Tell me what you want....

I was thinking about “want” the other day. (I had a long holiday). What is it that we want…? Really, really want – as that famous group of spicy philosophers once asked.

How can someone want two seemingly contradictory things…you want to stay slim, but you also want to eat the doughnut. You want a well-funded NHS but you also want to pay less tax. You want to be an attentive father but you also want to watch every single game of the World Cup. You want to reduce immigration, but you also want enough nurses to attend to your aged grandparents. You want to support local farmers, but you want to buy cheap milk.

Which want wins? Is it the one that requires the least effort? Or the one that’s more fun? Is it the one that makes you feel good? Maybe the winning want is different on each given day – one day you might have that doughnut, another day you might not. One day you might refuse to buy something from Amazon on the basis that they avoid paying tax, but then the next day you see that they have a really good sale on.

Maybe it’s more of about what you don’t want…you want the doughnut but you don’t want to look like one. You want the sexy lady from accounts, but you don’t want to hurt the wife. Or in reverse….you want to be a woman of integrity, but you don’t want to miss out on all that fun that everyone else seems to be having. You want to be someone you can trust, but you don’t want to miss out on that amazing bit of gossip.

I don’t know the answer, you’ll have to ask Mel B. Well, maybe not…if I remember rightly she just wants a “zigazig ah.” Gibberish.