Every economics teacher on the planet will probably teach their class differently, but I guarantee that each one of them will mention scarcity at least once. After all, scarcity is the reason why choices have to be made and the study of economics exists. If we had everything we ever needed we'd all be happy and I wouldn't have to write this blog post (not that I don't want to Dr. Taylor).
Sadly, we don't have everything we ever wanted and scarcity is very real. However, there's no need to fret because scarcity isn't the end of the world and there's still a lot (well actually, a few...) good things to be enjoyed on this relatively tiny cosmic sphere. Now, let me move onto the real subject of this post. A subject that might make some less economically inclined individuals feel a little more comfortable: The Scarcity of Friendship.
Last Tuesday, was one heck of a day. I battled scarcity (I know, crazy). Well actually, I just had to acknowledge the fact that I didn't have an unlimited amount of time on my hands and that I was going to have to make some sacrifices, but it's basically the same thing. Anyways, the story behind this battle actually involves English. Last Monday, Dr. Taylor assigned a paper and many months before that my friend told me that he would be playing soccer against Duke on Tuesday, the night before our paper was due. Hopefully you're beginning to see my predicament, but rather than telling you how things played out, I'm going to talk about the scarcity of friendship and you'll probably figure out what happened.
A friendship is like nothing else in this world and finding people to share one with is even harder. I have met a lot of people over the past eighteen years, probably at least five thousand. Out of those five thousand people, only five or six of them are my friends and I even expect that number to shrink over time because the reality of the matter is real, true friends are almost impossible to find. People with lots of friends don't know what a friend is and it's those people who I feel the greatest sympathy for. Friends are not the girls you eat lunch with or the guys that take you drinking for the first time; friends are the people who care for you when no one else will. When the money is low and the risks are high your friends will be the people standing beside you, with unyielding faith and trust me there won't be many. (Imagine if Dr. Taylor became a drug addict and was arrested for armed robbery, how many people do you think would visit him in jail? You could probably count the number on one hand.)
I think Kahlil Gibran has one of the best descriptions of a friend. He says that, "Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace." I couldn't agree more and I'll bet you money you don't have a lot of those friends, if you have any at all. Friends are scarce, and English papers aren't.
By the way, my friend's name is Mark (majoring in Chemistry, even though his passion lies in English) and I did end up going to the game. He didn't play at all, he'd sustained an injury in practice earlier that week and the trainers told him that he'd be warming the bench for the next few days. To tell you the truth I wasn't the least bit disappointed by that; I still couldn't have been happier to see his face.
2 comments:
Ok, I know most guys wouldn't want to see this, but I'm going to write it anyways: that was adorable (in an awesome manly sort of way, I promise). And you're absolutely right. I hope Mark's injury heals well and I bet he was happy to see your face at the game, too. [[Also: thank you for the mostly non-economics post. It was much appreciated.]]
I am a bit confused about the scarcity and the whole economics because I have always believed that the supply of friends, and even "true" friends, could be infinite, as long as you take enough time to know each other better and try to understand them, rather than expect them to open up to you and understand you. I do like how you chose to go to the game instead of doing the paper because that shows how you truly care about your friends Mark and your friendship.
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