Human Nature?

My last blog had gotten me thinking: do we, as humans, only want what we can’t have? Does it suddenly become more important?

As a kid, I wasn’t really allowed to eat sweets. I remember the first year that the Labor Day parade started coming down our street. I must have collected pounds of candy from along the front sidewalk, and that evening, attempted to eat it all in one sitting (and suffered a massive stomach-ache). I wanted that candy that I could never have so much that I literally engorged myself with it.

So, are my feelings for Shawn only strong because I know that we’re fated to only be friends?

Here’s how I see it: we only want what we can’t have because we enjoy the challenge. Humans are infamous for superiority. We want to be the best, to be number one (the king of the mountain if you will). We’re so consumed by the thought of this challenge that the task suddenly becomes the most important thing in the world. Our pride, our self esteem, our general sense of being will suffer if we fail.

In reality, nothing is really all that pivotal. Nothing really changed. Shawn didn’t magically transform into Prince Charming Saturday night. I had just realized that he’s not a serious relationship kind of guy and, like most girls, wanted to be the one to ‘change him’.

Everyone, at one point in their life, has wanted something that they know they can’t have. And then we’re surprised when we are unsuccessful.