Hmmm, can we all take a step back and give a little for the sake of our individual and collective good?
We have been and are living in tumultuous times driven in large part, but not entirely, by the pandemic and the restrictions implemented in response to it. That is, of course, stating the obvious. But there are many not so obvious spinoff developments that need to be corralled.
None of are particularly happy about the current state of affairs. We are weary of living our lives in a bubble and not being able to do many of the things that give us pleasure. As a society, we are more polarized than ever before in my lifetime. We have lost our ability to agree to disagree and still get along.
These inflammatory circumstances, more often than not, bring out the worst in us. We are less inclined to compromise or meet in the middle. Thwarted in so many aspects of our daily lives, we react by drawing a line in the sand and defending our territory like a Junkyard Dog.
In the midst of this messiness, we are at risk of losing sight of important distinctions – namely the difference between wants or desires, needs and entitlements.
A want or desire is an intensely personal thing. We want what we want because of who we are and how we are wired.
Reality check: No one gets all of their desires fulfilled.
A need is a higher level matter. We need certain things to be healthy, physically and psychologically, and fulfilled.
Reality check: Ideally all of our needs would be met. But there will always be some that go begging.
An entitlement is something owed to use by virtue of effort we put in, contributions we make or laws that have been prescribed.
Reality check: Some of our entitlements are being clawed back right now on very questionable principles. But that is a discussion for another day.
When our wants or desires are thwarted, we tend to elevate them in our mind to the level of needs. When our needs are thwarted, we tend to elevate them in our mind to the level of entitlements. Therein lays the problem. We lose perspective, start making demands and take up our Junkyard Dog position.
Junkyard Dogs are mean and ornery and inclined to fight. In principle, the stronger dog prevails. But in reality it is a fight that no one wins in the bigger picture. It is a lose-lose scenario.
We all have a dog in this fight. But we are not going to win the fight as a society until we take the Junkyard out of the Dog.
~ Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .
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Tags: desires · entitlements · Junkyard Dog · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · needs · reality check · wantsNo Comments