Yes, I am glad that I like what I like.
Lots of my Friends on social media are pleased-as-punch with their new purchase this weekend – The iPad. Quite right too, it’s a neat looking and very desirable piece of kit.
It struck me that the availability of the iPad in Britain (and soon here in Ireland) will create envy with some people. It’s a lovely device but it’s not the cheapest thing in the world.
Few people are entirely escaping the grip of the economic difficulties our green little country is currently in the midst of. Therefore many people will want one but will simply not be able to buy one.
Few people are entirely escaping the grip of the economic difficulties our green little country is currently in the midst of. Therefore many people will want one but will simply not be able to buy one.
That’s why I’m glad I like what I like – ‘cos I don’t really want one.
Before you run off, this is not a whinge-post along the lines of, ‘Why can’t I have one?’ I am (thankfully) in the happy position that I could go out and buy one any day I ever wanted to. Times are not buoyant but there’s ‘enough-to-get-by-on-and-then-some’ and I know that’s not the case for everyone and my heart goes out to them, it really does.
All this post is really about is me celebrating that the things I really love and desire are cheap or free or very easily accessible…
… bloody hell, it’s starting to sound like a ‘family, friends, trees, air and sky’ post now - you must have all left. All those 'tree and air' things are valuable and wonderful, of course, but they’re rather a given and, let’s face it, a bit of a bloody cliché too. I’m talking about those more mundane things which we might want or aspire to...
Imagine if your great love was Travel. Every year, you lived for your sojourn to some far-off place or your weekend away in some wonderful colourful capital city. Then the current recession would probably mess you up, wouldn’t it? Imagine if your ‘thing’ was ‘Haute Cuisine’ – a fine meal in a fine restaurant now and again. These cutbacks could really interfere with your delight.
But me, I’m lucky. I like movies, I like books, I like music. I’m lucky because I can access these things whether times are good or whether times are bad.
I am also lucky because these things are great social levellers. Look at the very-well-off people in the world. Let’s pick one… Donald Trump, okay? Do you like good food? Well Donald Trump is going to eat better than you. ‘You like clothes? Trump’s going to dress better than you. ‘You like travel? … you get the picture.
But me? I can have everything that Trump can have. He’s got nothing on little-old-me. What movie can he see that I cannot see? What book can he read? What tune can he listen to that I cannot? (Actually I think there is one Jan Michel Jarre album – ‘Music For Supermarkets’ – that only ever had one copy made of it. So I can’t hear that - but I’m not that bothered really).
These things I like enable me to gain enjoyment at the same level as the richest man in the whole world. I like the thought of that.
So when I express delight at your new iPad, it’s genuine. You’re getting something you desire and you deserve it. I’m really not envious at all.
Me? I’ve got a movie to watch…
And that new book sounds really good.
Doesn’t it Donald?