The Mystery Behind the Extraction of Wants 

Generally, with humans, there is always a chase for something bigger, larger, weightier, taller, smarter, prettier, and so on. Just as the tropical trees, whose indulgence is craven in the competition of the survivor of the fittest’; the living marinade of animals vying for space and food in order to attain a “better” growth, people are widely accustomed to buttoning their wants on comparative terms. Ambition offers a good look at life. Measurably ambitious is wise enough to offer the time to slow things down and see the essence of speeding in the wind through which life provides daily wants. The comparative human satisfaction interwoven with the readiness to achieve one’s desires are facts presented as running an endless race.

A good dollop of whimsical engineering of fate explains lucidly the existential facts that support this truism. It’s an evident fact that I cannot settle for whatever is lower than the widespread aspirations of my counterparts, and my credibility will be next to nil, if at all, when as a natural human my satisfaction falls below the range of the “better means”; in this sense, embracing a non-mediocre status. The focus of every well-meaning human in life is to “be better” in their respective fields of specialization at the expense of others.

It’s ideal as we could give ample room to the popular opinion that human satisfaction lies in claiming superiority (even over inanimate things). And most especially, this garners substantial reasons for us to hear a random man claim he is studying diligently in his education to be an elite in society and to also smash the demon of hunger to the bare grounds. In different parts of Nigeria, whether in the comfort of one’s home or in the sweltry atmosphere of social gatherings, comparison normally settles stolidly on the integral part of several discussions, which in one way or another, involve attendant needs for satisfaction. 

Providing a panoramic view of comparison, It’s typical of an African mother to raise a spectre of positive juxtaposition (in most cases) even amid a motley of advice, indicating she wants her children to be seen making it in life, as she weaves a careful thread of citing examples of the “big” tycoons whose footsteps they could aspire to follow, holding a seeming pedestal of faith to be “bigger” than these giants out of goodwill. That there is an earlier discarded proposition of comparison tacitly coated in “making it in life” doesn’t overtake the grim points of interest any mother would have for the fruits of her womb to be “better at doing something”, even though it provides a means of superiority over surrounding contemporaries. 

You can imagine a scene of an unwary lady-explorer who keeps throwing off the valuable gemstones she sights on a strolling search along a seashore, hoping to get the “bigger” ones on the way (as repulsive yells jeer behind her back with each dismissal). Is it really possible for this lady to hit the jackpot after her ‘diamond folly’, seeing that it’s easy for a tourist in his entire lifetime to chance on such a gem even upon a strenuous extraction? For whatever lesson logical reasoning would reflect from this Diamond story, nothing can stop the idea that it’s naturally lofty of a human heart to desire better things. However, satisfying our wants doesn’t sideline the necessity to manage our comparative desire for greatness.

Where human satisfaction truly lies is in the perfectly wrung ladder that stems from the management of tangible, measurable skills and desires. The proper management of skills diplomatically affects the taste for satisfaction. For example, a doctor whose priority is laid on patients’ quick recovery will not contest to be better than his professional contemporaries (as his ‘better’ skills will effortlessly bid recognition for his proficiency). In furtherance to what has been said, once ambition is measured painstakingly, priorities are properly nurtured in a way that favours running the race for the achievements of wants. 

It’s an endless circle of catching the wind whenever we claim we want to be better than someone else. Not that achieving a feat of betterment amid counterparts is gravely wrong, but humans are not created in a “lone-worker” framework. There will be a severely flawed postulation without a substantial carving out of what man is originally designed to be–a being whose success is worked out through teamwork. This is shown evidently at the creation of the world when Eve was made to evolve as the “missing rib of Adam’s bones”. Outside the shores of teamwork, no single successful man on earth would be able to go about breast-beating how they flew to the apex of their career all by themselves, bereft of external supportive assistance.

In this endless extraction of comparative wants, it’s noteworthy to see contentment as a decisive tool to prevent derailment from the tracks of satisfaction, which negative comparison sells at a primitively low discount rate. Lack of content usually brings to the fore an unnecessary mounting of pressure, which in turn delivers overarching problems that sustain a romance with retrogression. Likewise, the activities of the devil’s workshop will become a flux without a cure as long as there’s no exclusive reserve on comparative wants. It’s, however, hard to take on ending the mysterious search to satisfy human wants as it’s an endless exploration of the suffix “-er”.