Luxury Or Necessity
“I realized what a luxury an automatic garage door is when it conked off and I had to get out of the car to manually open it each time I stepped in or out of the house. Now that I have got it fixed, I value it so much more.” Said one of my friends recently during a conversation.
This conversation started a train of thoughts in my mind:
- Is an automatic garage door a luxury or a necessity? I would say it falls in the category of those endless number of items that were luxury at some time and then eventually became a necessity. This definitely is the case with a lot of luxury items. Over a period of time, with the item being around us and accessible to us, we tend to categorize it as a necessity. Unfortunately now it gets noticed and appreciated only when it stops working or ceases to exist.
- Luxury is such a relative term. Something that is an absolute necessity for me can be a luxury for someone else and vice versa. We take for granted all those things that can be a luxury for someone else.
- There are items that are a necessity today and when not maintained well can become a luxury in due course. We take for granted all those things that are not in the luxury bracket today.
If we sit back and think of all the people in our life, we realize that all the points mentioned above about luxury items is applicable to the luxury of having people around us also.
- We don’t appreciate and acknowledge the importance of family and friends when we have them with us. When people walk out of our life or leave us , the void it creates makes us understand the luxury we had while they were with us.
- We take our family for granted until we meet an orphan. Similarly we realize the luxury of having kids around when we meet parents who are going through an empty nest stage.
- When we don’t make an effort to stay connected with the good friends we have, they slowly move away and that is when we realize what a luxury it was to have good friends around.
Recently I met a friend who had lost his dad a couple of weeks ago. He said ” Now I realize what a pillar of strength my dad was for the entire family. Will miss him dearly.”
In the case of goods/items, the demography, age, gender, economy, spending ability etc decides weather it is a necessity or a luxury. But, when we talk about having parents, siblings, spouse, kids and friends, I would say it is a necessity which has to be treated as a luxury. Necessity because they are indispensable and luxury because they are priceless.
I am so thankful to my friend’s conked off garage door for two reasons. One, it made my friend appreciate the luxuriousness of an automatic garage door. Two, it helped me think of all the working automatic garage doors in my life. Some of which may need some maintenance to avoid a conk out.
Take care of all those working automatic garage doors in your life!
Comments
So true. We don’t always appreciate what we have until it’s gone.
True that. And learning to appreciate what we have needs constant reminders. We are always a Work In Progress. Aren’t we?
That’s for sure.
Well put Deepa! Luxuries v/s Needs…….. a case of perspectives!!
Yes Radhika. Thank You.
I love how you used the broken garage door as a springboard for pointing out all the other luxuries in our lives that we take for granted! (Just think of all those who don’t have the “luxury” of running water or electricity in their houses, which most of us view as necessities). But I especially love how you took it one step further: yes, family is a necessity for us, but they are also a luxury due to the way they enrich our lives. And we need to maintain those relationships for sure! Terrific post….
Thank You Ann. I have always had these thoughts when I studied about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. A garage door conversation brought back those memories. Water, electricity and decent home , luxury for so many people in the world….
Beautiful, thoughtful post. In the area I live in, there is a show called House Hunters on television. People walk around different homes deciding which one to buy. Sometimes it makes me cringe to think about time we spend worrying if a house has granite counter tops in the kitchen or new hardwood floors instead of carpet. Sometimes we are so spoiled and totally ride over what matters.
Yes getting carried away and spoiled by the luxuries is the biggest challenge that some people have to face.
Great insight, Deepa. I remember when automatic garage door openers were a real luxury. For my parents, us kids were the garage door openers. We used to argue about whose turn it was to get out of the car and open the door. Finally, my parents started parking on the driveway to avoid all the fighting.
LOL Joe. That must have been the case with so many households back then. 🙂
Yes, so true. I also take many of my day-to-day luxuries forgranted.
Our garage door opener also malfunctioned and it was a pain to get in and out through the side door each time I needed to open it. I had the same reaction as your friend.
When the bath drain got clogged up and I realized what a pain it is to get it fixed, I realized it was a luxury to have running water in the home in the first place.
There are countless more examples. I’m glad that I came across this post, because it is yet another reminder to be thankful for what we have today.
Thank you for stopping by. Yes we take all the functioning luxuries for granted. When we pause for a while and think, all we can do is be grateful.