Expectation and Sustainability

Expectation is anticipating with confidence of fulfillment. And that is a problem sometimes.

Say people in the modern age, if you work this amount a week, you really expect to be paid that much. But who says that is so, what makes this expectation acceptable. If you get more than the expected, you are happy. If you get less, you are not. Say a cleaner is given 5000 dollars a day. If that is the norm, then that is what is expected, if you pay less, say 4500, then people will be unhappy regardless. That may be an unreasonable example. Because if you pay me 4500, I would still be happy. But then you put it into perspective, and think of the days when there was serfs and lords. The serfs are basically treated like slaves. So, even though in modern terms one may see this as unfair, at the time it was perfectly accepted by both parties. So every increment above the serf's expectation provided by their lord would very much contribute to their happiness, be it just giving them extra food for they day or the like. So the point is, any point above the norm (where the norm is the accepted expectancy of a person) would provide happiness, and anything less than the norm would cause negative emotions to arise.

Of course to maintain the expectancy to remain the same, I believe all minimum requirements have to be met. That is shelter over a person's head, health cover, and ample food so as to not starve. That is living comfortably within one's means and the sense that one has earned it fair and square.

So that now builds into the modern expectancy. And as we know expectancy these days have gone though the roof. One now expects to be provided a good education, a comfortable life of no suffering, and all the luxuries of the world. It was not that long ago that things such as tv's and cars were luxuries. But that is now a norm. And again, now 1 car is not enough, a family has to have 2 or 3, just for convenience sake. It is only befitting because that is where society has shifted. When we live in a society that enables, this the expectation is you have that flexibility. Say for example this. In days when a family has one car, the family is not expected to be able to get to work on time, get the kids to wherever they need to be, and get all day to day things done in that space in time. It is accommodated that people have only one car and that they are restrained with this capacity. But now, as it is normal for families to have several cars, they are expected to have no excuse to be where they need to be. So the people who really cannot afford this, are again still expected to live within these new set of standards which society have set. And even if they now cannot achieve this, they would aspire to be rich enough to own several cars, as it is well within their reach. And if not them, their children will have this aspiration too. So as society evolves, the expectation of what is the norm and what they deserve is moving increasingly in this direction.

This is just one example of material expectation. Job wise, for instance executives might expect to get paid a certain amount because it is their entitlement. I believe this is not a concrete expectation and depends on place and time. Because a developed country would have a higher pay than a developing country, and also depending of the time period this will only keep on increasing due to inflation. And say now the major executives in multi million dollar companies. What makes them entitled to so much money in bonuses. And football players being paid millions for kicking a ball around. Is that 'fair'?

In terms of food consumption, this is also true. Meat used to be a luxury food item that can only be afforded by the rich. Now it is again an expectation that everyone has cheap access to this item. And this is now again causing serious problems.

So with all these examples, they are not borne of anything malicious but simply our desire to improve our quality of life and be more comfortable and happy. But some of these things are ironically producing adverse effects.

One main cause is the prices of items are not reflective of their true value. Say now you look at a shirt and it is only 5 dollars and made in China. How is this possible? Because of the low labour cost, and the full life cycle costs not taken into consideration. So there lies the problem. It may be that it is cheaper now, to have the things that we always wanted. But it may not be as cheap as it actually is. The rate of consumption is unnecessary, superfluous and unsustainable.

I go back to the point of getting what you should be paid. There can never be a 'right' solution to this because there are so many subjective factors in this matter. But there must be some semblance of control of what is acceptable. And with regards to material things, more steps should be taken to reflect fully the cost and impact of production. Sometimes we do not need to grow, and expand an have more. It should be more about reducing, or stabilizing while producing with the highest efficiency possible.

On an individual level, these unrealistic expectation should be redefined to fit what the real problem is. What we want are not 'better' and more things, or more choices and quantity of food, or anything else. What we want is more happiness. And the channeling of all energy into the material to achieve this is a pipe dream. You can never find true happiness with a nicer car, nicer clothes, better food etc. Certainly there is a bare minimum to what does cross the barrier between happy and sad. So a solution is this, redefining the expectation of what should and should not be, and redefining expectancy of what is really important in life.

Do you need a nice shiny car to be happy? Or is an old working car that has been in your family and shared plenty of memories with you more valuable. And for this to be sustainable, there needs to be a mechanism that supports costs for it to be feasible to keep an old car running for a long time as opposed to buying a new car every 5 years. Again this is because it is now cheaper to buy a new car than it is to repair a slightly damaged older car. And the reason is because the full cycle of cost involved is not totally accounted for in new cars.

We are a society conditioned to want more, strive for more, be happy when we have more. But I have tried to live this dream. And it does not make me happier, I have more things, but I do not truly appreciate them, because I expect to have them and there are just there because I should have them. And with increasing expectancy, consumption grows and grows, an unquenchable appetite. That brings us to the point of overconsumption where we are living beyond our means of sustainability where there is no real need for it. We just want more because we expect it and it is assumed to make us happier.

We need to dissociate material possessions with happiness. And that is difficult, even for me, because I am conditioned to believe this to be true. But I am at the point where, I get tired just seeing how much crap I have. And when I purchase unnecessary things, it is more an impulse and addiction than a purchase made out of pure requirement. It does not contribute in any way, except for the fact that I think it may make my life better. Does your fifth watch tick more accurate than the first? Why do you need 50 shirts? Well, of course the argument is because you look good and you must have that shirt to match those shoes, and you must have those shoes to match those shades, and so on and so forth. So that is again, conditioning of what is seen as a 'positive' in society. So what is it you really crave? It is acceptance in society and being viewed in a positive light by your peers? If the 'in' thing was wearing the most crummy clothes you have, everyone would then want to. That may be an extreme, but you get my point.

So a broad redefinition aim would be this. To live within one's means, and then try to reduce it further. Because what we are looking to do now, is not live with more but make do with less. I believe humanity is smarter than this. We are at the stage of our evolution that most basic creature comforts are covered and we do not require much more. So what we should be looking for now is rediscovering spirituality and our connection with one another, and of course happiness. We must live simply  and in appreciation and know that these are the real things that provide happiness.