When I was writing about how I'm terrified by the loud people who don't want the garbage men earning a decent living, the best way I was able to articulate my fear in a single sentence is that I don't want to go back to having things crawling out of my walls. That's basically it. The single greatest improvement in my quality of life - the #1 example of money buying happiness - has been housing that is free of panic attack triggers. Even if I lost everything, it would still be exponentially more pleasant to be sitting hungry in old sweat-stained clothes with nothing but library books for entertainment in a bug-free space than to have all the food, wine, clothes, make-up, computers, TV, and internet I want in a space where something might crawl out of the wall at any time. Many people see wanting bug-free space as overly fussy, but now that I have this comfort, losing it would break me.
It occurs to me that everyone might have some #1 dealbreaker issue like this, some über-alles comfort or quality of life factor either that money has bought them and they don't want to lose, or that money could buy and they can't yet afford. It varies from person to person, and it might even change depending on your place in life. (For example, when I was a kid it was having my own room. If we'd had to downgrade to the extent where we had to share a room, it would have broken me.)
A truly informative economic indicator would be go get everyone to identify what their #1 thing is, then determine how much of the population has their #1 thing. How many people have gained it in the last quarter, and how many have lost it?
2 comments:
I have two.
1. Will we have to go back to sharing a desk and computer, or can we each have our own workspace?
2. Washer/dryer in the house. If not that, then a lot of washer/dryers very convenienetly located in the building. In other words, please don't send me back to the laundromat.
I think if it weren't for the bug thing, the laundromat thing would be my #1. I'm spoiled now (well, not spoiled because I'm paying for it) because I have the machines in my apartment and it would be a blow to have to go back down to the basement, but I could survive that. But PLEASE don't sent me to the laundromat!
The separate workspaces is actually the reason why I've never cohabited. It is absolutely imperative for the sanity of all involved to have two separate offices, and in my corner of the world they charge a ridiculous amount for a pitiful excuse for a "den".
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