Years ago I read of a Buddhist monk who had risen to a high position in his religion. He was invited to visit America. When he got here, his hosts took him to a huge department store which was far bigger than anything he'd ever seen. He gasped and said, "Oh, my! Look at all the wonderful things I don't need." His religion and the attitude it had instilled in him did not leave him in the crucial moment.
Stephen King once wrote a story which, like manyof his stories, became a creepy movie. In it, a charming old gentleman moves into a small town and sets up a second hand store. He has a knack for convincing each person who walks into the shop that he has the one thing they really need to achieve happiness. Only after the townspeople turn on each other and married folks begin murdering each other does it become obvious that the old gentleman is none other than the one known in Stephen Vincent Benet's stories as "Mr. Scratch."
I'm not quite as good as the old Buddhist fellow, but I have learned that there are some things I don't actually need but only wish I could have. Herewith, a few photographic examples of such things.
