DURING THE RECENT New Year’s celebrations an elder asked us if we were contented with our present circumstances and as the silence engulfed our table of reflection, I came to the realisation that the answer had to be dichotomous if according to Colin R. Hurley, “Contentment is when our wants and needs no longer oppose each other”.
Is there such a state of human existence when our wants and our needs are the same? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a “want” is to desire or wish for something while a “need” is to be in a condition or situation in which we must have something.
So given the complexities of our modern world and our current economic situation, how do we collectively determine what are our needs and what are our wants? For some, having the latest fashion or technology is a need, while for others it is as simple as a plate of food.
As such, I shall like to submit that perhaps contentment comes with age and maturity; perhaps it comes when we realise that many of the things we want are vexatious to our development in one way or another.
As such, is it also possible to consider that perhaps the conflict between our needs and wants is as a consequence of us wanting something more than needing it? With that said though, I shall like to contend that it is particularly difficult to ignore the challenges associated with our present circumstances and the agony of our tribulations, when many of us are either unemployed or living from pay cheque to pay cheque.
In such circumstances it is clear that the difference between wants and needs will be difficult to decipher given the complexity of our econometrics. Therefore in offering my two cents worth, I shall like to suggest that 2016 must not only be the year that we celebrate our 50th anniversary of Independence but it must also be the year when all of us accept that we can do better together.
2016 must also be the year that is dedicated to an all-inclusive approach to national issues that encourages robust and broad-based discussions. Perhaps conjointly as citizens we can finally foster a new environment where our wants and our needs become less clouded as we work together to give birth to a new age of contentment for all Barbadians.
– Sean St Clair Fields