Striving or Denying?

Imagine standing in a room surrounded by mirrors. No walls showing, just mirrors. What do you see? Probably yourself in multiple perspectives. You see the back of your shoes, the top of your nose, your elbows, your smile... You are surrounded by yourself. Sometimes we want to see one thing about ourselves, but not the other. Maybe I like to see my eyes but not my backside. Maybe I like to see my shoulder blades but not my toes. Naturally our eyes are going to stray towards the things we like. We see what we want to see.
Now with this evidence, let's apply this to our lives. In everyday life, we see multiple things. We witness our friends and family make the wrong decision. We live through our own decisions that were most likely affected by someone else's judgements. But are we going to admit that little detail? Probably not. Folks, it's important to remember that we see what we want to see. We do what we want to do. We live the life we want to live.
Think about what every single child wants while their growing up. I'm sure every child lived their own life in their own environment, but aren't we all striving for one thing? Some would say candy. Some would say to grow up. Some would say a lifetime supply of toys. Everyone wants something different, but don't all of our wishes overlap when people wish for something better? Isn't every wish just categorized under this broad want? Something better? Depending on who you asked, their answer would of what's better would most likely be different.
Let's just act as if this was an interview and ask the mind boggling question "What would you want, if you were simply striving for something better?"
Ask a child and they would most likely reply with something along the lines of "Better toys..."
Ask an older person and they would probably say "To live my life over again... or, more time..."
Ask a dying patient and they would say "To live"
Ask a homeless person and they would say "A home"
Now this all sounds pretty reasonable right? Well what happens when these wishes start to compromise someone else's wishes? What happens when someone's fortunes take away from someone else's? What happens when everything in life results in more demand than their is supply? I sure don't have an answer to that...
Right now the questions that arises is "Where did the balance go?" Our entire lives we learned that there will always be another side to the scale. With a 1, there will be -1. With a right winged government, there will be a left winged government. With good grammar, there will be bad grammar. With the rich, there will be the poor. With life, there will be death. It seems so simple... But is it really?
No. Not at all.
If we wanted an example, we can look at ourselves as individual human beings. I'll use myself as an example. Growing up I always wanted to live in a house. Now that I live in a house, I miss living in apartments with the tight knit relationships. Now that I'm 16, I only want to be older. When I was younger, all I wanted was to be 16! These may seem like insignificant details about my life, but really they all come into play. Is it acceptable to say that we always want something more? I think it is.
Now don't get me wrong. I never said that was a bad thing, but I never said it was a good thing either. We live our lives full of contradictions every single day, so let's analyze this one. Although it's very fulfilling if you strive for a happier life, is it good to strive only for more money? In my opinion, definitely not. I know some people's definition of a happier life has something to do with money, but mine sure doesn't. I am happy living my life as a middle class citizen. Although I do love going shopping and buying things, I love the feeling of working for that money... Even if it's getting my hands greasy at McDonald's. Before I had a job, I loved being able to do simple things that brought me joy. A simple walk to the local grocery store was fulfilling enough for me, but now that I have the availability of money, education and transportation, all of that changes. Although I still love the simple things in life, I do love striving for something bigger. I want to know that I am actually doing something with the things I've learned. In my life, I learned to do what makes me happy. If that means being an elementary teacher who gets talked down to and gets paid far less than deserved but still has the happiness of spreading joy, that I'd take it in a heartbeat. Once again, is it acceptable to say that some people highly disagree with me? For some people being rich is much more fulfilling. Although I highly disagree with that, it's most likely because I didn't grow up in a very rich environment. I grew up with a comfortable salary that kept me right in the middle of the scale. I was balancing between rich and poor, and it felt great.
Of course people's opinions are different, but here are my lost words. Is wanting something better truly fulfilling, or not? It's as simple as that. Apply that question to your own life before you go to bed, and if you can't answer it than that should be the loudest answer of all. Goodnight all!
P.S. Sorry about the confusing posts. My thoughts were all over the place tonight!