Assignment 1

Surely everyone has heard of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. I know I was hit with it innumerable times in virtually every education and psychology course I had throughout college.

Lately, I've been trying to figure out why I've never been able to get to the highest peak, the most attractive one - that of self-actualization. Frankly, I'm stuck way down at the second one, looking for the safety that I don't seem to be able to find.

I was talking with a new acquaintance the other day who was bemoaning the fact that she wasn't able to spend the summer on the Vineyard this year like all others because she is taking care of her sick mother. For someone like me, who rarely gets a vacation, watches paychecks barely meet the needs of the household, and is constantly wondering whether the money to pay the mortgage will be there, listening to someone bemoan a non-Vineyard summer was one of incredulousness. (As in - like that's a real problem?! Try being $300 short of the mortgage honey.)

Now there is someone who doesn't have to worry about the mundane and doesn't know what a gift it is. I live in the mundane - and I want to get out.