Of wants and needs

"When you can't afford it, you want to have it. Now that you can afford it, you feel that you don't need it."

This statement was not made by a famous personality or journalist but it caught my eye and set me thinking when I came across it over the weekend. In our younger days, haven't we envy those with credit cards and we strive to earn one? The good feeling we get when we signed our first charge slip made us feel like 'we have arrived'. When our income increase over the years, we started to apply for the exclusive, higher end cards. From gold to platinum to titanium...we were inundated with the plethora of choices. We buy bigger, longer wallets to carry many cards that we don't even use. We often ponder which card we should use when we were presented with the bill at restaurants. Come month end, we have mountains of statements to check and file, simply because we use multiple cards. All these seem endless and suck up our precious time. Finally, the time came when we feel we have had enough and we terminate the unused cards. Now, it's the banks that run after us and no longer we chasing after the cards.

This phenomenon seems to hold true regardless of the generation. We see it replaying in today's younger generation and we smile to ourselves. It is pointless to tell them that it's not a big deal. They will just retort that you said that because you have 'been there, done that'.

Why do we always want things that we cannot afford? Is it because we really want it, need it? I think our desire is largely influenced by our peers and the media. We may not really want it but we thought we want it, simply because it looks good to have it. Forbidden fruit always taste better. The more unattainable an object is, the greater the sense of satisfaction when we achieved it.

We have different wants and expectations at different stages of our life. Although we have grown out of the credit card chase, there will always be something for us to 'want to have it'. I think it is not so much of the object that we are after but the knowledge and feel-good factor that we can finally afford it. Otherwise, why would millionaires eat at hawker centres, hunt for bargains, stay in modest housing when they can afford something much better? Don't you think it's because they know within that they can afford it, hence it no longer bothers them how others see or think of them?