to want
All of my childhood I craved the icing that goes with refridgerated pilsbury cinnamon rolls. In my teenage years I would throw away three of the rolls so I could have more. I decided when I was an adult I would buy packages and just eat the icing. Same with the cheese from kraft mac and cheese. Well now I can and I no longer want to.
There was this german word that means to want (that I can't remember at the moment - it was from Mr. Westerman's long ago philosophy class). But it doesn't just mean "want" it refers to the human condition, the human need to want things.
Some macrobiotic guru (per my first fiance - yes I had several), said that children should always be kept slightly hungry and slightly cold. Always with their needs not entirely met. Now that I have children I wonder if that was to make them tougher, more resilient, less needy or to instill a sense of want, a purpose a drive which later turns into a work ethic.
I find myself doing that a bit with my children, while they are not deprived, I do withhold some things we could technically afford or do, careful not too spoil or give too much. Leave them wanting just a bit. My grandmother would insist that you should do that so children "have something to look forward to" when then grow up. And now I agree with her, particularly in this instant gratification, credit card abusing, mcmansion world we now live in. People keep searching for more and more to want, the perfect lifestyle, car, food, house, way beyond what is actually needed, particularly without understanding/appreciating the need to earn them.
I keep thinking of ladybluestar's comment to a post after timmy was born when I was lamenting the costs (not the monetary ones) of his birth and watching the increasing impossibility of the life I had always wished for, "we must give in order to receive"
There was this german word that means to want (that I can't remember at the moment - it was from Mr. Westerman's long ago philosophy class). But it doesn't just mean "want" it refers to the human condition, the human need to want things.
Some macrobiotic guru (per my first fiance - yes I had several), said that children should always be kept slightly hungry and slightly cold. Always with their needs not entirely met. Now that I have children I wonder if that was to make them tougher, more resilient, less needy or to instill a sense of want, a purpose a drive which later turns into a work ethic.
I find myself doing that a bit with my children, while they are not deprived, I do withhold some things we could technically afford or do, careful not too spoil or give too much. Leave them wanting just a bit. My grandmother would insist that you should do that so children "have something to look forward to" when then grow up. And now I agree with her, particularly in this instant gratification, credit card abusing, mcmansion world we now live in. People keep searching for more and more to want, the perfect lifestyle, car, food, house, way beyond what is actually needed, particularly without understanding/appreciating the need to earn them.
I keep thinking of ladybluestar's comment to a post after timmy was born when I was lamenting the costs (not the monetary ones) of his birth and watching the increasing impossibility of the life I had always wished for, "we must give in order to receive"