Yelly Writes

Possibility vs desirability

Just thinking out loud.

It’s a free country and we’re all allowed the civil liberties that people living in democratic societies have the privilege of enjoying…and taking for granted. We go about our days doing what we want, saying what we want, to a certain extent, acquiring what we want. We live in a society where we can own what we want. 

What we forget is that ownership comes with accountability. We are responsible for what we have. We need to care for what we have. We are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance, and ultimately the survival of the things we have: things, property, machines, responsibilities, relationships, etc.

In the same vein, we own what comes from us: our creations, the work we do, the things we say, our actions, how we affect others, how we treat ourselves. We forget that while it is a free world and we can do what we want, when we want, how we want to do it, the guardrail is that we need to ask ourselves the question: should you do it just because you can? Just because it is possible, does it make it desirable? And as an extension, just because you want it, should you have it? 

In this world of hyper consumerism and hyper consumption, have we lost the ability to determine the difference between want and need?