“Stay thirsty my friends,” says the most interesting man in the world as he tries to sell me beer to drink. “Stay hungry” is a catch phrase for Cooking Channel, a station devoted to the creation and consumption of food. You know what? One of the greatest joys you can have on this planet is being satisfied. You disagree? Go have sex and then stop in the middle. What is that you feel my friend? Frustration? Anger? Desire to find completion? Yeah, nothing good I can guarantee you, unless you are trying to be 100% sure you will not get pregnant.
So why tell me to be hungry and thirsty? How is that a good message to me. If you were crawling through a desert with an empty canteen would you want to be told, “Stay thirsty my friend.” I think you would take your canteen and smash it into the most interesting man in the world’s face and tell him to show off how interesting it is to breathe through a flat nose. Breathe deeply my friend. And if someone who was showing me food, helping me with how to prepare food, and then describing how great it is tells me to stay hungry, I would never want to go out with that person ever again.
We human beings desire to find fulfilment. Why climb Everest? Not to stay climbing my friends. It is because it is there. It is because it is an accomplishment. It SATISFIES a need, a desire, or even something as trivial as a whim. We want completion. Why do you have to catch them all, to make it complete.
Now I know there are a lot of people who don’t need to make things complete, or climb Mount Everest, or desire to break the most interesting man in the world’s nose. I don’t think there a lot of people who don’t drink when they are thirsty, or eat when they are hungry if they have the ability, or are not sick due to alcoholism or an eating disorder or another debilitating condition. Human beings want to know what it means to feel sated. They want to be not thirsty.
These tag lines then become a curse. They are produced by a culture that is focused on the accumulation of stuff and prestige. We are taught if you are not hungry enough we will not do well, but I counter with you should know when enough is enough. You want to accomplish a goal, and set a new one, but savor the accomplishment. It is a powerful feeling, a great drug. Be proud of what you have done. Pat that tummy. Whistle through those wet lips. And most of all…
“Find satisfaction my friends.”
Never Short On Words 