There was a movie back in the 70s or 80s, “The Greek Tycoon” with Jacqueline Bisset and Anthony Quinn. The beautiful widow of a U.S. Senator who was assassinated is attracted to a wealthy Greek Tycoon. While the scenery was spectacular and it doesn’t take too much imagination to figure out how the whole thing was going to play out, there was one terrific line that I have used on many occasions when discussing the term of “it’s all relative”. The two characters are at a fairly critical point of their relationship and Jacqueline Bisset has doubts that the tycoon can commit to a monogamous marriage. It was well-known that he has had an on-going affair for many years with a famous actress. He’s trying to downplay that and Bisset is pointing out the way he has lavished gifts on her says something like, “And they say that you bought her an island.” “It was a very small island” was the immediate response. Naturally, that comment made her smile in exasperation and helped win her over.

There are certain things that are relative and our own standing can sometimes fall into that category without us realizing it. Maybe we don’t have the luxury car in the driveway or get to fly first class when booking a vacation to Tahiti (or wherever). To the person hoping that their rusty car doesn’t break down again and packing a picnic to take the family to a free park because that’s all they can afford, our situation does seem to be pretty well-fixed. I’ve posted about this sort of topic before, but it never hurts to take a few minutes and stop to think about what we do have that is special to us.