Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Change We Need

I don't mean it in the way of the now famous slogan of Barack Obama. The change I mean is in the way we covet things.

The culture of instant gratification and obscene materialism is the cause of the situation that we find ourselves in right now. Saving and delayed gratification are time-tested values. We do not have to possess the things we want right at this moment. If we do, then what else is there to look forward to? To not get what we want all the time can be a blessing, so we should count it as such.

Why do people who seem to have it all sometimes end their lives? It's because their ability to gratify almost every desire immediately leaves them with less and less to look forward to. Nothing saps the life out of us more than the loss of anticipation.

I find that the happiest people I've known are not necessarily those that accumulate wealth, but those that accumulate the qualities that build their character. If we do not get something that we want, we should consider it a character-building exercise. Good character brings a more lasting kind of happiness than wealth and material things ever will.