What You Need

Finding a universal "need" is definitely a difficult task. For me, one personal "need" is the Internet. It's funny that I blog about it on my own computer when there are people around the world who don't even know where their next meal will be coming from.

I did an interesting exercise with my coworkers lately that explored what we valued the most. We each noted the four people, memories, things, and values in our lives that we valued and needed the most. As the exercise progressed, we eliminated items from the dock--once they were gone, they were theoretically out of our lives. I found it easy at first, thinking "OK, I could really do without my computer in the grand scheme of things," or "As much as I love my dog I would still be me without him." Eliminating the list down to just ONE component was surprisingly emotional and eye opening. Taking people out of your life was something that was extraordinarily difficult for me. So, what was I left with? My mom--no matter how I look at my life, all of my values and abilities are in some way rooted to what she taught me and how she raised me.

It's a fascinating exercise that shows what you hold closest to you. What was first to go for me were things, and when I had to cut people out of my life then I was hard pressed to do so. I don't think it's presumptuous at all for me to say that everybody, across the board, no matter what-- needs people. It's a broad statement and those of you who are reading it are probably saying, "Well, duh."

While this may seem like a heavy-handed way to include Shakespeare into this pretty personal blog post, look at what happens to Lear's character. He isolates himself from those who love and care for him (Kent and Cordelia), investing his love and energy into people who reject him. Truth be told, Lear is no saint--his brashness in inflicting punishment on the ones who love him too much to see him do something stupid is evidence of that. If it's the cruelty of the people who betrayed him that sets him on the road to madness, it's the death of his daughter Cordelia that finally kills him. Pure, unconditional love lost forever, and indirectly by his doing nonetheless.

I find myself to be a fairly optimistic person when it comes to dealing with people. In spite of the cruelty that humans are capable of, the goodness that is potential within everyone far outweighs whatever flaws we may have as human beings. Without good people, we would be lost. A life separated from that limitless, unconditional source of love and fellowship is hardly a life at all.