Bromides, old saws, vignettes and maybe a little wisdom
"Are we rich?" 10 year old Aurora Foster Hove
When Aurora was in the 4th grade, one night at diner she asked, “Are we rich?” Her mom immediately responded, “No, we’re comfortable.” There was silence for a moment and then, as we’d all like to do when our questions are answered with ambivalence, Aurora looked at her mom and asked, “What does that mean?” To which her mom immediately responded, “It means you can have anything you want, not everything you want.”
At the time I considered that conversation amusing, and perhaps pithy. Over the course of the 20-years since then, the memory of it has become the most profound insight of my life. At least it is one which has changed my life entirely.
I remembered that exchange because I considered it funny. But about 15-years ago the profundity of it began to soaked in. I began to realize that by that definition I would never get rich. Would anybody? Is there ever enough to make me content in “things.” Didn’t my desires change as I grew in prosperity? Didn’t those desires grow? Didn’t I want ever more no matter how much I had? Do not Russian oligarchs come to want boats as big and well armed a naval vessels? Does not Barack Obama, who grew up unaffluent, now have three homes worth some $25,000,000 in total? Am I any different? Why would I expect to be?
That took a long time for that to percolate. As though of you who know me well know, I quit trying to score ever more when I came to realize the goal-post would move before me for the rest of my life.
And I am content.