I asked 10 people randomly to find out the answer and the responses I got were surprising. Six out of the ten people were satisfied with what they have and replied in a positive manner. “You can’t be greedy! How much more can you ask for? You have a house...TONS of clothes, food...and all the other "wants" for entertainment and all the fun things...so yeah totally satisfied “or “I'm satisfied with what I have but I also wish that I can have more material and wouldn’t mind having more if I were to get it” or “I’m satisfied for now but I would want more in the future, like in 10 years” and “I'm satisfied for now, but because there is more out there and we can access it, we want more but just not right now.” The others were complaining about how little they have and life would be much better if they had much more. I would fit into that category! My house isn’t getting any prettier, even after all the money spent on the antiques and the expensive decorations. I feel it would make the house look much better, if we purchased some paintings. I have a “56” inch T.V, that seizes half of our living room space but I plan to buy the new flat screen ones, since they are the “new look”, even though our T.V is precisely perfect. From Internet to Mp3 players, our life is fully complete. Isn’t it? But instead of normal speed Internet, we want high speed - faster and advanced, which means our life is complete but we aren’t content. We simply just can’t see what items we actually do have and what we can use, instead we see what we don’t have and just ask for more and more since its never sufficient for us. We’re on a continuous search for material. It’s a non-stop hunt!
It’s not a hunt just for material goods but for social and political rights as well. We live in a democratic society that allows us to have more social control over government. We have more communal rights and freedom then many citizens in other countries. We have the guarantee for the freedom of expression, assembly, religion, and the press. We have equal rights just like all the other citizens regarding race or religion. We have mobility rights, legal rights, minority languages, educational rights and democratic rights. However, same sex couples are still asking for same sex marriage rights. Why does it feel that we don’t have enough freedom? But, I just thought, we did. Maybe we should be put in a communist country such as China where public criticism of government is not permitted, and the rights of the state take precedence over those of the individual. That way it would be more fun seeing people complain and trying to get their way across to a communist government.
Many of us are well employed and the companies we work for promise us many things, such as benefits, but several of the occupations, such as teachers are still asking for a raise in the pay since its not an adequate pay for them. We are paying all those taxes and even though we are getting safer roads and a health care system, in return, we feel it’s too much and want a tax cut. Why does it feel like the government is ripping us off? We have the ability to make choices, get education at any age, attend free language classes, read free books at the library, play at the community center but the list just seems to be looking shorter. We are still fighting with the government against the high tuition cost and the small size of the libraries. We are waiting for new political leaders to come into place and change the way things are being done politically, and make decisions that are a benefit to the society or us, which is constantly changing. We can actually never sit down and be thankful for what we have. It’s like we are on a constant search for more social and political rights, because the amount of freedom we currently hold, still makes us feel caged.
What is the motivation that’s asking us to search and fight for extra? What makes us think we don’t have enough and we need to consume more? Don’t you want to know? One of the reasons may be that day by day, researchers are finding out new technology and ways to make life much easier and more convenient for us. They provide us with gadgets that allow us to carry out several different tasks at one time, which are tempting to have, thereby creating more wants. As fashion builds, with new styles and trends coming out everyday, it overwhelms us with a new look, which is new and exciting, that gives us a satisfying feeling, making it a desire to go out there and devour more. Daily, our wants fluctuate. Overall, society and our own opinions, make us judge about our haves and have not’s. Not having one thing at any moment makes us feel we have nothing, therefore making us unsatisfied. The wants of a person, socially also change and as life gets convenient for everybody, we start thinking about people who are in wheelchairs and are disabled in other ways. We ask the government to make ramps into theatres for them and parking lot spaces, especially to meet their safety, creating a social want. As inflation occurs and prices hike up, people want to start earning more, to be able to afford a living and have enough to satisfy their desires and wants, once again creating a social hunger.
According to Maslow’s Theory, “People might have enough of food, security, belonging and respect but!!! Enough of self-actualization is harder to attain. In point of fact self-actualization is seen as being somewhat addictive, once experienced it is something that people tend to want more and more of! Moreover people can only really pay attention to self-actualization needs once their more basic needs are satisfactorally met!” (Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs). This theory shows how it’s in us that after we pass our needs we move on to our wants, which are innumerable. All these factors, affect for our longing for material goods and social rights since they arise as the need for them occurs. Maybe we do have an explanation of why we are always asking for more and not being delighted with what we actually have. We might just be able to make it through an answer. Do these reasons mean we can just keep on seeking for more and fighting for more? To what extent can these reasons be used and are they a positive impact or a negative one?
The question comes down to asking if the desire for more is a good or bad thing? Are we living in a society that sees the long for more, of a good thing benefiting everyone or something against communal values? In my opinion, it depends on the person who’s looking at it and the type of want. I guess the citizen or person for example, asking for less tuition fees, of course will see it as a good thing and sees it as a need to lower the costs which will point out all the benefits to all the students, province wide. However, the government will see this as a negative impact on their financial budget and wont see it at all as a financial crisis for students attending universities and colleges. It all comes down to whose point of view we are looking through. In my opinion, if the social or political want is a one that will help everyone in society, and not harm anything, it’s an agreeable thing. We can fight and protest for it since it’s something only citizens can see and the government can’t and its up to us as responsible citizens to have the political leaders open their eyes and recognize that it’s for a good cause. It’s the only way to be able to improve our society and the world we live in. If companies for example, were asking for laws that would be damaging to the environment such as no pollution control or being able to throw chemicals in the water, they would be seen as a social greed. The government hasn’t allowed this law to take place for a specific reason and it should be kept that way. As time passes and changes occur in style and technology the lust for new things seem logical as long as there isn’t a continuous desire. We just need to draw a line sometimes to exactly where the limits are for searching and fighting for extra of everything, sometimes that can justify the good and bad. We should be able to stay within them, and the person that exactly decides the limits is – us.
