Riches

Sitting here in the pre-dawn, I am reminded to count my blessings.  For most of the long history of humanity, most people have only wanted three things.  Good shelter, available food, and clean water. For millennia, those were the basics.  Humanity struggled for those things.  Now, they're reasonably available.  I also have electricity, when man learned to harness electrons and move them to our benefit, the whole world changed.  Lights, power, education all followed in dramatic leaps.

Refrigeration, probably the most important invention of the 20th century, let us store food, let us reduce disease, let us maintain our homes at comfortable temperatures.Even today, a sizable portion of the Earth's population lacks refrigeration.

Just outside the house, I have a automotive power.  Personal automotive power.  I am able to use those to traverse distances in hours that would take my ancestors days to move across.

On a more personal level, I have the love of a good woman.  I have a family that is stable, productive, and self-sufficient.

And, on a totally different level, after the excess of yesterday, I realize that I have an abundance of ham.  Left-over ham, for sandwiches, for omelets, for snacking, for eating with eggs, for cooking in beans.  What man is not blessed who has ham that must be weighed by the multiple pounds?  Truly, I am rich beyond words.