What Do You Want?

I’ve been thinking lately on the notion of want. It’s being touched by the ethereal… The fact of the matter is, we don’t get to choose what we want. We see things offered before us (or watch them pass us by) and we inherently know if we want it or not. Having it, touching it, owning it would make us happier; and its absence makes us feel slightly emptier for the lack of it.

What motivates us so much as desire? We want a physical item, we save up our pennies in order to purchase it. The less moralistic among us would steal or worse to obtain it. But that’s just the tangible.

Some people want money. What they may not realize is that money is nothing but a means to other ends. Of course, the more money you have, the greater the ends you can reach, but in the midst of the dollar signs, does it matter that much?. Others want power, the ability to influence and change the circumstances (or the people) around them.

Then there’s the desire for people… whether it’s their respect, the pleasure of their company, a physical attraction, or some innate need to have them nearby, the want for their company can be a want so powerful it makes your moral compass start spinning.

Entire religions have been based on the denial of want. Saying No to tangible desires in an attempt to gain a greater spirituality, which is a want all by itself. You just can’t get away from it.

Why do we find certain people more attractive than others? A symmetry of physical features? The prospect of handsome, healthy offspring? The pleasure we feel in interacting with them? The promotion of status we’d achieve showing them off? What the hell is the big deal?

When it comes to other human beings, whether we realize it or not, *dozens* of appraisals take place the moment we lay eyes on them. And it shapes the course of our interaction with them from the first hello to the last good-bye.

Want fills us up. It gives us purpose and direction, a focal point on which to attach the course of our actions. It’s the only motivator, the only thing that drives us. We go to work every day at a job we may or may not like in order to satisfy the necessary wants, or needs. We need a roof over our heads, we need food on our table, we need our loved ones to be provided for.

At the same time, *absence* of want can be crushing. People show a lack of interest in old hobbies, appetites, or pastimes, and they seem sluggish in comparison to their former selves. We call them symptoms of depression, and we’ve done it for so long we’ve made it a clinical affliction. The presence of want, the desire to further our own goals is a sign that we’re alive.

We’ve written books, created works of art and music, pledged love and gone to war in attempt to placate our desires, to see them shored up and satisfied. And in every one of those motivators, there is a deeper, baser want.

I’ve thought a lot about why I write, why I act, why I try to get a comic book published, why I do any of the things I do. I want to leave a mark on the world after I’m gone. I want to be remembered well and thought of fondly. I want to know I accomplished something.

What do you want? A promotion at work? A new fishing rod? To shake the hand of your favorite celebrity? The love of a good man or woman? Just as importantly, what are you willing to do to get it? Would you steal for it? Compete for it? Sacrifice time, money and other resources for it? What drives you? Know what a person really wants, and you’ve got ‘em. The rest is merely details.

I want to know.