Environment and Its Impact

I've been giving some thought to the impact environment has on our lives. Not so much nature's environment, but something as simple as our house, our car, our school, our church, etc.

It started when we put away all the Christmas decorations last week (yes, we put away Christmas only four days afterwards) and I was looking at how spacious our living room suddenly seemed once the tree was gone. Everything looked so neat and tidy, but I wondered how long it would last (I am not the world's best housekeeper). I always have good intentions, but . . .

I got to thinking about different people I know and where they live. It seems like everyone I know who lives in a more modern house or a McMansion has a really clean and orderly house, even those who don't have maid service coming in. People with cute little bungalows while maybe "stuffed" look like little magazine ads (they actually have their own magazine). Of course there are lots of people who live in small, old, big, old, any home at all - who keep their homes spotless (this is not me).

Somewhere along the way I heard and embraced  the axiom  - "you become like who you hang out with". I wonder if that extends itself to where you live, where you hangout, what you drive - it seems to me that all of these things have a big impact on your self-identity - which in turn impacts your actions, your daily life, your choices. We hear a lot about that for those living in the "ghetto" or in extreme poverty. But I think it impacts the middle class too.

Just something to think about . . . though in all honesty I don't think where I live is ever going to make me willingly choose cleaning over reading or writing . . .