“I NEED that!”

“I NEED that!”

At one time or another and more than just one time, I have heard each of our children exclaim, rather forcefully, that they had NEED of something.

It might have been at a grocery store, a stop along the road on vacation or in a restaurant somewhere – one of more of them would make the declaration. It was always somewhat comical. Barbara or I would remind the child that they didn’t NEED anything. I will be the first to admit that my children have never NEEDED anything. Of course they have lots of needs but those needs are always provided for. They’ve never been naked – (Well mostly never!) They’ve never gone hungry. They’ve never gone without a house or doctor visit or shots or toys or for that matter they almost never went without dessert due to their Dad’s sweet tooth.

Sometime along the way the “I NEED that!” declaration became more truthful. Each child, at some point, would change their declaration to “I WANT that!” For a parent, the new declaration is just as annoying as the old one but at least the new one is honest.

With each declaration Barbara or I would respond: “But I thought you wanted …” and they would reply – “Well, I WANT that too!” or “That was yesterday or last week or …” You get the idea.

Things don’t change much as we get old, do they? We don’t say to someone else “I NEED that!” But we convince ourselves that we NEED that. We have to rationalize, think through, argue with circumstances and the reasons that we don’t NEED that but eventually with enough finesse we convince ourselves that we need it.

I don’t have the that color of shirt though!
What if the other one breaks?
This will reduce the time that it takes to do the job now – it’s worth it.

You get the idea.

As teens and adults we would be better off telling ourselves the truth – I WANT that.
At least then we could ask the some helpful questions like:
Why do I WANT that?
Can I really afford all of my WANTS?
Is this WANT going to last or is this an impulse?

WANT is a powerful force … let’s be honest and let’s not let WANT rule our lives!