We live in the best of times yet the pressure to ignore what we have in favour of what we are told we should have grows inexorably stronger every day.
Recently I have involved myself in a small exercise of dissent. An old run down building stands on a block of land highly prized by the developer for its commercial potential. The building houses a very useful community hall and is also a piece of local history.
The legitimate arguments of heritage and community have failed to move anyone who might intervene. It’s a depressing outcome all the more so because its so predictable.
Which brings me to xkcd and the things we want. Some people want a roof over their heads and enough to eat. Some people want a new car and a big screen tv for their loungeroom. Some people want to be rich…but what we all really want is to be happy.
We can be happy, but it probably means letting go of a lot of other stuff, stuff we have been conditioned to think we must have in order to be happy. Material stuff, behavioural stuff, imaginary stuff. Being happy is up to us, we don’t get too many chances and it would be a shame to go through life in a state of un-happiness.
Just a thought.
