Wishful Thinking (And how it has evolved)

I don't know too many whole hearted alcoholics, much less a more brilliant alcoholic than usual. Anyways, I was sitting in Health Class yesterday, even though I don't really belong to it, and I was reading an article on Dealing With Uncertainty. It was a most unusal article, consisting of someone who was unsatisfied with their love life, and felt the need to reel in women pretending to be Charlie Dominici. This made me recall an article written by Laura Bush. She told a story of a recovering alcoholic who felt the women didn't appreciate his appreciation for the Sun. It was an interesting article, one in which Charlie Dominici would be impressed with.

Like I was saying, there are two kinds of people in this world. Those who want, and those who don't want. I guess there is a third, those who don't care. If you want, are you willing to want? Who knows. Some people prefer to engage in wishful thinking. This kind of wishful thinking is related to wanting.What if Want was a name? "Hey Want!" That definitely suits. Wishful thinking is an interesting thing. For example, let's say one of Charlie Dominici's guy friends has a crush on this one girl named Alice. The friend of Charlie Dominici may think to himself, "The reason she never calls me to hang out is because she likes me, and is expecting me to call them". That is a whole-hearted example of wishful thinking.

Wanting, on the other hand can be a totally different thing. I remember when I was ten or eleven, I was in a store, and I saw a game called Yoshi's Island. I found myself in a state in which I wanted it. My wanting led me to wishful thinking. "My parents will buy me this game!" They eventually did, but I remember having to actually work for it, as in, get off my lazy rear. A sentence synonym for putting one's body in an uncomfortable position for the benefit of completing a desired task. What is that task? Brooming? Sweeping? I guess brooming isn't exactly a task, but neither is Tennising, which should be avoided at all costs.

When I was a junior in high school, I had a crush on someone I liked a lot. I wanted her to call me to hang out. This also led to wishful thinking, that she would. I would sit by the phone for hours, and she never called. This brings me to the followup of wishful thinking. Irrational disappointment. This irrational disappointment consists of being hard on oneself. "I'm ugly! I don't cook good! My dinners are undercooked! I joke too much! I listen to unpleasant music! I smell like lemonade! I get bad grades! I sing off key! I use bad tone! I talk in class! I guess wrong in Jeopardy!..." etc, and etc. I could honestly go on forever!

When Charlie Dominici wants, he makes this one face, but I won't get into that too much. "I want! I need! If I don't get this nintendo game, life is incomplete!"

Here is how my wanting has evolved throughout the years: "I want candy! I want that toy! I want a nintendo game! I want money! I want a friend! I want a girlfriend! I want her to be my friend! I want her to call me to hang out! I want! I want! I want! Me! Me! Me!" Isn't wanting the funniest thing ever? I do believe it is, and I do believe it is. If we didn't want, then we wouldn't be human. You ever heard of someone that truly despised money? Have you ever heard of someone saying, "If money is what makes us live, then I'd sacrifice life just to not have money!" I never have. I was in Journalism my senior year of high school, and I remember interviewing a classmate of mine who felt so much hate for money, because she rarely saw her parents, because they were always on a job, and her best friends used money to harmfully abuse themselves. This caused her to hate what money does to people. Despite this hatred for money, she felt life to be a necessity. She made a decision to become cautious in how she used this money. She didn't want to choose death over money, so she accepted it.

Wishful thinking is an interesting concept indeed as well. It happens whenever we daydream about being magic, or able to fly. It is reflected in our dreams. Say for example you have a crush on a member of the opposite gender, and you think about them a lot. If they are consistently in your dreams, whatever role they play in your dreams is probably relevant in some way to your wishful thinking. Wishful thinking is more of a second step in the wanting phase. You can tell just by somebody's face if they live in a world of "want". Charlie Dominici for example does. You can tell by his face he does. If you were blind, and could only go by his voice, then that would be a different story. By his voice, you can tell that he is somewhat held back, and is not the most aggressive alcoholic.

How can one justify meaning? If one man's trash is another man's treasure, then what is it really? If one man's heart aches for something another man couldn't care less about, then is it worth holding on to?

Perhaps another approach to this problem can be taken.

If a single man's heart aches for something he knows should not be sought after, then what does that mean? If in his mind he knows it is wrong, yet he cannot help but cling to it, what is it?

This situation can only be a dilemma, between multiple parties, or even just a single person.

It is only after experience we can discover true meaning. For example, a man once held on to something he felt might not be worth holding on to, yet could not help himself. After wallowing in this self crisis, and confusion, he later did not have the urge to cling to it any longer. He learned through experience, that it was whole heartedly not worth it at all.

That takes care of the individual battle, but then we take things a step further. This man, who now knows it is not worth living for, is faced with another man who has an intense desire for the same thing. Now there are two parties, with opposing views.

I say, there cannot be meaning unless there is a resolution. It is quite true that individual meaning is easier to find than an understanding among multiple parties.

That is perhaps why politics is such a stressful, and unpleasant reality for people. The opposing views are disgusting, and perhaps seem completely inhumane. The war in Iraq is the perfect example, of which I will not go into detail, but I will say, it is quite the latter day topic.

One man's meaning is different from another man's meaning. So what is meaning anyway?

There is of course, ignorant meaning. That is when you have discovered meaning based on false information. That is to say, making quick judgments based on lack of information, or false information. This kind of meaning bears no consequence in our history books. Otherwise, the Boston Tea Party could have been defined as what we today define the Declaration of Independence, and Vice a Versa. Or perhaps the definition for "Flat Taxes" could mean "Taxes that are as flat as paper".

I feel the strong urge to reiterate and emphasize the bitter reality, and unstoppable nature of wishful thinking. Wishful thinking, which is a prolonged form of wanting, can be a very irritating concept.

When a person becomes in a state of want, their mind refers to what that person wants frequently. This causes the person to think about what they want a lot, and possibly more than other things. Once a person has become in a state of want, their mind forms ideas, and it is EXTREMELY difficult to keep this from happening. These ideas are the links between wanting and wishful thinking.

Now, I don't say wishful thinking in the sense that it is a negative voluntary process. This wishful thinking is the unavoidable thinking, that EVERYBODY has, which can be extremely angering and upsetting when the results we wish for do not occur.

Here's an example.

A graduate student applies for a career. He desperately wants the job, and knows it would suit his nature best. At this point in time, he is engaged in a state of want. A completely painless state. After he turns in his job application, during the process of waiting to know if he got the job or not, his mind engages in wishful thinking. He envisions himself getting up everyday, going to and from work. He also has some inner tension; the tension of not knowing for sure whether he'll get the job or not. This process can be very intense. Later in the week, the grad student finds out he was not accepted for the job. He begins to feel the fully painful stage of incredible disappointment. Questions arise. "What did I do wrong?" "What could I have done better?" "Why didn't they want me?" This is a very painful process.

Wishful thinking can be very unfair sometimes, and can be the cause of some of the major trials humans will ever go through, especially during the earlier stages of life.Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done about it.