William I, who conquered England some 930 years ago, had wealth, power and an army. Yet although William was very rich by the standard of his time, he had nothing like a flush toilet(抽水马桶), or riding lawn mower(除草机). How did he get by?
History books are filled with wealthy people who were poor compared to me. I have storm windows, Croesus did not. Entire nations trembled before Alexander the Great, but he couldn't buy cat food. Czar Nicholas lacked an electric saw.
Given how much better off I am than so many famous dead people, you'd think I'd be content. The trouble is that, like most people, I compare my wealth with that of living persons: neighbors, school classmates, famous TV people. The greed I feel toward my friend Howard's new kitchen is not reduced by the fact no kings ever had a refrigerator with glass doors.'
There is really no rising or falling standard of living. Over the centuries people simply find different things to feel sad about. You'd think that simply not having disease would put us in a good mood, but no, we want a hot bath too.
Of course, one way to achieve happiness would be to realize that even by today's standards the things I own are pretty nice. My house is smaller than the houses of many investments bankers, but even so it has a lot more rooms than my wife and I can keep clean.
Besides, to people looking back at our era from a century or two in the future, these bankers fancy counter tops and my own worn Formica will seem equally shabby. I can't keep up with my neighbors right now. But just wait.
