Relative or Absolute Blessings

Today, I worked with a student who's working on the same assignment I mentioned yesterday, the one about the American Dream being hampered by economic inequality, but her paper mentioned something that changed my perspective of the issue. She suggested that there are at least too ways we can look at wealth: Relative and Absolute. Sure, we can compare our wealth relative to that of others, or we can look at our wealth independent of others. Instead of asking whether we have as much as someone else, we can consider whether or not we have everything we really need. Granted, there are those who don't meet that threshold, and those who are more fortunate should help them, but making sure now one lives in poverty is very different (and perhaps more practical) than trying to make sure everyone is equal.

Naturally, there are always going to be people who are more blessed than we are, and we can become bitter thinking about the blessings that others have that we don't, but it is far better to think about the blessings we do have and to be grateful for them. I may not have many blessings compared to some other people, but I am absolutely rich with blessings regardless. Rather than complaining or comparing, I'm going to try to focus on the blessings I have, completely independent of anyone else. Of course, it doesn't change the situation at all, but it is a nicer way to look at it.