On Jan 16, 2009, at 5:25 AM, EricP wrote:
> And to address the consumption issue - yes, there are many a time I > feel guilty about having all this stuff sitting around. It's one > reason my wife and I decided to live in a small condo rather than a > house. Trying to minimize our "footprint" somehow. > > Often do feel guilty about owning the Atlantis. When I'm not that > good of a rider, don't "deserve" it and on and on. Then my wife > reminds me that after going for a ride on the Rivendell, I almost > always end up coming home smiling. > > And that's the simple answer - it makes me happy to own this (and > other) inantimate objects. These things that aren't necessary, but > make life a more enjoyable experience. True. One could give away everything and live on $3 a day, but that wouldn't help the situation. The key to making the world a better place is not by increasing the number of people in poverty. I could give my All-Rounder to a homeless guy but it wouldn't really work any better for him than giving him an inexpensive, used-but-serviceable mountain bike. We've built a very strange world, one in which prosperity is based on greedy over-consumption (which is in turn fueled by spending on credit beyond our means, resulting in dramatic boom and bust cycles). I wonder what the world would be like if we had built it on generosity instead. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
