DISCONTENT

                                    THE BURDEN OF DISCONTENT

      Come to me to the most populated prison in the world. The facility
has more inmates than bunks.  More prisoners than plates. More residents
than resources.
      Come to me to the world's most oppressive prison.  Just ask the
inmates; they will tell you. They are overworked and underfed. Their walls
are bare and bunks are hard.
      No prison is so populated, no prison so oppressive, and, what's more,
no prison is so permanent. Most inmates never leave. They never escape.
They never get released. They serve a life sentence in this overcrowded,
underprovisioned facility.
     The name of the prison? You'll see it over the entrance. Rainbowed
over the gate are four cast-iron letters that spell out its name:
      W-A-N-T
     The prison of want.  You've seen her prisoners.  They are "in
want."  They want something.They want something bigger. Nicer. Faster.
Thinner. They want.
     They don't want much, mind you.   They want just one thing.  One new
job. One new car. One new house. One new spouse. They don't want much. They
want just one.
     And when they have "one," they will be happy.  And they are right --
they will be happy. When they have "one," they will leave the prison.  But
then it happens.  The new car smell passes.  The new job gets old. The
neighbors buy a larger television set.  The new spouse has bad habits.  The
sizzle fizzles, and before you know it, another ex-con breaks parole and
returns to jail.
     Are you in prison?  You are if you feel better when you have more and
worse when you have less. You are if joy is one delivery away, one transfer
away, one award away, or one make-over away. If your happiness comes from
something you deposit, drive, drink, or digest, then face it -- you are in
prison, the prison of want.