Need/Want

Hallelujah! I'm done the semester
Funny how things turn out
The class I was dreading the most, turned out to be the the one that generated the best discussions.
Our last novel was E.L. Doctorow's City of God - A blend of detective story and spiritual quest.
The protagonist, Pem -an Episcopalian priest, struggles with reconciling his faith and his intellect.
When we had review in the last class one of the themes that arose was: The struggle to live a meaningful life in a materialistic world. My instructor said that her economics professor drilled into the students the maxim, "economics is not based on need, it is based on want".
Certainly the truth of this saying is never more visible than in the Holiday season. (which for retailers begins in September as soon as the great 'back to school' frenzy is over). The relentlessness with which we are hunted by advertises exhausts me, and I don't even have Cable T.V.! (too poor, too cheap,-not too fastidious to watch television)
My Father and Stepmother are notorious for springing on me a few weeks into October, around the thanksgiving table while I'm still in that turkey-induced narcotic haze,"What do you want for Christmas?"
"huh? what? uh I don't know..." And I don't - I don't prowl the malls trying to dream up things that my family will want to but for me.
Gifts are supposed to bring joy to both giver and receiver.
That is how it should work. It makes me sad to be in the presence of so much avarice.
What I need/ want is more tolerance of those people around me who don't see the world the way I do .