I am remembering my own childhood. We lived in a middle-class neighborhood, bordering on upper-middle class. Across a major road was a truly upper middle class neighborhood. We were not poor. Yet, we had only 1 TV. It was black and white. I remember one friend and schoolmate who did live on the other side of that major road. She was the first to have a color TV. We all angled for invitations to her house so we could see it.

We had a 3-bedroom house and 6 children. There were 4 girls in one bedroom and 2 boys in the other; the third, of course, was my parents' room. I remember my mother hanging sheets on the clothesline outside in the warmer months, and in the basement in the colder months. I remember making my bed by turning the sheets around so they would wear evenly and not be worn out by too much washing. I remember my mother darning socks. I remember my mother not having a new winter coat for 5 or 6 years (and in Michigan, winter coats do wear out) so that her growing children would have clothes. We had one car. We didn't take vacations very often. From the time I was 5 until I was 10 or 11, we never had a vacation.

What is different now?

We expect so much more. We want so much more. We are not satisfied unless we have 2 cars per family, unless we have a TV, VCR and stereo in every room. We have to have a phone in every room, a cellular phone when we are not in a room, a beeper, a hand held computer, a mobile fax machine…

Is this better? I don't know. Certainly Americans are healthier and are living longer, but not as long as other industrialized nations. Certainly there is less poverty, but there are many homeless. Certainly there is better health care, but 34% of people in Houston are without health insurance.