I had a discussion with Yulia this evening about several things, but what stood out in my mind is what are the things that make one person happy but not another. The core issue that I saw was that it mattered little what you have in your life, money, job, time, etc. we are conditioned to want whatever it is that we don’t have. You look at the media that invades our lives, we are constantly exposed and told how important it is to have more, and how we have to have everything that everyone else has, whether we actually want or need it.
What a load of crap.
You can take two people, who have different things, and swap them, they will hate what they got and want what they had. Trade them again and they will switch back.
Look at the folks that have everything they want. Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, all those insane celebs. They can’t handle their lives. So the mass accumulation of things doesn’t solve it either.
It’s those Tibetan Monks who have the system licked. What do they do? Chant and make those sand paintings. You don’t hear about some monk popping a cap in another monk’s ass because he had better sand, right? No, aside from wanting the Communist Chinese to stop shooting them so much, they really have everything they want. Food, shelter, a great view of the mountains, colored sand, the Tibetian shiznit.
Fuckers.
Cognitive Dissonance 
I am confused about your second (or third) paragraph: "they will hate what they lost and want what they had". Isn\’t it a redundant statement? Or maybe I am just confused. Please clarify – I want to see your light.
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Fixed that to be less unclearish.
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I figured that out a long time ago. B and I are very happy with what we have and where we are.It makes it hard to find good christmas presents, though. 🙂
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It\’s a choice anyone can make, but it requires the effort (and willingness) for some self exploration. Nobody likes to admit they\’ve been sucked into the cradle to grave ad campaign we live in, but taking a hard look at what is really important goes a long way toward curbing the impulse.
I\’m not a person who cares about "things" necessarily, but every once in a while something will catch my eye. Usually thinking about how many records I could buy for the same price will talk my goofy ass right out of it ;). Not always though, this is where being raised poor white trash actually seems to have been a blessing for me – I never seem to desperately want anything that\’s prohibitively expensive. Let\’s hear it for lowered expectations ;).
Observing the materialistic unemployed has incredibly educational, not to mention entertaining. If getting a nice car was an impressive feat that was actually indicative of financial status, they wouldn\’t have one. They only prove that any jackass can pretty much get as much credit as they are willing to bury themselves under. If they can manage to keep the thing (and keep it insured and maintained) without resorting to crime or mooching, then I\’ll be impressed. Not with the car, of course (I\’m a girl driving a Kia – I couldn\’t give a fuck about cars) but with the fact that they\’ve somehow figured out how to make their ass dispense money. That\’s gotta be patent worthy.
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