All That We Need

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”

- Charles Kingsley -

We all have known people who try to pursue happiness by surrounding themselves with the biggest, best or newest of material things. During the last few years at my previous job I would drive to work in my ugly old F-150 pick-up surrounded by new cars and SUV’s. Occasionally I would consider my fellow commuters and imagine their situations. If it was important enough for them to buy new cars and take on the monthly payments, what kind of houses did they live in? What kind of comfort and luxury surrounded them in their homes, and how many toys did they own? Finally, I would wonder if all of those things really made them happy.

Most of them did not look very enthusiastic about where they were going. I imagine for many it was because it was 6:30 in the morning. But for some there might have been a different reason, something Mr. Kingsley wrote about years ago.