What Do Rich People Look Forward To?
Mrs. Cranky and I are buying a new dishwasher. Soon. We are looking forward to a dishwasher that is quiet, dries the dishes, and does not require washing the dishes before you load the dishes to be washed. It is nice having something to look forward to. You plan, you save, and you brag to everyone about what you are going to do. Getting stuff never seems as great as looking forward to getting the stuff.
What if whenever you wanted something, you made a phone call and 20 minutes later you had it? Sounds nice, but there is no anticipation glow; nothing to look forward to. What do rich people look forward to? I don’t mean just rich, I mean stupid rich. The kind of rich where you never ask how much, you only ask when it will be delivered.
Do the uber-rich know the joy of looking forward to something? I’m talking 6 year old Christmas Eve anticipation.
Howard Hughes was the richest man in the world in the nineteen sixties. He had done everything and every woman. He had everything he could ever pay for and yet he spent his last years as a recluse. He had nothing more to look forward to.
He may have wished for a 52 inch TV mounted to the wall with access to 200 channels and every movie ever made on demand by merely pushing a button. He may have wished for a telephone that he could carry anywhere in his pocket. A phone that would take pictures and even video clips. A phone that could then send those clips all over the world. A phone that could access all the information known to man in seconds.
He may have wanted a thin tablet that could order any book and it would be available for reading in 30 seconds. He may have wanted a box smaller than a deck of cards that would hold as many song recordings as you could possible listen to in a life time.
He may have wanted a five pound machine that you could use to send messages instantly around the world, messages, videos, information all in seconds. A machine that had access to the dictionary, an encyclopedia, film and music libraries, could calculate the most complicated problems in an instant; a machine that could store, sort, and organize information that would require a large building in the nineteen sixties. Howard Hughes may have wanted these things, but they did not exist. They were things he could not even imagine. Things that he could not look forward to.
I don’t have all these things, but they are within my reach. They are things I can look forward to. I guess that makes me wealthier than Howard Hughes ever was.
Too true Cranky - and there is no feeling quite as nice as the feeling of anticipation of waiting to get something new.
ReplyDeleteLou :-)
PS. Love the new look blog..Your grandchildren are gorgeous, although I suspect that as with all gorgeous children, they are cram packed full of mischief :-)
I like the new look on your page. It's nice finally having a face, (big enough to see,) to put with your name. Your grandkids are darling! (Good genetics, huh?)
ReplyDeleteYour spider comment on my post was HILARIOUS! I am still laughing.
I totally agree with your anticipation glow phrase. When we're going anywhere, we try to tell the kids a day in advance so they can enjoy it that much longer. There's something to say about wanting something badly enough to look forward to it.
Thanks for linking up such a profound thought that I've never put into words.
I completely agree. Our water well has been giving us problems and something as simple as running water will make me do backflips when we get water back (hopefully tomorrow :o) I would, however, like to try out the 'not asking how much' for a time. Just to see what it's like. LOL....I do agree that anticipation makes what you get much more special, even more appreciated!
ReplyDeleteLove your blog! Thanks for joining in my Planet Weidknecht Weekend Hop!
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