|
Today's
Meditation:
It's been going on for quite some time: people
in marketing and advertising have been doing their best to
make us feel that we need certain things that aren't
actually needs, but wants. And it's working, too--
there are many, many people in the world who have a
difficult time distinguishing between needs and wants, and
many others who want something so badly that they allow
someone else to convince them that they need it.
After all, that's how a consumer-based society functions,
isn't it?
In business, it astonishes me to see that banks and
businesses strive for a seven-billion dollar profit instead
of a four-billion dollar profit. Instead of keeping
it as profit, those extra three billion dollars could go
towards hiring and training new people and improving and
expanding services for customers. But those things
aren't in their lists of priorities, it seems, and a
four-billion dollar profit just isn't enough. That's
greed.
We do need to have enough to eat in our lives, and we do
have to have shelter and clothing. These things are
needs. We also need to have time to relax, and we
need to have relationships with others. We need to
have some level of security, and we need to have available
health care. Some couples live in 250-square foot
RV's, and their needs are met nicely; I know other couples
who live in 2500-square-foot mansions, all by
themselves. That's greed, too. Sometimes it's
greed born of insecurity and fear, but it definitely is a
case of people using more resources than they need for no
really good reason.
If we want to distinguish between our own needs and our
greed, then we first must be aware of things that we wish
we had. And then we need to be honest. As I
grow older and gain more experience with things, this gets
easier for me, and I get by with much less, and I
recognize my wants vs. my needs much more easily.
And the best part is that when I do see the difference, my
life grows much more simple.
|
