The video is in English, so just ignore the subtitles.
My favorite SNL skit ever.
Let's revisit what the word "need" means. Let's remember our basic college (highs school for me, thank you Mr. Demers) courses where Maslow's hierarchy of human need was explained.
Are concerts and travel fun and exciting? Yes. Are they a need? NO. If you love concerts and travel should you be able to fit them into your budget somehow? Sure! But then you have to regularly say NO to lots of other fun stuff, or stuff you might need. You can't have it all, unless you are truly wealthy. Saying no is a really good, really healthy thing.
Food, shelter, air, basic human rights...these qualify as needs. Concerts and travel do NOT. They are in no way crucial to human existence (and how insulting, and arrogant of us to say something like that...think of people around the world, in poverty, wars, all sorts of normal living situations...think of what their face might look like as you try to defend this idea to them. That these are "needs"). If you enjoy them, should you be able to do them? Probably...if you understand how to budget and say no to other things. If you like FANCY travel, and FANCY concerts, should you be able to do any of those you want? Good grief. No. Loving travel does not mean you need to always go on an airplane to a fancy resort, right? It means you travel, but maybe it's driving, camping along the way, etc. Travel does not necessarily equal FANCY travel. You can still fulfill your love of travel AND be responsible with a budget.
If you say "I love music, so I have to go to this $200 concert, but I don't have money, so I'll just put it on a credit card" then you probably have escapism issues and likely need to learn how to be content with life as it currently is. Or maybe just budgeting issues. Or self-control issues. I don't know... You can still fulfill a love of music without spending tons of money on music.
GAH. I'm just done with this kind of thinking today. My main thought right now is how can I raise my kids so they don't fall prey to this nonsense???
