“You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.” — Vernon Howard

Jeanine and I went to the Newport Beach Film Festival this weekend. One of the screenings was a documentary about the plight of Central American immigrants as they travel thousands of miles through Mexico to reach the US border. Without legal documents, this journey is extremely dangerous. Many are robbed and abused along the way.

They interviewed one woman that had been assaulted, raped and lost everything in the first couple days. The filmmakers gave her money to buy a Coca-Cola Light and as she talked to them she was so thankful for that one soft drink. She enjoyed it as if it could be her last. Perhaps it was… they never heard from her again.

At this point in the film, Jeanine leaned over to me and said, “how many cans of Diet Pepsi do you drink a day?” Although I’m not an over zealous consumer in general, I do consume 3 or 4 cans a day. And I’m certain that I take each one for granted.

The United Nations issued a report several years ago with statistics that showed the inequalities in consumption.

“Globally, the 20% of the world’s people in the highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures ” the poorest 20% a minuscule 1.3%. More specifically, the richest fifth:

– Consume 45% of all meat and fish, the poorest fifth 5%
– Consume 58% of total energy, the poorest fifth less than 4%
– Have 74% of all telephone lines, the poorest fifth 1.5%
– Consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth 1.1%
– Own 87% of the world’s vehicle fleet, the poorest fifth less than 1%”

MSN Money printed this article entitled: Poverty Now Comes with a Color TV. “In case there was any doubt, a study has confirmed that Americans have a lot of what economists know, technically, as stuff.”

Stuff… I guess every one of us could live without most of it. Including my 4 cans of Diet Pepsi each day.