Everything's Relative

        I was driving home from school last week and I encountered a situation I very seldom, if ever, have dealt with.  I was approaching the stop sign one quarter mile from my house and there, to my surprise, was a lot of traffic.  There were two cars behind me, two cars at the stop sign facing me, and we had to wait for six cars before we could go through the intersection.  A traffic jam!  I had never before seen my intersection so busy.  Ten cars!  Urban sprawl was happening just down the road from where I lived.
        And then I had to laugh.  My friends from larger urban areas would call that a peaceful commute home.  Two hundred cars would be a gift, let alone ten.  As my mind wandered, as it so easily does, I started thinking about other things that are merely relative depending upon your situation.
       So many people in our country think they are so poor and yet most people in a third world country would gladly change places with anyone in our lowest economic class.  A dinner out in the burg costing a couple more than $50 would be a splurge, but a drop in the bucket to someone else.  And in the country, a neighbor closer than one mile away is encroachment while those in an inner city apartment couldn't even imagine the space.
       As I ponder these situations it makes me realize even more that no matter how bad or dire or good our situation is, we must always remember that things are relative.  I guess I've never had it so good.