All we can't live without

I'm a little older, and a little wiser.

Just a little.

My birthday is this Saturday (send all presents to our office), and with another year in the books, it feels like my eyes have opened more to the realities of the world we live in.

I'm sure I don't have to remind anyone of how lucky we are to live in a country like Canada, and the current state of the global economy has been well documented. Times are getting tough. Tougher, for some.

Throughout my life I have been blessed in a number of ways. Though my family certainly isn't rich, we have never wanted for anything. As for me, I can afford to put a roof over my head and food in my fridge, which is a blessing in and of itself.

I've taken both of those realities for granted in the past. I know I'm not alone in that - we all take things for granted from time to time - so I'm not going to beat myself up about it, but it's worth mentioning because as I said, my eyes are opening.

I'm starting to think about all the things we think we need to have - all we can't live without - that in truth are inconsequential. The big screen TVs, the CD collections, the fourth or fifth pair of shoes, the books we buy but never read, and the clothes that collect dust in our closet.

I am guilty of most, if not all of these things. My movie collection is epic, I could fill a library with my unread books, and yet somehow I still find reasons to spend money. The grass always seems greener on the other side, as they say. There's always one more thing to buy, and then I'll be satisfied.

It's a trap many of us fall into. We could argue our society is designed in such a way. We're marketed to incessantly, and there's certainly no shortage of merchants and vendors ready to take our hard earned cash.

I'm not trying to denounce commerce or consumerism; that's an argument for another day, and with Christmas right around the corner, I'm hardly going to keep my wallet in my pocket. But I'll devote a little more thought to the items I buy, and I'll forego a few 'gifts to myself" in favor of spreading a little joy and a little blessing in someone else's direction.

I know there's someone out there that needs it more than I do.