Since I am currently not working full time, I have the time to contemplate. One of my favourite activities, only sometimes my brain seems to overheat :-)
So, last night in Dutch class my classmate said (we were doing some grammar exercises): Ik heb nog nooit zeekreeft gegeten. (I have never eaten a lobster.)
And I thought, how wonderful! There is a small drive this person has, a small dream that he could fulfill if he really wanted (there are some accessible restaurants in town with great seafood). But he chooses to dream of it rather than going for it. Well, I think if you never eat lobster in your life, your life shall not be dull and grey due to that fact.
I also have a dream. Small and silly. I would like a leather jacket. And every season in the shops of Amsterdam there are about 10 new models. But I never buy one. I always convince myself that I do not actually need it (which is by definition, true). So I keep dreaming of it, but maybe I will never get one. And I feel comfortable with it.
Because (apart from wanting to see businesses become much more connected to their environments), I have a small dream and it makes me feel human. It makes me wish for it and play with the feeling, trying to not let the "want" take me over.
And of course, again, both the lobster and the leather jacket are really not basic products we need for everyday survival.
There are people out there going to sleep hungry and wearing our long forgotten given-away clothes.
Lobster and a leather jacket - how far fetched these concepts may be for them. How superfluous to a happy life!
4 comments:
I think they smell, both lobsters and leather jackets ;)
I think we all have our lobsters and leather jackets - when I think of the wonders of a brand new shiny iPhone, I remind myself of the tens of thousands of liters of water, many many kgs of CO2, toxic waste, barrels of oil needed in the extraction of its raw materials, manufacture, assembly, shipping and disposal :-(
Well... I'll start by saying that it's only human to feel and think like that. If you want a leather jacket, go for it, if it's lobster you feel like eating today, eat it. I don't think we should deny ourselves the pleasures of our needs or moods, just because it costs raw materials and because someone else doesn't have it. If it makes you feel beter, by a second hand jacket and invite someone to eat lobster with you... that'll work.
:)
I never thought of it that way. But I like it. This line of thought will make it easier to resist next time I feel the urge to own something that I don't really need. Thanks for the input!
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