We live in interesting times.  People in the United States are upset about rising fuel costs.  I can't say that I'm happy about my last electric bill, but I think things could be worse.  In the U.S., high energy costs means that we have to learn to live with less "stuff."  We can't buy as many "things" at Walmart, eat out as much, or live in the way we feel entitled to live.  People are angry that the mythical "they" don't come up with a way to create new every and make prices cheaper.

The problem in developing worlds is when energy prices rise, many have to make huge sacrifices.  If bus fare goes up, they may have to choose between food or medicince because they can't afford both.  I've seen this happen firsthand (because of general poverty, not directly due to energy prices), and it's hard to watch.

So, I've been trying to be more happy about the many things I've been blessed with, and try not to worry about the material things we don't have.  Unfortunately, I have yet to reach the state of materialistic nirvana--I love high tech stuff too much.  But I've noticed lately that I don't want any more "things."  When we go to the mall (maybe a monthly occurrence), I can easily walk by every store without being enticed to buy anything.  Every "thing" at a minimum has to be stored somewhere (making it harder to organize the stuff we already own), and reduces my freedom to choose to do something else with my money.  In addition, some "things" are of dubious quality, too confusing, or are too rarely useful to justify buying. For something to overcome those hurdles, the "thing" has to be good.