Needs vs. Wants

A long time ago I remember learning an important distinction that I carry with me to this day. I recall saying to my mother things like," I need this game" or," I need this skateboard" or ,"I need to go to this party". There is an old saying that all you need to do is pay taxes and die. While not literally true it gets to the heart of the difference between needs and wants. My parents and I had many disagreements about this until I got older and began to understand the difference between the two. A need is something you need to exist such as food, clothing, shelter. A want is everything else that you desire to have but don't require.

Fairly easy concept to grasp right? Then I look around around and see exactly the opposite. I see people going into debt in order to buy heap loads of Christmas gifts that they don't have the money for. I see brand new cars in they driveways, new i-phones in the classrooms and the best clothes money can buy more times that not. All this at the cost of losing everything because people say," it is what I need" I ask myself why? Because society, and the news media endorse these things?

I took several short term missionary trips to the Dominican Republic. There I witnessed people that had very little in terms of material things. The amazing thing was that what they had they were willing to offer you in a heart beat. It seemed as though they understood the concept of needs and wants very well. The natural reaction that people have is to feel sorry for these people and want to help. I felt conflicted though because giving most things that we say we need is not what was needed.

They needed food, clothes, hygiene items, but most of all they needed love. Don't we all need this? Why then is it almost never mentioned when asked what do you need? Do people actually feel that they don't need this? Maybe they just don't recognize it or maybe it's difficult to say this.

I got to thinking about how things might be different if we included this need in our vocabulary. What things might be different, possibly better as a result of recognizing this need and then having this need met. So, another question came to mind. How do I, we love people? Of course it looks different with our spouse and immediate family but are their some things you could do to improve the way you love them? What about your neighbors? How do you love your neighbors? Tough question when you might not even talk to them right? Lately I've been thinking about this issue and I'm becoming more convinced that the more we are able to love each other the more we keep things in perspective between needs and wants.

I'm on a quest. I'm looking for opportunities in my home and outside my home to meet people's needs rather than their wants. I believe when this is done the result is that people feel loved and much of the problems that exist are made less or go away all together. Being realistic, I know I'm not able to meet everyone's needs but I'm sure I can meet some. Isn't some better than none? Maybe this is something you'd like to try also? I'd love to hear about your experiences. Please take a minute to share what your thoughts are on needs and wants. Pass it along if you feel this was helpful information.