You Can't Always Get What You Want

“I saw her today at the reception,
A glass of wine in her hand.
I knew she was going to meet her connection,
At her feet was a footloose man.”

Back to live action

I will admit last week’s monthly topic was a little bland. You’ll have to forgive me for slacking in my writing responsibilities. I could throw out the excuses such as school starting, work picking up, and lack of sleep, but I shouldn’t let you as a reader down. Forgive my laziness and I’ll do a better job of keeping a smile on your face every other day.

Currently I am buckled down on the bed of a semi-classy Best Western hotel in Moab, as I begin my second season of trying to talk high school students to come to my beloved alma mater, Dixie State College. We’ll see how good of a salesman I am in months to come on the road. Amidst the 5½ hour drive from point A to point B, I did have some semi-humorous, semi-deep thought content dribble through my brain.

For full effect, download “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” from iTunes, and play at full volume throughout the duration of this post. Either that or watch a random episode of “House” online, that ballad has seemed to be the background music for his antics.

There are a few points of unwritten laws that I have come to understand and appreciate in my short 26-year span on this orbiting pile of rock. We’ll call them Brocktrine for the sake of this post. These are truths that I have found to be absolutely 100% accurate without question. First and foremost, the girl is always right. Learn that rule, and your life can be made so much easier. It’s because of this rule that I have found out that the adjective unflexible is actually a legitimate word. Go ahead, look it up.

Second, and almost as equally important as the first, we always want what we can’t have.

Think about that last one for a brief moment or two. When something is off limits, inaccessible, or has a giant “NO” plastered upon it, we as humans naturally want that item more. Whether it’s a ridiculously attractive girl, a recently released risqué film in the theatres, or a fresh batch of cookies cooling off on the counter, if we can’t have it, we want it.

Cue Mick Jagger’s belting out the chorus in A-major to support my argument.

I haven’t been able to fully understand this truth yet, and maybe after years of countless rejections for things that I truly want will I come to a firm realization of its certainty. All I can say is that when I can’t have something, I want it more. Not that I’m a greedy individual at all, I think that we have that rage instilled in all of us. And yes Chief Kent that indeed was a Mortal Kombat v. DC Universe reference. Laugh it up buddy.

Even if we actually don’t want something, even if it’s the most hideous, disgustingly grotesque creation to have ever been placed before us, if we can’t have it, that only drives us to want it more.

Used Car Salesman: “Well you see, the Ford Pedsel is actually a combination of the Pinto, and the Edsel, and has actually never been sold before. It is such an awfully bad car that I would rather be towed around in a chariot pulled by worms than have this as my transportation.”

John Doe: “That bad eh? Well is it on the market?”

Used Car Salesman: “Actually no, we’re getting ready to crush and destroy the last model and bury its remains in the Gobi Desert?”

John Doe: “So what you’re saying is, that I can’t have it?”

Used Car Salesman: “Well, yeah, I guess.”

John Doe: “I want it! I’ll take it! Here’s a blank check, and you can fill in the remaining blank spot for the dollar amount, I have to have that car!”

You may chuckle to yourself right now and say, ‘Oh come on Swamp Thing, that situation would never happen’, but then again if someone told you that you couldn’t have a Ford Pedsel, how much would you pay to retrieve it? That repulsive roadster would instantly become your Klondike Bar.

Why is this characteristical flaw instilled into all of us? Why do we all want what we can’t have? Why when someone says no, is a burning desire generated to reverse that decree into a yes? I have no idea. All I can say is that I hope no one ever calls me up and says that I can never ever listen to a Justin Beiber song for the rest of my life.

I hope and pray that phone call never arrives.