ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

You get what you get and you don't get upset.

I’m acquainted with a business titan who’s known as much for his numerous wives and lavish lifestyle as for the blue chip companies he owns. It strikes me that although he’s smart and successful, his primary drive is to accumulate things. I don’t understand this urge, though if you ask my husband he will claim I have an insatiable desire for taxidermy.

One lovely summer evening, the novelist Kurt Vonnegut and his pal Joseph Heller found themselves at a party thrown by a billionaire, who collected art as well as literary guests. After Heller’s death, Vonnegut wrote a memorial poem describing their experience. Vonnegut, who was a cheeky wisenheimer, took a poke at Heller: “Joe, how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel ‘Catch-22’ has earned in its entire history?” Heller replied, “I’ve got something he can never have. The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”

I’d be fine with a lump of coal, but I do hope St. Nick leaves a treat for my dog Freddy

Seneca wrote, “Learn to be content with little, and cry out with courage and with greatness of soul: ‘We have water, we have porridge; let us compete in happiness with Jupiter himself.’” Personally I’m not a fan of porridge, but this and a slice of my favorite Joe’s Pizza are both what the Stoics call “indifferents.” We may prefer one thing to another, but they are not the basis of our happiness. For Stoics, happiness comes from the practice of our virtues, which leads to “eudaimonia”--flourishing.

Now if you’ll excuse me, my tummy is rumbling and I’m off to Joe’s for a cheese slice.