"Showing Off"

I saw a presentation on TED Talks not too long ago that spoke about the human ability to adapt. The presenter suggested that there is a basic level of happiness, driven by brain chemistry, genetics and some other factors, though they may slowly change over time, determine part of the person’s character. If they encounter an event however pleasant or tragic, within a year they return to their inherent level of happiness, whether high or low. In a different talk I saw a cheerful paraplegic who participated in the development of a system that allowed him to control robotic devices with his eyes. He got a kick out of demonstrating this by flying a drone on stage from a remote location, Other dramatic examples of our adaptability I’ve run across come to mind. Years ago I saw a photograph of an old woman in a magazine, a push cart peddler during the German occupation in a Russian city. Her cart was set up beneath a tree from which a man was hanging by his neck. My first reaction was: “how could she be so callous?” But upon reflection, men hanging from trees, over time became the norm and she adapted. I remember the gasoline shortage in the seventies when we had to line up for gas. Before the shortage we would not even tolerate two cars in front of us but after only a couple of weeks, I would consider it a lucky day if I only had to wait one hour. I remember certain rules in place when I was stationed in Saigon in the mid-sixties. One of them was “don’t stand in groups on the sidewalk waiting for a bus, stay in a building till it comes”. From time to time there were incidents in the city where a hotel housing soldiers or a restaurant would get bombed and for a day everyone followed this rule. However, by the next day things were back to normal, everyone congregating on the sidewalk in bunches waiting for a bus or a taxi. The speaker also touched on the fleeting nature of joy derived from the acquisition of material goods. This happiness, he claimed, is short lived, lasting only a few days, weeks or months. I think the way we extend or repeat the pleasure is by “showing off”. We become accustomed to our trinkets no matter how grand or small. The vacation homes, the fast cars, a piece of art, a yacht or a nice piece of clothing are soon taken for granted and the happiness they once brought becomes a distant memory. By sharing these and the stories related to them we revive, at least momentarily, the pleasures they once offered us. The same can be said of even the more esoteric things that bring some happiness into our lives. Guiding someone on a sightseeing tour of a place that we were once fascinated by but now don’t even notice can bring its beauty back into our eyes or the marvel into our hearts. So don’t judge us showoffs so harshly. We are probably just trying to re-live past joys and not demonstrating our superiority.