What a Boy Wants

Anthony of Three Years of Hell to Become the Devil writes:

We all have one: the Prize. Something that we've promised we'll buy ourselves as a reward when we get through all the exams, write all the papers, and slide into that shiny new job. After all, you don't slave for three years and work yourself to death in order to get money. You sell your soul for the things that money buys.

…Oh, a few rules: (a) No beauty-contestant answers, like "A job working for world peace." That's very sweet, but it's not what we're looking for. (b) Answers are limited to things you want to buy yourself. Again, it's nice that you want to buy your parents that yacht they always wanted, but 'tis not the point. (c) If possible, include a link to an example, so we can all see.

I've thought about it for a bit, and to be honest, I just don't have an answer. For starters, my primary reason for going to law school has little to do with making a great deal of money. After all, I'm looking to work in public interest law, and specifically not for a "big firm." So, even if I get a law degree, there's little chance of there being a great deal of money in my future. Unless I win the lottery. The problem with that is, I rarely buy a ticket.

All that said, I still find it hard to figure out what I'd want to get in terms of material possessions. My experience has been that while I may lust after a particular gadget or bauble (as I did over the MP3 player) for a length of time before getting it, soon afterwards a sort of letdown sets in. Call it post-material-lust-depression, I guess. I have most of the things that I want, to be honest. I suppose I might go out and buy the biggest, most advanced, fastest computer I could find.

The other thing that comes to mind is a big, flatscreen television.

And maybe, just maybe a hybrid car.

But that's really all pie in the sky at this point. I may, in the future, make one of the above purchases, but I can honestly say that doing so is nowhere near my main focus.

It may be cliche', but what this boy really wants is to save the world.

Life would be much easier if I'd just set realistic goals.

Comments

[A. Rickey]

Good choice on the Alienware. Those are some cool machines.

[seadragon]

I love this post of yours. Even though you list three pretty expensive things that you think you might want, I can practically hear you shrugging as you're writing, thinking to yourself about how you really don't care about these things compared to the non-tangible things that you really do want.

Very nice blog, btw. I really love the writing; you always make me stop and think.

[Tim who]

Sorry to say, saving the world is a noble thought and I've had thoughts like that myself but to be honest with myself and others.

Long before the world was saved I would be driving a Cobra, Blue with gold stripes.

I'll still work on saving the world, just as soon as I get back from my drive-about....