Do You Really Need It?

I remember the time my car started to smoke while on the interstate.

I was traveling to see my last living grandparent, which was roughly 4 hours away from my home.

About 2 hours after I left, my car started smoking. Luckily, I was just off an exit, and a gas station was in front of me.

As I pull off, turned off my car, and open my hood, I realized the day wasn’t going to go as planned.

My serpentine belt had broke.

The serpentine belt is used to drive multiple peripheral devices in an automotive engine, such as an alternator, power steering pump, water pump, air conditioning compressor, air pump, etc.

So fixing this was a must before continuing my journey.

After about 2 hours, a tow truck picked me up and took me to a mechanic.

After waiting in the lobby for an additional 2 hours, they told me they could fix most of the problems except my AC would not work.

They didn’t have the part they needed to fix that and could order it but wouldn’t arrive for 3 days.

So I had a choice.

Stay in a town by myself 2 hours away from any of my family for 3 days.

Or

Accept what they could do and go without AC.

I decided to go without AC.

I made it to my destination about a thousand dollars less than I started with a kind of fixed car and new tires. (I needed new tires and didn’t want the world to tell me that on a different day)

I took that journey at the start of 2020. (I didn’t know the year was going to keep going downhill)

It has been 7 months since that adventure and still haven’t fixed my AC.

Other people have told me I should fix it, because when its summer, it is HOT in my car.

However, I keep telling myself that it wasn’t doing damage to my car without it, so why spend more money to fix a fully working vehicle.

The other day when talking to my father, I mentioned that it still wasn’t fixed and was hot in my car.

What he said would change my entire perspective on the situation.

He said, “Michael, do you know what we used as AC growing up? Windows.”

That response immediately put a smile on my face and a chuckle in my stomach.

It was soo true.

Generations and generations before me made it just fine without all the things we have today and were just fine without them.

So why should I be more entitled?

The answer is, I shouldn’t.

I tell you all this to say, do you really need it?

Yes, my case was a little extreme.

However, our mothers and fathers, grandparents, and great grandparents made it through this thing called life just fine without all the shit we have today.

Why can’t we still have the same things they did and be just fine.

The answer is, we can. We just get a tad too entitled and think we deserve better.

This could be a style of clothes, house, cars, watches, phones, etc.

So my question to you today is, do you REALLY need it or could you make it by without?