This time ISN'T different

I enjoy volunteering with an organization called Junior Achievement. One of its main objectives is to teach financial literacy to young people. I often include a comment about how young people today are not satisfied to wait until later in life to enjoy the standard of living enjoyed by their parents. I have always assumed this to be a more recent phenomenon, especially given the reputation of the younger, supposedly less patient generation. Then I read this:

One thing … that I would like to call attention to--young people, when they marry, are not satisfied to begin with a little and humbly, but they want to receive just about as much as their parents have at the time they, the children, get married. … They want to start out with every convenience under the sun to make them comfortable. I think this is a mistake. I think they should begin humbly, putting their faith in the Lord, building here a little and there a little as they can, accumulating piecemeal, until they can reach a position of prosperity such as they wish to have.

-Joseph Fielding Smith

That statement was made in 1958. Apparently this is nothing new, and teaches us something about human nature. As a rule, we are impatient, and often unwilling to take the slow and steady approach that seems more likely to lead to long-term happiness.

Societal norms have changed, and not for the better, but our challenges are not that dissimilar from those of the past. I once heard a talk by famous biographer David McCullough. He said that with regard to history, we often say "this time is different." Usually, it isnt.