The word is universal. It ties into our daily lives like the news of disaster and death in a 3rd world country. But what do we mean by it? The author could go to a dictionary to learn its meaning. But, the author is not referring to the literal meaning of the word. The author has had a 3rd grade English education. The author is also a pretentious gasbag who refers to himself in the third person. But enough about the author.
There’s that word again: Enough. It is like a little butterfly, darting in front of our vision. Fluttering in and out. Sometimes it deigns to rest upon our fingers but flies away before we can catch it. We’re left disappointed. But, the wise among us realize that had we caught it, we would have crushed its tiny little body into a pulpy mush of congealed goo. The world doesn’t need any more pulpy goo. People are obese enough as it is.
You wonder, can you ever be obese enough? Or drunk enough? Or stoned enough. What about satisfied enough? Both in a sexual and gastronomical sense. Can we be addicted enough? If so, is it even a real addiction? ‘Bah, Humbug’ says I and Scrooge McDuck. Addiction is not a wimp’s game. It’s not for the cowards who say ‘Enough heroin for today’ and walk away leaving behind full syringes. It’s for the men and women of valor, virtue, and vivacity. The ones who destroy themselves for a substance, a powder, a beverage or even thin wisps of smoke. Enough may well be another synonym for weakness.
Should women aim for having it all or having enough? What feminist school of thought can answer that question? Sheryl Sandberg might say one thing, Marissa Mayer another. The gentle old lady at the retirement home who has a daily gangbang with 4 90-year-olds, also known as a Full 360, might say something else. If we still can’t answer what is enough for women, how will we even get around to answering the same question for men?
There is a well-worn phrase ‘Enough is Enough’. Like all phrases, it’s profound and complete gibberish. Of course, enough is enough. You might very well say 1 is 1. Or water is H2O. Or all EDM is the same. Because all things are what they are. That’s what makes them those particular things. Essentialism — you never fail us. By saying enough is enough, you’re not drawing the line or putting your foot down. You’re telling the world that you have a vocabulary which, ironically, is not enough.
In the Island, Aldous Huxley wrote
Science is not enough, religion is not enough, art is not enough, politics and economics is not enough, nor is love, nor is duty, nor is action however disinterested, nor, however sublime, is contemplation. Nothing short of everything will really do.
Is this what we mean by enough? Who knows? Aldous himself is no more. After finishing the novel, he took LSD and had the trippiest death in human history. Except for St Bernard of Calais who stepped on a piece of lemon zest and fell down 16 flights of stairs. That didn’t kill him though. His wife murdered him when she found out that he had been raising dachshunds inside the abbey. These stories of life and death make us beg the question ‘What is Enough?’. Whereas, we should be asking ‘When is Enough’ or even ‘Why is Enough’?
