Kill the Carrot
It’s 11 PM and I’m scrolling the endless void of Instagram. I know I should be sleeping. I’m annoyed that I’m dissatisfied, uninterested and yet I continue.
Endless scrolling on social media reminds me of the verse “The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content with hearing” (Ecclesiastes 1:8).
There is always just...one...more...thing...to...see.
A carrot dangles in front of my face.
Our society is baited by consumerism and technology feeds its insatiable desires. I have begun to realize it has trained the way I think about other things as well. Discontentment trickles over into other areas of my life.
The image of the carrot and the stick comes from 1800’s literature. The earliest “carrot and stick” narrative came from a traveler's story of his journey through Russia in 1890. "As I rode along, there flashed into my mind a cartoon I had once seen of a donkey race in which the victory had been won by an ingenious jockey who held a carrot on the end of a stick a foot or two in front of his donkey's nose."
Instead of beating the donkey with the stick, the jockey placed something delicious just outside of his mount’s reach. Attraction motivates better than force.
Sometimes both techniques work together. Winston Churchill described Hitler’s tactics in 1938 this way: "Thus, by every device from the stick to the carrot, the emaciated Austrian donkey is made to pull the Nazi barrow up an ever-steepening hill."
Persuasion and manipulation have been the Adversary’s mother tongue. He has taught the world’s system to apply his strategies for thousands of years. He deceived Adam and Eve into thinking something better could be had than what God provided. They envisioned a better life. The carrot swung in front of them and they grasped for it...only to find they had lost everything.
Being content is an age-old Jewish concern. The phrase samayach b'chelko means "contentment with one's lot" or "contentment with one's portion.”
Proverbs 15:15 is translated by the Jewish community as “All the days of a poor person are wretched, but contentment is a feast without end."
I’m pretty sure this verse is not referring to the monetary status of poor versus rich. One can have all the money in the world and still be poor and wretched. The “wealthiest” people I’ve met have been those who exercise contentment, at peace with what they have been given.
The limitless images we see every day paint a picture of a better life...if only.
A nicer home.
A happy family.
A more fulfilling job.
More fashionable clothes.
A continual feast of “If Only” carrots leading to poverty. It. Is. A. Mirage.
Kill the carrot.
Joy comes when we stop, look up, and see all we have been given. A thanksgiving feast awaits those who exercise contentment.
And the Creator smiles.
Written by Kori, LIFE Staff