Thinking About Needs

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There is a proverb, attributed to Plato, which says, "Necessity is the mother of invention." I've been thinking about that a bit lately. When there is a need, something is made to fill the gap. Are we always satisfied with what we have? A horse and wagon do the trick when you want to get somewhere or transport people or things, so do we need cars? Does invention stop when there is one option? The thing is, we always have the need, no matter how well we meet it. We need to get places and transport things. If we use a wagon, car, or helicopter, we are addressing the same need. 

     I'll be offline for about two weeks. I'm going to try to think of things that we need. I don't expect I'll invent something new and amazing, but I do hope to be at least a little innovative, or at least do some good improvising. In an emergency, the ability to improvise may be what saves you, like we've talked about before, doing "what you can, with what you have, where you are."

     Knowing your resources is invaluable. You may not even realize what you have or how it can help, at least not right away. Sometimes to fill needs you must come up with something new, but other times you just need to use what you already know. Old ideas are good, and in a pinch, any idea will do, as long as it works. It is the need that we are concerned with, and as long as those are met, we'll be fine. 

     So maybe we can consider what our needs are and how we would make sure they are covered in an emergency. In a couple weeks, I'll have thought over a few ideas and we can talk about them. Sometimes you don't even know you need something…until you need it, I guess.  You don't know what you have until it's gone, but then what do you do? I suppose we'll just have to figure it out.