I know there's balance to this issue - I once spent an afternoon at a shantytown located in a garbage dump in Managua. Worldview-changing, especially when the i

I know there's balance to this issue - I once spent an afternoon at a shantytown located in a garbage dump in Managua. Worldview-changing, especially when the interpreter noted that some people felt fortunate to at least have work to do in the dump. But some things certainly are a matter of perspective. My grandmother was one of 13 kids, 12 of which survived early childhood. The way she describes it, they all lived in one three-bedroom house in a steel town: one bedroom for the parents, one for the girls, and one for the boys. So, 14 people in a house that, assuming it was an average-sized house from that era that you see in these parts, was probably about 1,200-1,500 square feet. That'd be pretty unthinkable to your average American today (outside of NYC/SF, anyways). "Keeping up with the Joneses", coupled with a lot of land, probably our economic policies, and other factors, has certainly moved the needle on what an acceptable home looks like.