What Is Enough?

Things I always want more of:

• Shoes
• Books
• Blueberries
• Travel
• Good movies
• Flowers

The list could go on. Why is it that we always want more?

I spent five or six years living in the Midwest where excess was all about fast food and colossal shopping malls. The biggest difference between New Canaan and the towns I experienced in the West is perhaps the existence of old money. Regardless of whether money is old or new, we seem to always hunger for more—the materials taste too good to be discarded and forgotten so we demand replacements.

I think part of the reason why we want more is because of our innate tendency toward dissatisfaction. It is always the case that our neighbor is more successful, beautiful, athletic or intelligent than we.

There is always someone else who has more blueberries. I have friends who I know have higher IQs than me and I have friends who are more attractive than me. I think a lot of kids like me wonder "Am I smart enough?" or "Am I beautiful enough?" But beauty and brains are nothing if they are not used to their righteous potential and if they are not accepted for what they essentially are. Most of life's situations have to do with more than natural ability. X-factors such as willpower, perceptiveness and self-reliance can catapult even the most unlikely into reaching "enough,” no matter how many blueberries they started with.

The man who enjoys his blueberries for simply being blueberries and nothing more than possessions or assets is wisest because he hungers for more than the excess in front of him. This person feels blessed by what he has earned and recognizes that there are infinite modes of fulfillment that have nothing to do with amassing talents, wealth or the greatest amount of the little things in life.

Americans and New Canaanites are driven people who strive not only for material possessions but also for personal fulfillment—maintaining everything life has to offer.