The Cost of Living

Is the world more expensive, or did we come to realize that the cost of living is more than we are willing to pay?

A cave man sits in his rock-forged home thousands of years ago and ponders the stars. No city lights blur his vision. No sounds of traffic obscure the hum of nature, howling wolves, and frogs looking for companionship. All he sees is the unfettered night sky in all its glory. He does not get out a physics book to calculate its orbit or wonder how many lights years away it is. He only admires it for its aesthetic beauty, and possibly ponders what celestial artist created such an immutable tapestry.

Is it a modern problem to wonder and to worry? To wonder if all the furor and concern that comes across our eyes and ears every day is worth one ounce of anxiety. To worry that we have not made our mark on the world, as if the world cares how many heartbeats we have or road trips we take.

Now we worry each day about a demon we cannot see; a microscopic terror that seems to change everything about how the modern world operates. Does it care if we try to pray it away? Does it care if we are exercising our freedom to breath unfiltered air? Does it care if we miss human contact or are tired of staring at our omniscient virtual amusement boxes?

Now a modern man sits in his cave of brick and mortar, flipping channels until he lands on a commentator that thinks like him; proving his theory that the world is a dangerous and haunted place. That the microscopic terror is all in our minds and we should move and go as we please, as he rebuilds God in his own image.

The stars, blurred by the blinding lights of our confusion, no longer inspire us. We think the stars have lost their shine, yet they continue to flash the same brilliant show they performed when men dwelt in caves.

A thousand years from now, surrounded by a complex structure of unknown futuristic materials, men will gaze at the stars and ponder the same questions. They will never be answered. The generations will keep asking them, always wondering if life is worth it, always coming to the same lasting conclusion – maybe.

The cost of living will continue to rise until it evaporates like a mist, only to be inhaled once again by some future-enlightened generation of cave-dwellers.