At the very outset of this writing, as a matter of ethical public disclosure, we would candidly confess to our consummate love of the arguably cutest of all forest critters, the beguiling and playful chipmunk. In our former country house in Kent, Connecticut, there appeared to be a large resident group of these furry, brown-striped cuties; we surmise, due to the nuanced feature of our property’s sizeable and penetrable rock garden. It was our presumption that the little guys had been regular tenants of the dozens of safe, domiciles, established by them in the safe, but chipmunk-penetrable, spaces among the many assorted rocks and decorative plantings. As I recall, we used to refer to the Rock Garden as “the Condominium.”
Chipmunks, being talented, professional, circus-quality performers, we regularly saw excited young members of the various broods, hi-jinxing, tumbling over each other in play, scampering, and exhibiting superior agility. They were quite trustful of us, as familiars, and would carry on with their playful ruckus in our presence, sometimes, even under our seated chair. But I digress from our theme.
We have observed that chipmunks, in their quotidian search for food, after much nose-wrinkling, reconnaissance, and upon happening on a substantial quantity of eatables (i.e. acorns, nuts, seeds, and berries) will, predictably, and instinctively, observe the following sentient procedure. Being hungry, they will consume the first few items of food, to assuage their natural hunger, then they will stuff their small, but, pliable and immensely, stretchable cheeks to their huge, orbicular limit with food, for express transport to their family nest. In passing, he would notify his fellows of the large cache of food and may even return for some further indulgence, depending upon his eating capacity; but, notably and most relevantly, there, exists a limit that a chipmunk may reasonably need and can hungrily, consume.
Motivating our present, (tri-partite) theme, of “need,” “consume,” and “use,” were the media reports of a (suspicious) two billion dollar gift by Saudi Arabia, to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the former President, Donald Trump. Relative to our theme, we might take notice of the plethora of other publically known, billionaires, inclusive of, the Koch Brothers, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, and Mark Zuckerberg. We might, as well, contextually, reference those many other Americans whose regular earnings are in the millions. Many of these extraordinarily wealthy people had previously chosen to, totally, dedicate their lives and creative propensities, to a mutually, misplaced, drive, to exceed others in a contest to competitively, amass, vast quantities of wealth; and other stereotypic, public symbols of success, viz., great residential mansions, airplanes, helicopters, yachts. In the process of this neurotically, Quixotic, competitive aspiration, many have, elected to sacrifice considerations of family, academic, or aesthetic opportunities and the dedicated pursuit of personal growth; the latter, inarguably, healthier, and ultimately, far more satisfying, personal lives, than one, in thrall to a limited lifetime, gauging the competitive scoreboard of material acquisition.
It requires but little empirical experience, to rationally and pragmatically, declare, that no human being, reasonably and objectively, requires billions or millions of dollars, to live a comfortable and materially, satisfying life. Those who avidly, and competitively, have sacrificed and striven to obtain a superlative degree of material success may, in the course of life’s later retrospective, be disappointed in their ultimately, deliberated realization, that their humanistic sacrifices, previously deemed, by them as appropriate to compete in such a comparative asset scoreboard were, upon reconsideration, too rare and valuable to have been surrendered.
Our candid speculation is that if some unexpected, mega-wealthy party were to, suddenly, and unexpectedly, gift us with millions of dollars, the present context of our way of life would not noticeably, change. Like, our dear friends, the furry, stuffed-cheeked chipmunks, we only can consume, (or need) so much. By contrast, our lifelong love of reading good literature, writing essays and poetry, and appreciation of the fine arts and of Nature have, in our later years, happily, given us an invaluable sense of self-fulfillment and aesthetic happiness.
-p.
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