The dishwasher needs to be emptied. The school needs a new library. The car needs a tune-up. The sheets need changing. The city needs to raise taxes.
Do they really?
Non-human objects, institutions, etc. don’t have needs. We project our human needs onto them to help us manage our lives and the amount of tasks we’re encumbered with. It makes our complex lives mare manageable, more structured, and easier to deal with. It’s similar to sorting and filing our papers and records.
However, by projecting our own needs as humans onto those non-human items, we subconsciously remove the personal responsibility we now own. Then… demands of those needs are now out of our hands and have become the responsibility of someone or something else.
The care needs a tune-up. “Well I sure wish it would hurry up and schedule it so I can arrange alternate transportation to work.” The trash needs to be taken out. “I’m really getting tired of swatting the files who are claiming trash rights. And there isn’t much room left on the kitchen floor. I sure wish that trash would take itself out.” Absurd no doubt.
Those needs are really OUR needs. We own them and we are responsible for attending to them. We must realize that we are the sole caretakers of those needs that are OURS and do what must be done to see that they are met.
“I need to get the car tuned up. If I don’t do it soon, I might void the warrantee. I had better call the mechanic and schedule one … and arrange for alternate transportation to work as well.” “We need to have the trash taken out. Alice, it’s your responsibility as one of your chores, can you attend to it before dinner tonight?”
“We need a new library in our high-school. Can we escalate that as an agenda item on our next school board meeting?”
WE own these needs. WE are the only ones who can get them met.
