I’ll forgo work/school today in the Pueblo ER and take the two oldest girls to the aquarium in Denver. My goal is to be gone as long as possible – I’ll hopefully have them out until dark. I think the aquarium should be cool, but the real idea is to give Christina a break. She was up for most of last night, so this will be a nice gift for her.

I’m currently in the midst of wondering about just how detrimental affluence is to life. We pursue it relentlessly; almost without question or introspection. Yes, eating every day is nice. In general, a couple thousand calories every day is a necessity. But we have gotten to where we acquire so much more than that. And I wonder if some of the more benign things, like 2 couches in each of 3 living rooms, is just so benign. Maybe going to sleep hungry once in awhile is a good thing. Maybe we shouldn’t be expected to deliberately abstain from pleasure and comfort. It’s when the environment itself witholds wealth that humans are arguably at their best. Yeah, we may die sooner in a world with limited resources, but we often lived well when we were alive. Character necessarily shrivels in the arid desert of affluence.

Hope the fish are cool.