This past week, my wife Megan and I took a trip to Florida to visit her family. The first day we got there, we went to her aunt's house and hung out by the pool. Her house is nice, located in a community in central Florida. The houses are well maintained and it looks like a great neighborhood. The next day we went to New Smyrna Beach. I normally hate the beach but this one was nice because there were not a lot of people and the downtown are was not a mad house. The sand was also much nice, especially without all of the shells and sticks like the northeast. Then we went to Megan's grandparent's house in the largest retirement community in the world. This place is huge! over 100,000 residents live there and it has everything you could think of. Live music, 3 movie theaters, more golf courses than you could ever need, great restaurants, and shopping galore. All of the yards are professionally maintained and the roads are immaculate. It just looks like a picturesque town.
Now, when I travel I usually stay at a resort or near the ocean. This has made for some great and amazing vacations. This is the first time that I am seeing central Florida and not being at Disney World. Once we left the Villages and any gated community, it was like nothing I ever saw. If you were to tell me that I was in the poorest area of the country, I would not argue with you. There were so many vacant buildings, boarded up windows, and shacks on the side of the road. It made me think about my impression of what America is like. I saw houses that are falling apart, in the middle of nowhere, for sale. My first though was, how are they going to sell that place? My second thought was, if I bought that place I would just tear it down and start over. It took me a while to realize that someone is going to call that place home. Someone is going to buy that place and just be happy that when it rains, they might not get wet, or that they can get mail because they have an address.
I complain a lot about money. Everyone is always saying how they could use more money and deserve to get paid more but realistically, I am doing well for myself. It is crazy to say but I think that at age 26, I am living a more comfortable life than most people. We complain about people abusing welfare, and getting free handouts but looking around in this area, these people have nowhere to work, and the ones who are working are definitely not making enough to really have a decent life.
I look at houses all the time, mostly online. I would love to live in the town I work in. It is a small town but has everything I would need, within walking distance. I would also love to live in the town I live in now, but it is 30 minutes from my work and I don't really want to commute that much. Let me remind you that I am 26. I should be happy to be able to afford a home. I struggle everyday with the thought of being happy with what I have and wanting more. I feel bad when I look at how much more I have than other people, and I think that I will get lazy (or lazier) if I think that what I have is enough. This is also where I start to judge people on where their life is. Looking at these people in Florida, I judged them harshly. I thought to myself, "Why would you have kids if you are struggling to take care of yourself?" I think about that for a little while and remember how much I spend on things that I do not need, or spending a little extra money to eat out instead of making food for myself. These people take care of their kids the way their parents did, with hard work.
This trip was an eye opener for me into the privilege I have. I knew it was there but I did not see what it actually was.
