept increasing, our family kept growing, and finally we reached today. Recently, we realized that we physically have everything we need for the rest of our lives (aside from food and perishable items.) Just as society has improved, our family has improved. We are literally living the abundant life.

While I must admit it is exciting to have "more" and "enough" of everything, I also feel there is the danger of apathy in such a life style. In society, people (including me) become apathetic about saving, or recycling, or sharing, or being grateful for what we have. In my own family we become apathetic about growing or stretching or reaching out to others, or even taking care of what we have. In other words, abundance quickly leads to apathy. A dangerous trend.

I've done some soul-searching this week as I've watched families around me struggle with difficult issues. What has led such good people to have these trials? Could it possibly be abundance that caused such heartache? Not the actual abundance itself, but what resulted from the abundance? Kids who forgot--or weren't trained--to be entirely grateful. Parents who gave too plentifully, because they could. Teens who started to feel like life owed them a living, rather than the other way around. Children who didn't learn how to really clean or work or invest themselves in worthwhile activities?

I'm worried about these trends in my own children. Where we once ate oatmeal and peanut butter sandwiches everyday, I now can serve cold cereal and packaged crackers. My kids who lived in downtown Las Vegas--and often saw panhandlers on the streets and families living in poverty--now have grown accustomed to three-car garages and friends who own iPhones and cars. And the younger half of my children know nothing except for clean, safe, friendly, rich neighborhoods. I love where we live, but I can't forget the emotional risk of living here, either.

I don't have answers for the abundance to apathy trend. Except that we must be careful, cautious, and conscientious parents. Be thoughtful. Stop and consider the consequences before you give to your children. It's ok to have kids pay for things, even from the beginning. It's ok to not have everything we physically can have just because we can afford it.

After some deep soul-searching and late-night talks with my husband, we've decided to make a conscerted effort to have our children be accountable for what they need and own. We'll continue to have our tweens buy their own deodorant. We'll continue to have our teens pay for their car insurance. We'll continue to have our littles make birthday cards rather than buy them for friends. We'll continue to eat oatmeal more often than cereal, and homemade bread more often than store-bought pizza. I'm no expert, but this is my effort to maintain a grateful, purposeful lifestyle.

Simplicity is a good thing. In fact, it may be the closest remedy to apathy that our abundant society can offer.