Knowing your place

The recent housing numbers, the fact that Arizona is one of the states where more than 50% of the mortgages are underwater, and my recent search for a home got me thinking. I am your basic middle class professional and so I have been looking at houses in that price range, houses that were most certainly owned by other middle class professionals. As I saw these houses and saw what was in them - wine cellars, that then need to be stocked with expensive wine, multiple expensive appliances, landscaping that I am sure costs hundreds of dollars each month to maintain, it suddenly struck me that these simple middle class people were living as if they were millionaires. The housing bubble and the inflated values of their homes had made them think so, and they had started living well beyond their means. There is nothing wrong with aspiring, but this was a stark reminded for me that I must also never lose sight of who I am. Of course, "know your place" seems demeaning and condescending, but as we try to chart out our path on the map of life, it is very important to know our destination but it is equally important to know where the dot labeled "You are here" is.