Temporary Well Being

The pond is plenteous
The land is lush
And having turned off the news
I am for the moment mellow.

With my book in one hand
& my drink in the other
What more could I want?

But fame
Better health
And 10 million dollars.

– Kenneth Burke, spotted on a wall in Penn Station

As Thanksgiving, out-of-town relatives, and the decades-long-in-arriving automobile manufacturers implosion all approach, this thought occurred to me:

Contentment comes from wanting what you have, ambition from wanting what the other person has, and progress from wanting what nobody has.

Fear? It comes from wanting to keep what you have when something threatens to take it away.