Reality is a static thing.  Day to day, not much really changes.  A lot of things in life are zero-sum events.  One person wins what the other person losses.  Zero-sum events go on thousands of times a day all around me, but at the end of the day life is pretty much the same as it was in the morning. 

When I watch the news though, they give me a different feeling.  The news is full of stories that make it seem like so much is happening every day.  None of that really ever effects me though.  I use the term “News” in a broad sense.  Radio, television, newspapers, Internet, etc. If you asked me, I would tell you that my life is different today than it was a year ago.  That is true, but really only for one reason, I now have 2 sons and a year ago Andrew didn’t have a brother.  When my mind first starts to answer the question if my life has changed, my youngest son isn’t the first thing to come to mind though.  My first thought is on the material goods in my life.  Am I making more money?  Do I have a new car? and after I work through those questions, I then get to changes in social and family life.

I would love to change my perspective on life to first focus on the family, and then social.  Ideally I wouldn’t even care about the material goods enough to even consider them.  There is a fundamental truth here that is really important.  The quality of your life is felt through the quality of your relationships.  Unfortunately, the news has all of us focusing on measuring the quality with financial/material goods.  If I have no friends, or no one wants to be around me, then whats the point to having it.  Cash loses its value due to inflation, clothes change season, electronics need updates, mechanical equipment breaks down, and trends come and go.

Take a look at Mell Gibson.  I feel bad for Mell.  An important relationship in his life has fallen apart.  Houses in Malibu and overseas investment accounts can’t rebuild that relationship.  It’s just dead. and the death of that realtionship is tragic enough to negate everything else he has in life.  I am sure that if you asked him today, he would be willing to part with much of his “measured” success to replace that broken relationship. So why can’t I learn from his mistake and stop chasing “measured” success.  If life is a zero-sum game, then I need to stop focusing on “measured” success and make the most of my relationships.