NEED vs WANT

NEEDS

Did you, from time to time, think of just what you NEED? Each of us may consider what we "need" differently. But let's get down to basics. Real basics!!! For those of you who may have taken a college course in psychology, you are no strangers to the name of Maslow. He was a psychologist who designed what has come to be called "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs". Usually, you will see his "Hierarchy" as a triangle with five rectangular boxes arranged parallel to each other and extending past the sides of the triangle. In each of the boxes are listed words that describe "needs" ranging from the most basic, in the bottom rectangle, to others that may be considered the least "needed" in the top rectangle.

The title of "needs" in the bottom rectangle is Biological and Physiological Needs. The next box up is Safety Needs. The next box up is Belongingness and Love Needs. The fourth box up is Esteem Needs. The title in the topmost box is Self-actualization.

Most of us, in the United States of America, have enjoyed the "Needs" in the bottom two boxes of Maslow's Hierarchy ever since we can remember. As we move up to the top three boxes however, those "needs" are sought after by all of us in one form or another but are not always attained.

I imagine that most of us are certainly aware of that group of our society who are labeled "Homeless". We see occasional glimpses of them if we travel to large metropolitan areas. We certainly see them in news broadcasts on our TVs. What are our thoughts as our attention is drawn to them? Do we sympathise with their plight? Or do we in some fashion blame them for their condition? Do we ever consider the chance that we may join their ranks at some time in the future?

Ridiculous you say? "Fat chance of that ever happening to me", you may think to yourself. That is probably just what so many of the current group of "homeless" thought just before the market recently crashed. That is precisely what so many are probably still thinking even though our leaders in government are telling us that we are gradually coming out of the recession. You may hear newscasters saying the same thing but almost as an aside, we hear that the unemployment remains at 10%!!

If you ever did attempt to consider losing your home, did you take your thoughts to the next step and ask yourself, "What would I do"? Have you actually taken steps to prepare for the unthinkable? Perhaps you should if you live in Pennsylvania!! Why there? Because things are going to get much worse for all of us in the very near future.

For some rather obscure reason, a law was passed when Governor Ridge was the governor of our state that guaranteed state workers, including teachers, 8 1/2% return on their pension funds!! That was great when the market was up. When the market crashed recently, every one's pension fund was affected, including the teachers'. The only difference between the teachers and everyone else is that their pension is guaranteed by law. The teachers are not to blame however, the politicians are!!!

So what happens when 2012 arrives and we are expected to pay the current expected increase in property / school taxes to pay for the losses in the teachers' pension fund? If you are currently out of work, how will you be able to pay for the increase? If you expect to have work by 2012, will you earn enough to pay for the increase? If however you have become one of the "homeless", you won't have to worry about the increase!!

OK, so maybe there is a benefit to being "homeless"(?) That is if you don't mind living in a cardboard box on top of a steam vent in Philadelphia or some form of shelter provided by the government that confiscated your home!! Of course you won't have all the little niceties you probably enjoyed when you were still living in your own home. But don't despair, on special days of the year numerous charitable organizations set out a feast for you to enjoy. The only problem with that arrangement is that the "special days" of the year will not begin to equal all the days you were able to eat similar "feasts" at home. There will be many other things you will have to do without but why should I paint an even more gloomy picture. All you have to do is turn on your TV and look at the squalor in which some societies exist in Africa, South America, etc. Now, just picture yourself as a member of that society!!!

WANTS

Hah!! Who am I kidding? "Wants" are all of those things that are not included in the bottom two rectangles of Maslow's Hierarchy, e.g. everything except food in your stomach, clothes on your back and a roof over your head. You may think you need all of the other things but they are not essential to life. Your life would certainly be vastly different than it is now but you would be alive.

How to Keep your "Wants"

What's that? You don't want to lose your home? Well, if that's so, what are you doing to change the very real possibility that you will lose it? Don't plan on winning the lottery or hoping that a philanthropist will knock on your door and hand a million dollars to you. Don't plan on getting a good paying job either. Remember, the unemployment is still at 10%!!! Well, what else can you do? Is there a "Light at the End of the Tunnel? Answer: YES there is!!!

All you have to do is access the web site www.SamRohrer.org and read and listen to the man who has been working at and remains committed to pulling this state out of the hole in which we currently find ourselves. Remember though, he cannot do it by himself. He needs us, that's right, you and me and all of us to do what we can to help him to help all of us!! WE can do it!! WE must do it!! Also, you should take a look at the web site www.PTCC.US

Postscript:

Have you ever seen the movie "Tea House of the August Moon"? Marlon Brando plays one of the main parts (an Okinawan native). In the beginning, he is seated on the ground in front of a palm tree. He is recounting the history of Okinawa and how many time they have been invaded and then occupied by foreign troops. He states that each time it created great pain for the inhabitants but that, "Pain make man think; thought make man wise; and wisdom make life endurable".

Apparently not enough of us have experienced enough pain to make us "think". Or we have just begun to think but have not yet profited by our thinking to become "wise". If we ever reach that elusive plateau of "wisdom", perhaps we will be ready to cast the real jerks in Harrisburg overboard and vote for politicians that have our best interests at heart rather than just themselves. Someone like Sam Rohrer!!

Semper Fidelis

Nurse John