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There are always people worse off.

A friend attends a support group (his wife is in final stages of AD). He says one reason he goes is to find others whose life is worse than his.

That motive is a bit problematic, it seems. Still, there is a point there.

Last night on PBS there was an hour long piece about people whose lives have been changed by the recession. Big changes.

So many good hard working people in their 50’s simply will not find work again that was comparable to what they did before. So much misery.

So I come back to my modes little life. We are warm, we are fed - we have a few luxuries (home made muffins for breakfast). But that does not make me feel a lot better. My children are not homeless, but all are struggling. One sold her house. She needs more flexibility in her life and home ownership (overblown advantage sometimes) is not always a positive.

She moved into a newer, larger, nicer house for a good hunk less money. In her area houses are difficult to sell, her advisors tell her. Some people cannot give their houses away, she was told.

There was a chap in the Big Book who looked at someone of a lower class, who he perceived as being less fortunate then him and said something like: “Thank god I am not like him.” The story ends with a rebuke.

So I want to put it in terms of being thankful for my little life. Contentment is a gift, as is gratitude, I think.