Discontentment is the American way of life. Psychology and pop culture have created a new class of personal "needs" and complete loss of perspective. Happiness is out - "personal fulfillment" is in. Any smudge on the picture-perfect life is something that should be wiped out by changing circumstances. Any change, though, reveals new smudges. Rather than alter the way we prioritize things, we continuously chase the latest and greatest in loves, gadgets, what-have-you, only to wind up being made obsolete as we're told of new "needs" that must be met.

I'm not immune. I have certainly idolized my needs and made whim the preeminent force in life. This usually feels like a druken stupor. After a few weeks, I look up and shake my head in disbelief at the selfishness I've uncovered in myself. Place a child in a room full of toys, and then place one of the toys in a glass case making it unaccessible. The thing which cannot be had becomes the obsession of the child, or the man for that matter. That which cannot be had becomes the need which must be met for us to ever be happy again.

It's sick really. It's twisted. Yet, it's in all of us.