Bigjay73
Well-known member
Its 820 AM, I'm pregaming at a bar in DIA for a 930 flight to DFW so I can eat a big fat beef rib at 1 PM. This would have been a 3 day trip 125 years ago. The speed of invention in modern times is absolutely nuts!!
Things we take for granted
- Thread starter Bigjay73
- Start date
Charlie Bob
Well-known member
AC is still the single biggest improvement we take for granted, imo .
Bigjay73
Well-known member
It pays my bills, I'm quite grateful lol. But yes, most don't pay attention until it breaks.
Bowmannate2000
Well-known member
Definitely realized this when my unit was on the fritz last fall!
Walkathon
Well-known member
Running water, hot and cold. Don't realize how much I miss it until I'm out in hunting camp, in a tent, without it.
noharleyyet
Well-known member
Spare time…
IDFireLass
Well-known member
Hot running water. Nothing is better on hands or body. Too many PTA baths.
Basic necessities of life and how they’ve become conveniences. Food on every corner, running hot and cold water on demand, climate controlled shelter.
Most of us don’t ever think about any of that until it breaks. AC seems to be the most common of those.
Most of us don’t ever think about any of that until it breaks. AC seems to be the most common of those.
Outlaw99
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2019
- Messages
- 781
Copenhagen
thusby
Well-known member
A boat that I don’t have to sail or row in flat water.
belshawelk
Well-known member
Basic common sense.
BayouBuck985
New member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2026
- Messages
- 10
100%
Big Sky Guy
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- Joined
- Dec 10, 2018
- Messages
- 1,128
I think the folks saying running water and A/C really mean electricity. It’s the GOAT for the single biggest improvement to human life of comfort and has allowed for both of those things and too many others to list. If AI goes well it will also be responsible for that as it was the personal computer that has now become our phone.
Nick87
Well-known member
Belly full of food.
Brittany Chukarman
Well-known member
Indoor plumbing.
okie archer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2015
- Messages
- 852
Health
Freedom
Sanity
Peace of mind
Peace with God
Family
Faithful companion
Good parents/good children
The noises, messes, fusses, squabbling, etc. of children around the house. Just recently I was reminded of how short of a window of time they are at home under my care and how quickly they grow up. Our oldest married about 2 years ago. The second oldest just moved out on her own a few weeks ago. Still have 5 at home.
I try to be thankful for these things but I'm sure there's many more things I have taken for granted.
Freedom
Sanity
Peace of mind
Peace with God
Family
Faithful companion
Good parents/good children
The noises, messes, fusses, squabbling, etc. of children around the house. Just recently I was reminded of how short of a window of time they are at home under my care and how quickly they grow up. Our oldest married about 2 years ago. The second oldest just moved out on her own a few weeks ago. Still have 5 at home.
I try to be thankful for these things but I'm sure there's many more things I have taken for granted.
Keep on
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2021
- Messages
- 2,219
Never knowing hunger and being able to pick anything from the thousands of items at the grocery store or restaurant that tickles your fancy on any given day.
adoc65
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2026
- Messages
- 96
The air in my lungs. It’s just always there…..
LopeHunter
Well-known member
Mr brother-in-law has passed away. He had very few moments where built up some savings. Smart guy. Just some demons that impacted his pathway through life. He would start to complain about some slight or injustice that occurred 30 or 40 or even 50 years prior. I would listen as he seemed to need to step into the victim role and plead his case.
I would then say he absolutely got some bad breaks along the way.....yet, in the mean time guys with 8th grade educations that had limited ability to speak English had risked life and limb to sneak through arid desert to try and stand next to him in a grocery store line. And, some of those persons had actually solved the riddle of how to put together a plan for financial success and executed the plan while getting a few lucky breaks and a few unlucky breaks which they mostly overcame.
I would then say that being able to walk over to the light switch and flip it up and always have a light come on, to turn the water faucet and have safe water spill out at pressure, to have a microwave, a cell phone, a roof over your head and cash in his wallet that would still be worth something a year from now with minimal fear of violence separating him from those items made him wealthier and safer than probably 90% of the people alive at that moment.
He would agree. Then a few weeks later lose any remembrance of how many blessings he had merely being born in America in the 1950s as a white male in a two-parent household that never had food security issues and never was abused.
You can do a lot of things right and still not end of wealthy. Even are living paycheck to paycheck juggling bill collectors you are short-changing yourself if you ignore the blessings such as being healthy, loved, respected, athletic, smart, courageous and industrious among other things you do not always earn but have.
I have caught a few bad breaks in life. We all likely have. I would like to think those bad breaks were not my fault but most of the time my preceding choices had a varying likelihood of an unfavorable outcome. When you push the envelope, sometimes you end up as the hammer and sometimes you are the nail. Not a victim in those situations.
I was damn lucky to have started life with a good hand of cards. I was blessed on the day I was born. I did not screw that up. I did not get an unfair amount of unlucky breaks. I got a lot of lucky breaks. I realize I should not strut around the barnyard as if I am the greatest at anything or have the secret to success that would allow anyone with discipline to have ended up where I am today. A few more bad breaks and my trajectory could have stalled or fallen. I have now out-lived 1/5 of my graduating high school class. Still being alive is a nice way to start the day.
I would then say he absolutely got some bad breaks along the way.....yet, in the mean time guys with 8th grade educations that had limited ability to speak English had risked life and limb to sneak through arid desert to try and stand next to him in a grocery store line. And, some of those persons had actually solved the riddle of how to put together a plan for financial success and executed the plan while getting a few lucky breaks and a few unlucky breaks which they mostly overcame.
I would then say that being able to walk over to the light switch and flip it up and always have a light come on, to turn the water faucet and have safe water spill out at pressure, to have a microwave, a cell phone, a roof over your head and cash in his wallet that would still be worth something a year from now with minimal fear of violence separating him from those items made him wealthier and safer than probably 90% of the people alive at that moment.
He would agree. Then a few weeks later lose any remembrance of how many blessings he had merely being born in America in the 1950s as a white male in a two-parent household that never had food security issues and never was abused.
You can do a lot of things right and still not end of wealthy. Even are living paycheck to paycheck juggling bill collectors you are short-changing yourself if you ignore the blessings such as being healthy, loved, respected, athletic, smart, courageous and industrious among other things you do not always earn but have.
I have caught a few bad breaks in life. We all likely have. I would like to think those bad breaks were not my fault but most of the time my preceding choices had a varying likelihood of an unfavorable outcome. When you push the envelope, sometimes you end up as the hammer and sometimes you are the nail. Not a victim in those situations.
I was damn lucky to have started life with a good hand of cards. I was blessed on the day I was born. I did not screw that up. I did not get an unfair amount of unlucky breaks. I got a lot of lucky breaks. I realize I should not strut around the barnyard as if I am the greatest at anything or have the secret to success that would allow anyone with discipline to have ended up where I am today. A few more bad breaks and my trajectory could have stalled or fallen. I have now out-lived 1/5 of my graduating high school class. Still being alive is a nice way to start the day.
