I recently bought a new MP3 player for my car, and as a result, now I want to buy an iPod to connect to it.
Together with the MP3 player I bought a set of 4-way Pioneer speakers – which makes me want a JBL set instead.
My employer never negotiated my asking price, they just gave it to me. Now I wish I’d asked for a higher salary.
You see a pattern emerging?
- I buy a Neo laptop (which so far has been meeting all my needs). That makes me want a MacBook Pro.
- I get a flat-screen TV. Now I want a Plasma TV.
- I’m looking to buy a new cell phone. The one I’m using now isn’t even 6 months old.
- I get a CR-V. Now I want a Sportivo. Or a Navara.
That last one is a joke, but I put it there to paint a clearer picture of what I’m trying to drive at.
Want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want!
Insatiable, inexhaustible, unending Want.
I once said I want 39 million dollars, so I could afford to quit my job, finally get to sit down and write a book, and be content with my life.
Content? Hmm. All of the sudden, I don’t know anymore. If I will ever achieve ‘Content’. I mean, via having 39 million dollars.
Or a car MP3 player. Or JBL speakers. Or a Navara (even though it is gorgeous). Who knows, if somehow I’m finally able to get a Navara, I’d then start to want a BMW X5?
Someone once said “There is something perverse about more than enough. When we have more, it is never enough. It is always somewhere out there, just out of reach. The more we acquire, the more elusive enough becomes.” To put it plainly: The more we have, the more we want.
Which is a sad and sorry paradox. If this is true – and it does appear so – those of us who strive for happiness by getting more would – in the process of getting more and consequently wanting more – become poorer instead of richer.
Who would want to live like that?
And so putting it in perspective, I end up realizing what I really want.
No, I don’t want to become a Hobbit (though the description “Horrid and fat” – as Gollum often taunts Samwise – fits me to a T). But I do want what they have, as Bilbo aptly and appealingly puts it.
“Celebrate a Simple Life.”
“And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. ” – 1 Timothy 6:8
