The world would be a poorer place if people only lived to satisfy their needs instead of living to satisfy their wants. Poorer in terms of money and objects but richer in terms of happiness.
If people were satisfied with having enough food in their stomachs, clothes to wear, a roof over their head, a method of transportation to get from a to b without worrying about the size of the object or the brand printed on them, the world would be a very different place today. Everybody would drive the same car, live in similar buildings, wear the same clothes, eat similar food. The only unique things about people would be their culture and their personalities.
Of course, that paragraph is pure fiction, people are not like that, I don’t know when the race to be better or have more than somebody else started, (maybe when stone age woman said to stone age man, “how come our neighbour has a bear skin coat and I only have a sheep skin coat.”) but that race hasn’t reached the finishing line yet, I think they’re still in the warm-up phase. Today’s young adults seem to be more interested in the brands on their clothes than the material that’s used to make the clothes. In my day if you had holes in your jeans it was because you couldn’t afford to get a new pair, and you had to keep your good clothes to wear on Sunday.
It’s that desire to have more and be better that drives people to succeed, they want bigger cars and houses, they want more expensive brands on their clothes, and they want to eat at Michelin starred restaurants, so they have to work harder to afford those objectives because while some people believe, “Ask and It Is Given,” more people believe, “the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
One of the reasons for that desire could be, they believe this will show people they are successful and it will make them happy. Of course, that isn’t how success and happiness work; if you don’t bring happiness with you on your journey, you will not find it en route, and success does not guarantee you happiness.
In a time yet to come, the following quote will not be true, and people will have learned to appreciate what they have, as opposed to what they haven’t got. This will release them from the constant pressure they impose upon themselves to satisfy their wants.
“In developed nations, people are generally unhappy because they can’t afford things to replace the things they already have.” ~Anon
