Desire, Wish, and Hope

It is natural for us to desire for friendship and companionship, fame and fortune, power and pleasure. We wish for a healthy and happy family, peace in the world and a robust economics. We work hard when we are young hoping that we can have a comfortable retirement. We do our best in difficult situations hoping that we will be rewarded with our efforts. When we are in pain, in debt, and or depressed, we hope that the bad luck will change eventually.

Desire is the motivation behind human reproduction, social gatherings, big corporations, entertainment industries as well as murders, drug abuse, fraud, and killing weapons. We wish when we realize that we do not have the chance to fulfill our desire. Hope is our offense against the unknown, uncertain, and unfair. Instead of giving in, we press on to face the uncommon problems.

Desire

We all have desires; they are primal in nature:

1. Seeking opposite sex to reproduce and raise a family,

2. Looking for food to satisfy the constant hunger,

3. Protecting the loves at all cost, etc.

   But, as we become more civilized and well-off:

1. In opposite sex, we are also looking for beauty and compatibility,

2. In food, we are looking for better taste, variety, and nutrition,

3. In addition to the predators, we have to protect the loves from bullying, robbery, sexual harassment, ID theft, etc.

   After venturing out of the Africa Savanna 20,000 years ago, today, we are still driven by the basic desire to survive the best ways we know. Instead of fighting for our life, we fight for wealth and health for as long as we live.

Wish

At the dawn of civilization, we constantly wished for:

1. No predator around when we hunt for food,

2. Good weather when we plant the crops as well as during harvesting times,

3. A health body to feed our family for as long as possible, etc.

   After 7000 years, our constant wishes have become:

1. Steady employment with minimum stress and good benefits,

2. Safety of our love ones during natural disasters,

3. Health body for our family with no long lasting discomfort, etc.

   Not all our wishes will come true and we have learned to carry on with our life under the worst case scenarios.

Hope

At the dawn of civilization, we were overwhelmed by the unknowns and the constant dangers. Since we lived day to day, never certain who would to survive to see tomorrow; we had no hope. It was not until we secured reliable food sources from farming crops and domestic animals, then, we could plan for the future and hope for a better life:

1. We worked hard in the field and hoped that the weather would corporate to have a good harvest,

2. We studied hard in school and hoped to land a good job when we graduated,

3. We watched out what we ate and did regular exercise and hoped to have a health body to live a long life,

   As we understand how Nature works and are able to make use of Nature’s hidden resources and as we understand how our body works and the importance of what we eat/how much we eat/and what we do after what we eat, we rely less on hope and more on our efforts to get what we want:

1. We grow certain crops indoor in controlled environment and other crops with modified genes that are tolerant to harsh weather and hungry insects,

2. We develop antibiotics to fight infections, surgical procedures to repair organ failures, and chemotherapy to combat cancers.

3. We build computers and instruments to study climate changes, predict weather conditions, and analyze where earthquakes are likely to occur.

Uncertainty

Our desires had been responsible for the Great Pyramid, the Great Wall, the Industrial Revolution, man on the moon, Internet, and iPhone. But, our desires were also behind the homicides, genocides, the Great Wars, and weapons of mass destructions. We go to the religious sites to worship the Almighty and pray that our wishes will come true. Whatever the results are, we accept them as our fate. Facing with the uncommon problems, unreasonable expectations, and unfair treatments, we can only do our best under the circumstances and hope for a change of fortune.

How we can satisfy our desires depends on our mental and physical capabilities, social and economic conditions, laws and justice. Because of all those uncertainties, it is no wonder that we are always full of wishful thinking and hopeful anticipations.