That's a great point. You and I didn't just see how little they had, we saw how much they did with so little. Similar situation for me back home, parents were struggling working class. It re-lensed how little we did (do) with so much. So much more space, so much more money, so many more comforts, so much more entertainment, so much more healthcare, so many more protective regulations.

For what? What do we have to show for it?

It knocked me a tick towards nihilism or something for some time. It made me wonder how I can be so miserable when my life should be verifiably better than what I saw there. But I came back from that eventually, because having better baseline conditions doesn't mean life isn't a struggle. It scales to where you sit in the wealth rankings of your local society. The bottom is the bottom, no matter how you compare to other societies. But I've done better at appreciating what I have and maximizing what I do. I have the option to travel, to be entertained, to build, to create, to care, to relax, to be comfortable, to experience, to observe, to theorize. And that's what I'll continue doing because it's a privilege wasted otherwise.