Sterility

This is older, because this post has been sitting in the woodpile for some time now while I questioned its premise and its quality.  I still am not certain about either, but I want it off the woodpile.

Start by reading this little gem.

https://medium.com/incerto/only-the-rich-are-poisoned-the-preference-of-others-c35ddf65cf68

Look, I've been rich and I've been poor.  I can't say that either really holds any particular appeal.  I am pretty much dead in the middle right now.  I am oddly content. 

Look, the problem isn't the amount of money that you make, or how much you have salted away, or how many unused square feet you have in your trophy home.  The problem is that of the concept of "enough" and how most people can't seem to come to grips with that.

I have no intention of becoming a Stylite, but, like most Americans, I worry more about the problems of excess than I do about the problems of not enough.  What I have been learning over the last little while is the problems of not enough are much easier to avoid than their opposite.

Here in the land of the free (tm) we tend to think that when we don't get what we see the rich folks obsessing about, that we are being cruelly oppressed.   We expect to spend gasoline like sailors on shore leave.  We want the latest and greatest of everything.  We watch TV and wonder if our golf clubs are what is holding our game back.  We look to everything around us and wonder why we aren't content.

The rich folks described in Taleb's article above that you probably didn't read are what 90% of American would become if they had half a chance.  But look at the life.  Dedication to acquiring the accoutrement's of success makes ones definition of success the outward trappings for display.  Because success in this country is defined by what others think of you and your credentials and your stuff.

All the other little things like the simple joy of a tasty meal or a nice walk must be infected with where you eat and who sees you there or what special shoes you are wearing or the monitor you bought to "manage" your getting off your ass.

Need Little, Want Less, Love More.