Law of Relativity

The law of relativity states that nothing we experience is fundamentally good or bad. Nothing is good or bad until you compare it to something else.

When we compare what we have to someone else who has more, then we will always fall short. However, when we compare what we have to someone who has less, we will recognize how blessed we are.

Did you know that half the people in the world -- nearly 3 billion people -- live on less than $2/day? Did you know that if you make $20,000 per year in the United States, you are in the top 12% of the world’s wealthy? If you make $50,000 or more per year, you are in the top 1%!

I grew up the 4th of 9 children. We lived in a 2800 square foot house. I always had food to eat and clothes to wear, but I wasn’t wearing designer clothes. I always shared a bedroom with two or three sisters. It was a big bedroom and all of us had comfortable beds to sleep in, but all my school friends had their own bedroom. Compared to my friends at school, it seemed we were poor.

When I was 21 years old, I served as a missionary for my church in Ecuador (in South America) for 18 months. I had no idea how rich we were until I saw how people lived in other countries. I remember visiting a family that had 6 children, and they lived in a two-room shack. They cooked in the living room over a fire pit, and they had two beds (that looked very uncomfortable) in the other room where all 8 of them slept. Most families didn’t even dream of owning a car, much less a nice one that was big enough to transport the whole family.

I returned from my mission amazed at how rich we were! We had a family vehicle big enough to transport our entire family, we had comfortable beds to sleep in, we had carpet throughout our house, we had a bathroom with indoor plumbing and hot water. I could take a hot bath in the privacy of my own home! In fact, we had more than one bathtub in the house!

We had electricity! Did you know that there are 1.6 billion people in the world who live without electricity?

You don’t need to get a huge promotion at work or bring home a bigger paycheck to feel rich! You are already rich! Stop comparing yourself to the 1% who are wealthier than you and feeling sorry for yourself, and be grateful that you are one of the wealthy!

You can always find someone who is more clever, more talented, prettier, richer, or smarter than you are. But you can also always find people who are in need of your talents, your knowledge, your compassion, and your unique abilities. Never hold back your unique talents and abilities because you know someone who has more than of it than you do. Instead be grateful that you have the perfect amount of cleverness, talent, beauty, wealth, and knowledge to fulfill your life’s purpose. Look at those who could benefit from your unique talents and abilities and help them out! Start living a life of wealth today!