Enough

I write 600-800 words, and I try to sum it up with a thoughtful sentence at the end.  It’s kinda my thing.  I don’t research, I don’t interview, and I hardly ever review. This blog serves as an idea dump.  Right now, I am struggling through the middle of my latest book, and I needed to step back and get a fresh perspective.  But I didn’t want to stop writing.  The idea behind this entry is that sometimes I have ideas I’m afraid to detail online.  It's cowardice.  I need to be bolder.  Plus, no one is really looking, so why not?

The first true book I wrote was about a young guy who gained fame by giving old-fashioned firebrand speeches.  The ones they had in old political rallies decades ago.  The book was okay.  But the ideas were mine and the story was a chance to hash out some of my more radical ideas. 

They are not original, to be clear.  They just aren’t talked about very much.

Here’s one:

I believe in Enough.

I believe there is such a thing as having too much.  I don’t believe it is a good thing for someone to acquire as much as they can to the detriment of others. 

You know damn well that communism isn’t what I’m talking about.  Don’t even go there.  You can also refrain from turning to the religion of the free market, which is not and has never been free. It has as many rules as NFL football and is as corrupt as professional boxing.  I believe in taxes.  I believe in a functioning government.  Rich people giving up more of their money than the poor is not what I consider a problem. But I also believe capitalism is a machine that works quite well, especially when enough people are keeping an eye on it.  There is opportunity in that system that can’t be ignored.  Fine.  Good. I barely know what I’m talking about, but I’ve sated the opposition.

I’m talking about Enough.  The social urge to push ourselves higher and higher.  To excel and be the best we can be.  I believe happiness and satisfaction come from the recognition of where we are in the moment.  The race to come in first doesn’t really make us stronger.  It makes us discontented and sad.  There is a feeling of emptiness that we never can fill.  We are always missing something.

Unless, of course, you believe in Enough.

Go ahead and disparage Enough.  Call me lazy or unmotivated or dumb.  Keep telling me life is a battle.

Maybe it’s not.  Maybe life just is.  Everything you see around you, right now. If we don’t believe in Enough, we never how great every day can be.

Enough money.  Enough time.  Enough friends.  Enough weight loss.  Enough Twitter followers.  I don’t support that you should stop trying to better your situation.  But I do support that there is a finish line you are free to enjoy. I don’t think we should “never be satisfied” or constantly look to the future.  I don’t believe happiness or being at one with the universe lives there.  Pride and glory are there, for sure.  Is that what you’re after?

I grew up thinking Americans were miserable.  It doesn’t take long for that conclusion to percolate once you start paying attention.  We’re disconnected, lazy, petty, and materialistic. I blamed it on corporations and commercials and pop culture.  But as you get older you realize there are a few things, only a select few, that we can control.  Americans aren’t miserable by nature.  We make ourselves miserable.  The holes we try to fill are the ones we’ve dug ourselves.  We feel pressure as kids to succeed and return the same pressure to our own kids.  Always scrambling to have more and be more and more and more and more.

What if there was Enough?  Each one of us knows what enough means, but do we truly embrace it?  Can we just be satisfied with enough, without shame or the urge to have more than enough? The simple notion of not wanting something is antithetical to our economy.  We are supposed to want. 

Contento. The Spanish word for happy is contento. I’ve always loved that. Not a joyous feeling filled with smiles and rainbows, but contentment.  Doesn’t that appeal to you?  Imagine the wonders it could do for your back or those stress headaches.  Try to think about what life would be like if you didn’t worry about tomorrow.   The cool thing is that you don’t need anything to get it.  It is a change in the way you look at the world.  It’s just rearranging the dusty garage that is your brain.

One more thing about embracing Enough.  You know how we like to blame corporations and commercials for all this materialistic thinking?  How do you think they would fare once we embrace enough?  Enough stuff.  Enough spending.  What happens when they can’t peddle garbage in our faces 24/7? I don’t know either. 

I’d like to find out.