Can’t Always Get What You Want

This is my favorite line to use with my kids. The ever murmured, “I want, I want, I want” mantra seems to pervade through our household, especially when money is tight and they see their friends with some new gadget. I can hear my parents saying, “We used to play with tin cans and string or just go out and play.” We had a little more than that but the electronic and computer age has made a big difference in the expectations of our children. We must make the decisions for what and whom our children play with. There are so many options and we cannot know the full range of those options unless we get in their game or do the research. I try to do both, neither well. It is nice to hear, as the knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade says, “You have chosen wisely.” Well maybe someday.

As adults, we learn the art of denial. We know that we can go out and get whatever we want, for the most part, but we become more discerning about what we get. Sometime after our 13th birthday, later for boys, we realize that things do not make us happy. It is not the gadget that gives us the pleasure, it is the people we are with that truly provide us happiness. The amassing of things will never truly give anyone happiness. It may provide a temporary jolt of enjoyment but it is usually short lived and the gadget soon relegated to a less prominent place. It is not what you have, but what you do. Whether it is your family, friends or your work, you need to make the best of what it there.

Work is a major portion of everyone’s life. I still tell people that I do not know what I want to do when I grow up. I have a descent career in the automotive manufacturing industry. I enjoy what I do but I do not associate myself with what I do. My self worth is not measured by how I do my job. It is a job and nothing more. I do it to the best of my ability and try to leave it at work. Not always easy. I have switched jobs several times. Early on it was boredom. Sometimes you do not know how well you have it until you leave. Sometimes it was due to an oppressive environment where you just hated going in any more. Sometimes it was money which ended up never being worth it. I have grown older and wiser and realize that if you find something that you enjoy, with people that you like, and the pay is worth the effort, stick with it. “The grass is always greener” is so true. Since I have learned to quit following the herd, I am no longer chasing that elusive greener pasture. And sometimes, I get what I need.

Icool

Cobb