LOBSTER LOVERS
Long ago, a wise person said to me, “Why are humans the only species who upgrade? Lobsters sure don’t, neither do penguins. Why are humans always willing to change what they have for something better?” I then stumbled across a classic Einstein quote, “Comparison is the disease of the mind.”
I had a perfectly good camera, but got shown a better one, so I had to have it. And though it was forty degrees in Florida this morning, it’s still sunny pretty much every day; a lot sunnier than where I used to live, so I moved. Every TV I’ve ever had was the best TV I’ve ever had, when I bought it in the store, till I learned of a thinner, sharper one, with a better sound system or faster refresh rate; then I had to have that. Comfier beds, have to have it. More stylish clothes; out with the old, in with the new. For god sakes, I was growing my hair long, committed on the two year plan and so much has changed with the way I see myself in the past two years, that just as I could put my abnormal artist hair in a decent rock star pony tail, I cut it all off down to military cut, HOORAH. Anyone with a better camera, a sharper TV, living in a warmer climate with a comfy bed, must also have a cleaner, sharper, more comfortable hair cut.
What happens if we get trained to not acquire anything nor decide to commit to anything, knowing that the probability of change is almost definite? I’m guessing that it’s not natural for us to constantly want something better than what we have, but merely the transformation that we have all gone through at the hands of product marketers, sales people and advertising messages. “What ever you have, can’t possibly be as good as this here thing…” Maybe the change we need to make, is to appreciate what we have and really evaluate whether or not the upgrade is in order or are we just being made to feel fickle by someone else triggering the disease of our mind.
Barry Stein's Blog 