UNC Student Organization for Undergraduate Literature

Today, irony stuck me in a big way. I listened to my roommate on the phone - she lives in a 4,600 sq. ft. house in a great neighborhood on the West Coast, and has a father who is an aero-space engineer. She told her mother how she would never be happy until she has a multi-million dollar lake house with a pool, movie room, Jet Ski, and boat. Until that point, “which could never happen until like mid-40s,” she would feel bad about herself. I found myself stunned, saddened, and at a complete loss as to how to change her mind. Brain surgery perhaps? I then found myself wondering – is this an American notion? A result of raising? Or simply the way some people are programmed from birth?

To want more than what one has is understandable, to feel worse about yourself because you don’t have it is unreasonable, and ultimately depressing. Why can’t we just be happy with our lives the way they are? How many people are like my roommate? Perhaps more than I ever realized…