When is too much too much?

This week our Congress (the House) passed their falsely named “big, beautiful bill” which essentially robs from the poor and gives to the rich. The more I learned about this bill and the continuing actions of the Republicans (and yes, sorry, it is the Republicans), the more I have pondered the question: when do people feel like they have enough? When do millionaires and billionaires decide they really don’t need any more money, houses, vacations, yachts, and stuff? When does compassion and empathy overtake desire, consumption and greed?

A few very wealthy people have made the decision that they have more than enough. More than enough to last the rest of their lives. Warren Buffett, Melinda French Gates, Bill Gates, McKenzie Scott, George Soros, and a few others have committed to giving away most, if not all, of their wealth before they die. These few have made a decision that they have much more than just enough and that there is immense good they can do with their wealth rather than consume more for themselves or even for their families.

So, yes, I have routinely judged the rich and the super rich for not having more compassion and not recognizing that they don’t need any more. Don’t they have enough?

But yesterday it dawned on me that perhaps I needed to look in the mirror and take a careful look at my own “too much, too many” tendencies. Okay, I am far from being a millionaire or even what most might term wealthy, but I also realize that I live a very comfortable life. Very, very comfortable.

I can go to the grocery store without having to calculate how much I am spending prior to getting to the checkout. Yes, earlier in my life I had a little red calculator that let me punch in the amount for each item to be certain I had enough money in our checkbook to pay once I got to the cash register. I have been there, done that, but that is no longer what I have to do to put food on our table. I have enough.

Compared to many, I don’t have a lot of clothes but I have more than I really need. I have a number of items that I haven’t worn (either ever or in years) that I should purge and donate. Yet I hang on to them as if I might be without something to wear one morning. That has never happened and is unlikely to happen in the near or far future.

Please don’t make me take a hard look at the plethora of art supplies I own—and yet, I just bought more watercolor paints this week—okay, I had a gift card, but still. Creativity is a wonderful thing but maybe I should realize that I already have ample supplies to be creative for the rest of my days even if I never buy another item.

I also realized that I often buy what I don’t really need. In fact, just this week I ordered three pairs of these really nice cotton socks when I think I have at least two pairs in my drawer from my last order that I have never even worn. But I love these socks, I rationalize. There was a sale. The business is owned and operated by women. They are made with cotton grown here in the United States. So many reasons to buy more. So many rationalizations for more of something I don’t really need.

I have plenty of socks. Plenty of art supplies. Plenty of clothes. Plenty of food. Plenty of so much. Plenty of plenty. Hmmmm…maybe I have a bit of that same Elon Musk-Jeff Bezos-Mark Zuckerberg DNA lurking inside of me, too. Ouch!

I don’t like thinking this. After all, I am not sailing away to my own private island on my luxury yacht. However, I think it is time that I looked more closely at my own excess and worked on that rather than judging others.

I am not saying that I approve of robbing the poor to cover the excesses of the rich. I certainly don’t think it is right to take basic health care and food from those with desperate need in order to give tax breaks to the super rich.

But I also know that I need to look more closely at my own excess to understand the root of our habits. I need to ponder what I can give to others rather than making choices to give to myself. It is so easy to look the other way when it comes to taking a hard look at ourselves. So easy.