Being Content?

We were indoctrinated to be content with what we had. Why? When most of the time what we had was of no dignity, when we looked to the next group of people.

Well, I am not saying we were the worst family in the neighborhood, believe me with the little we had it was everything to another family in the neighborhood. With the way we saw it, those who had less than us were just equivalent to us, we both had nothing compared to the next group of people in the neighborhood a couple of blocks down. Our father each morning when we woke would tell us "Be content with what you have." At night before we would sleep he would repeat the same words he said in the morning "Be content with what you have."

We would ask ourselves why? What did we have that we needed to be so content about that he only saw? We believed that the family a couple of blocks down our neighborhood had the right to be content with what they had. Why?

They had everything we could not have but I was sure they did not have everything as well, but the theory of being content would partly apply to them not us.

So we asked ourselves, what would happen if we stopped being content with what we had, which was next to nothing. Would we become rebellious? Would the father be happy with us? So as young children, we decided to ask why.

Father kept on his daily routine and on that very morning we waited for him to tell us his daily message and we were to reply. We were to stop being passive. Father said " Be content with what you have" and we asked why at the same time. Before he could answer, we told him we have next to nothing to be content about and that theory does not apply to us.

Why could we just not have what other people next to us had, even a quarter of it and we would start being content from there if possible? Father replied calmly "Be content with what you have." 

That was it, we were done listening to his dead theories. The following morning we would get ourselves something to be content about, that we could appreciate not what was being forced on us to us accept. Which was nothing.

We made a list of things we did not have, that were easy to come up with. The practicality of having these things was where the problem lay.

The big question we forgot to ask ourselves as children was, why did we need these things, and for what. We did not care what we needed for as long as they could make us feel content and maybe when Father would tell us to be content with what we have we could have a starting point to agree with him and not question him.

We also saw this aspect of being content from holding us back to having what we did not have but that aspect told us what we had was enough for us. It is what it saw not what we saw. We all have different viewpoints. The theory of being content was like a system that told us what we deserve and does not deserve. What right and mandate did it have to decide for us? Was it telling us we did not deserve better and they are those who deserve better? Why? Those who had more, did they apply this aspect of being content? We wondered.

Was it greed, jealousy, envy, or dissatisfaction driving us to conflict with the ideology of being content with what we had?

No, it was the drive to have something better, to be able to have a standing in society, to have an image, and from that, we could be content. We could not allow ourselves to keep on pitying our lives. But we were children growing up, we did not understand that life out there was a concrete jungle and by the time we realized it we even found more reasons to not be content with what we had because there was always someone with more resources, wealth than us and we wanted it.

It was not greed that made us want more, it was not the lack of being content but the aspect of just being better off than our previous selves and making sure the next person who was ahead of us would know we are coming after them. To overtake them, just to have more. The more we would have the more content we thought we would be. Did it turn out that way?

Saw we sat down one evening and looked at what we had acquired from conflicting the theory of being content with what we had. Were we satisfied with what we had now or content, no we were not. Were we satisfied with how we were better of than our previous selves who had next to nothing, yes we were?

What became our goal now was to become better off than our current selves the following day and try to be content with what we had acquired. The first aspect would work out well but not the second one.

So well I asked myself as an individual why it had happened this way and how. Why we had acquired so much wealth and still wanted more? Maybe we still wanted more and, I was now fine with what we had acquired. Well, the theory of " we " kept the drive of wanting more.

I thought of our past selves if our father would say the same very words "Be content with what you have ". Would I agree? The past me would agree, and so would we. Then where did we lose it? Did we acquire more than we could handle, well it was good we acquired something. At least we were next to nothing.

That's when the element of being content with what I had started kicking in and applying. Why? I could see I had something of value to be content about it. The money, the assets, and the good public image aided the aspect of being content.

With the wealth we had acquired, we could just see ourselves as equivalent to those who owned the world and had everything. I know this is my story of how we ended up being content with what we had. After we got what we could not have that could make us content.

We understood to be content with what we had, we had to have something of great value. We could not be content with poverty or having less. We could not be content knowing very well that there was always someone better of than us by a huge margin or gap. May our father Rest In Peace but we are

hoping his not turning in his grave on how the aspect of being content held him back from having a better life and drive to get it.

What makes you content with what you have? What does not make you content with what you have or do you want to be like us? Who opposed the theory of being content and became something else. Then after that became content.

Be content with what you have.

Freedom of Thought from 7 Views Above.