Downsizing

When I use the word “downsizing,” I am not referring to the 2017 movie by that name.  Downsizing for me and for thousands of other older folk means reducing (unloading) my “stuff.”  Some people have so much stuff that they have to buy a big house to hold it all.  Some people can’t find a big enough house to hold all their stuff and have to rent a storage unit or two or maybe a garage to house their collection of Porsches or whatever. 

Downsizing is a “thing’ only the affluent can consider—those of us who have lots of stuff!   My grandparents would have been unable to grasp the concept of downsizing.  They struggled all their lives toward “upsizing” and never quite made it. Millions of people cannot grasp the concept.  How can you downsize when you don’t have anything? 

One-half of the world’s population—more than 3 billion people—live on less than $2.50 a day.  One-third of the entire world’s urban population is living in a slum. There is no way they can grasp this downsizing business.  They have nothing—and thus, have nothing to get rid of!  The U.S. Census of 2011 reported 46.2 million Americans were impoverished—about 15% of our population.  

Only the affluent talk about downsizing.  What irks my soul is that we do it without the slightest  thought about the many who cannot begin to grasp the concept of downsizing.  “Oh,” we say, “how God has blessed us!”  Or we say, “I’ve worked hard to get where I am.”  Or worse, “I deserve what I have.” By such statements we imply that the impoverished aren’t blessed, do not work hard, and are undeserving!  Affluence produces an attitude as well as bounty (so much bounty that we have to downsize).

“I want to live more simply," we, the affluent say, “and so I’m in the process of downsizing—we’re selling our big house and buying something much smaller.”