"unlimited wants"!

Yesterday, I spent most of the time to read my economic book. It was just because I needed to prepare for an upcoming econ midterm. However, during my studying, I found some impressive information from the book. Generally, the economy always experience in scarcity. In other words, human’s material wants are unlimited, so there seems to have no way to satisfy them. This is not surprising. It is absolutely common and true in real life. However, this attitude is not right, and we should find ways to change this attitude.

Just by listening to this fact, I felt depressed. Isn’t it sad that there is no way for us to be satisfied on our current living conditions? And it is not because of others’ fault, but because of our unlimited wants. We can see this scenario often in our daily lives. For example, if a person gambles and receives a lot of money from it, that person would probably gamble again, thinking that he might win again; if a child just finishes one ice-cream, that child would probably urge and ask for one more ice-cream. As time goes by, our “unlimited wants” would become a negative harm to us. If we keep chasing for more materials, we would end up being ignorant. We would be ignorant because we never know whether we buy enough materials or not. For instance, originally, we only need one hair clip, but we want to become prettier and fashionable, we end up buying more hair clips. We lose our judgments, especially on how many necessities we really need. Isn’t it so sad that people do not know what they really need for their lives? And buying unnecessary stuff?

Everyone have unlimited wants, and I’m one of them. If that same “hair clips” scenario applies to me, I would buy 2 or more hair clips too. It is weird that there is some magic telling us to buy more and more. Because of this weird magic, some people might create many credit cards in order to buy and pay for more. As a result, some teenagers might end up with many credit cards debts and they are not able to pay for their debts. While we are wasting money to buy some unnecessary materials, we should step back and think of some poor countries. In those countries, people do not have enough money for their living and necessities. They might end up eating one meal or even one bread per day. Comparing to their situation to ours, we should be very appreciated for what we have. We should be satisfied on what we already have and not waste more money on buying unnecessary items. Instead, we could find ways to help them out, such as donating or volunteering. Having “material wants” is not bad; however, the worst part is that our “material wants” are unlimited. There is no way for us to be satisfied. But, we really need to learn to be appreciated and satisfied on what we already have.

magical feeling!!

Recently, I read an interesting book called "Escape to Japan", which is written by one of the famous Taiwanese singers, Ashin. In this book, Ashin introduced different places in Japan and shared his feelings or inspirations after he visited every place. I really enjoy reading on his inspirations, because it allows me to understand how other people think about that topic, and make me to think about it more deeply. Particularly, I was very impressed on the one after he visited the Meiji Shrine.

Before reaching to the Meiji Shrine, people need to walk on a pathway, which is made by the small rocks. Therefore, when a group of people walk this pathway, they would feel frustrated of the annoyed noise the small rocks cause. Surprisingly, people only feel frustrated for few minutes, and start to walk carefully. At that moment, Ashin felt so magical that within that few minutes, people can change their feelings from frustrating to concentrating. He started to wonder about how magical a space could change people behavior.

After reading this article, I feel so magical too. And I strongly agree that an environment can influence us. For example, when I sit in my room, with my computer turning on, it is difficult for me to do my homework. Conversely, when I sit at the library, with other students studying, it is easy for me to concentrate and do my homework. There is just a magic force that could easily influence us when we are in different environment. Last Monday, I and two of my housemate decided to finish our homework by staying up the whole night together. Three of us brought our homework to the dining table and sat together. Surprisingly, three of us did not sleep, but concentrated to finish our homework. Here, it has the magic force too. It might be because my housemates worked very hard on their homework, so I needed to work hard too. But, if there is only me staying up the whole night, I think I would give up and go to bed right away. Since environments can easily affect how people behave, it is really important for us, the students, to choose an appropriate area to study, such as studying lounge and library. Otherwise, we would not be able to finish our homework on time. Therefore, based on my observations and experiences, I have the same magical feelings as Ashin had.

1st Blog- "Who am i as a writer? as a thinker?"

I strongly agree that the ways we think are easily influenced by our environments and experiences. Typically, when we were young, we tended to listen and follow what our parents believe and think. As we grew up, we tended to share our thoughts with friends, and then learn from each other. Also, different experiences, especially the past ones, tended to affect how we live, act and think right now. To me, when it comes with an essay topic, other than my own opinions, i would love to ask how others think about it, including my parents and my friends. Maybe, it sounds a little bite weird, since I do not just stick with my ideas. However, i think it is better for me to ask others for opinions, and try to understand why people could think different than i think. Finally, i would go back to my thoughts, and fix any flaws from it. Therefore, my thinking might ultimately influence by my parents and friends.

A lot of people like to write their daily lives in diary or blogs. To me, i just think there is nothing i can really share with people, because i just sleep, eat, and use computer everyday. However, i really love to write after i read a novel, watch a movie or hear a song. Usually, i write about my feelings about these works, including what do i learn from them. To me, novels, movies and songs all have themes and messages behind them. Other than be entertained by these works, i think it is really important for us to understand the messages. And once we understand them, it is our pleasure to share with others, like friends or parents. With this thought held in mind, i tend to love writing more and more.