When Enough is Enough

In her latest blog entry, Jenny Ryan describes how she finally came to accept that she has Enough.

Not that she reached a breaking point, like, "I've had enough poopy humor for today!" Rather, Enough, as in "I'm happy with what I've achieved, and I no longer need to strive for more money or power, or storage space to be fulfilled."

Yes, the major religions generally say we should rid ourselves of worldly desires. But they don't tell you what to do after that, do they? It's easy for them to pontificate, from within their temples / monasteries, about being satisfied with Nothing. No one expects much from them, do they?

For example, they don't have spouses whose favorite past-time is spending 10% more of your income. Nor do they have a robustly entrepreneurial uncle who keeps insisting that you start a real estate business on the side. Or colleagues whose monthly publications sport such titles as "Efficiency Improvements in Planetary Synthesis," "Differential Humanoid Outcomes From Dust, Silica, and Humus," and "Novel Techniques in the Enticement of Forbidden Fruit."

I guess our religion founders have figured that no one's ever gonna get to the point of having Enough.

I've not achieved what Ms. Ryan has achieved. I've gone beyond it. I've got Too Much. I hope I don't have to go out and buy a high definition TV at the end of the year just so that my wife can sit in front of it and complain about the news. I'm already dreading the next computer upgrade and wonder if there's a way I can post to my blog by sending the entry in a hand-written letter to Blogspot.

What should I do? Maybe I should start watching commercial television again. I bet that will ignite the fires of consumerism in me.