AsPire To InSpiRe... BefoRe U eXpire...

*Needs and Wants*

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Harlow.. people... this is the speech which i promise to put up for you guys... I've lifted it wholesale... okok... so.. enjoy....

This is one speech which won me a place in semi finals for the national speech contest PESA- Plain English Speaking Award

Hello and good evening one and all...

Let me pose you a question. Do u know what your needs are?
Well, needs are defined as cirumstances in which a thing or a course of action is required.

According to Maslows' Law of Hierachy, we all have fundamental needs. We need air wich we couldn't live without for more than 10 minutes; water, without which, we will dehydrate in a week and food without which will drain us completely in 40 days, depending on your physical constitution and will to live. Maslow also stated that the next few higher levels of needs are a sense of belonging and a neet to self actualise.

Every individual has different needs. For example, a child living in the third world may need food and medication. A man dying of thirst needs water. A mountain climber high up on Mount. Everest, whose tank is empty, needs oxygen. A man living on the street needs shelter.

In this corrupt society of ours, many a time we are confused by the media and culture around us that we can hardly distinguished the difference betwen our needs and wants.

Well, a drink is a drink; and any drink that can quench our thirst is a good brink. And this is a need, a necessity. However, there are advertisements telling you that Coca-Cola is the real thing! Pepsi is the in-thing, is the funky thing! Is this a need or a want?

I've spoken to you about needs... Now, what about wants? Wanting is more of a choice; it is a desire, to wish for!

Many people want to be a millionaire! And that has caused them to make the one-eight hundred phone call, answer a few questions to go onto the gameshow and wait for Flying Dutchman to say to you, "Are you ready? Now let's play "Who wants to be a millioinaire!""

A love-lorn girl with her desperate "come hither" look is actually crying out for a need to be loved. She might want a handsome, macho guy to show off. A man in his 30s or 40s wants the promotion because he wants te money, the perks and the power that goes with it. Without that promotion, he becomes bitter, angry and less productive.

Very often, all that we desire has become so urgent in our lives that the wants have been redefined as our needs.

5 years ago, you must have heard of people talking about the need to have 5Cs, cash, credit, car, condominium and career! Are these really your basic needs or something that people just want?

Presently, we talk about the 5Bs, the Benz, bungalow, to have a least a Bachelors' certificate, your own business and to be a billionaire! Who knows, 10 years down the road, we might be aiming for As, aesthetics, academic excellence, astonishing riches, Alpha Romeo and so on...

Despite our very unique differences, we have one thing in common and that is: the need to love!

By now, i'm sure you are convinced that the media and our culture have tried to bribe us into believing that all our wants are actually needs. Aren't we manipulated?

Now that i've clarified the terms needs and wants. Do you still want to go around with the pet phrase, "I need this... I want that?".

-August 1999-

~AuRo`Na~
Sunday, November 21, 2004