Memes of Production

This is a lesson I wish I could teach other people in my life. I formed a polycule a while back and this has been the hardest part.

My wife and I both grew up on the poorer side. We got jobs and grew up faster than the rest of our friend group. Struggled through college together. Dealt with her eventually dropping out and being permanently unemployed because of a disability. Gave up on dreams like having children and taking vacations. I could sense that the housing market was rebounding in the mid-2010's so we cobbled together enough money for a cheap house in an relatively rough neighborhood, wkth a monthly payment we could afford comfortably. Hopefully pay extra to pay it off early and save on interest. Slowly transitioned from buying everything cheap to buying stuff that was better value, but still not getting expensive stuff. Didn't get a PS4 until 2019, and even that $199 slim model bundle with 3 games was still a significant purchase.

My career kept going and I hit 6 figures shortly after the pandemic. Which put our household in the top 1/3rd of income for our city. Still we stayed humble. Maybe go to a nice restaurant once a year. Order either pizza or Chinese or some other takeout once, maybe twice a month, as a treat. Paid off the student loans early. Took a couple vacations, but just long weekends spent in nearby cities we could drive to.

I learned to love the little things. Sitting on my porch on a summer weekend morning, the light filtering through the trees. Sipping some homemade iced coffee, eating some scrambled eggs. Watching the squirrels scurrying through the small bit of woods in my backyard, the birds flying from perch to perch, my cats chirping at it all from the window behind me. Playing guitar, not to make money or to try to be better than anyone else but just because it's fun to do. Catching up on old videogames I bought used years ago and never had time to play.

Then we formed a polycule with another couple. They're great people and I love the situation overall, but... They both grew up poor in the south, then moved to the Bay area and eventually started their own business. Then decided to move to a lower cost-of-living area and came to our small city. They make 4-5x what I do, probably in the top 5% of households in the city. They take a week long vacation roughly every 2 months, usually 1 or 2 of those trips each year being international. They usually go to an ultra expensive restaurant at least once a month. Go out to bars for drinks and order takeout a few times every week. Get their groceries delivered by one of those meal plan websites. Buys the latest AAA videogame on launch day. Watches movies in theaters as they come out. Constantly having packages delivering various trinkets and gadets and decorations.

The thing is... They don't seem happy or at peace. They're constantly searching for the next thing to buy. As soon as they come back from a trip they're talking about how to be more extravagant on the next one. They seem more interested in finding greener grass than appreciating what's under their feet.