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Of all the statements a “newbie awakening” or wannabe vamp
tells a more knowledgeable vamp, I think the most common is:
“I am a vampire. I want energy/blood. But if I don’t feed,
it’s not like its going to make me ill or anything. It’s not
like I need it.”
Take note of those words. Want and Need
Sometimes I wonder if we really know what they truly mean. Once I explained
to someone, as I do many on a day-to-day basis, that a vampire is defined
by their need to feed on energy or drink blood, not want (depending on
which type of vampire you are).
The person promptly asked while laughing: “LOL! What the hell is
the difference?
It was this comment that prompted me to write this article.
Believe it or not, there IS a difference between Need and Want.
First, let’s break down what each word means in a grammatical sense.
According to the dictionary, Want is defined
as:
WANT: -verb (used with object):
1. to feel a need or a desire for; wish for: to want one’s dinner;
always wanting something new.
2. to wish, need, crave, demand, or desire (often fol. by an infinitive):
I want to see you. She wants to be notified.
3. to be without or be deficient in: to want judgment; to want knowledge.
Need is defined as:
NEED: (noun:)
1. a requirement, necessary duty, or obligation: There is no need for
you to go there.
2. a lack of something wanted or deemed necessary: to fulfill the needs
of the assignment.
3. urgent want, as of something requisite: He has no need of your charity.
4. necessity arising from the circumstances of a situation or case:
There is no need to worry.
Now, in most cases, and according to the dictionary, NEED and WANT
go hand in hand. However need and want are VERY different.
Take this NEED situation for example:
You go to the kitchen and make coffee and your breakfast after waking
up. You open the fridge and realize you are all out of food. You need
food to survive or you will starve and you are HUNGRY! So you get dressed
and go to the store. You have only $100.00 to spend for the time being.
You arrive at the store and buy yourself some food, come home, and
make breakfast for yourself. Your need is satisfied.
Now some WANT situations:
You go to the kitchen and make coffee and your breakfast after waking
up. You open the fridge and realize you are all out of food. You need
food to survive or you will starve and you are HUNGRY! So you get dressed
and go to the store. You have only $100.00 to spend for the time being.
You arrive at the store and walk by the electronics department (assuming
you’re in a multi-purpose store) and see that they have that laptop
computer you have been wanting for the longest time, and realize it’s
on sale for $100.00! You end up buying the laptop and get home and realize
that you did not buy food. Now you don’t have any food to eat and
won’t have any more money for awhile.
Your spontaneous want was satisfied but your need was not.
Another situation is you want soda, but need to buy food. You don’t
need soda to live on, but you buy it anyways. Now you starve because
you did not buy food.
Another situation is you want to see a movie on Friday and you only
have $10 to spend, but when you get in your car you realize you don’t
have enough gas to get you to the movie theater. However the gas station
is on the way and you DO have enough to get to the station at least.
Driving down the road you get to the drive way of the gas station and
up ahead several miles down the road is the movie theater. At this point
you must make a choice, do you spend your ONLY $10 and get gas because
you NEED to to drive, or will you ignore what you NEED to do with your
WANTING to see the movie with your ONLY $10.
Now you know that the way gas prices are you won’t have any money
left over to spend for the movie if you would like your tank to be at
least a couple of gallons full so you can actually drive home. However
you look at both choices and think “Hey! I won’t have the
time later to see that movie!” and drive on past the station until
you run out of gas and walk the rest of the way.
You see your movie, but realize you can’t get home because you
denied your need to use that money to buy gas and now you are stuck
at the theater.
Long story short:
NEED = to unwillingly take what you HAVE to take and really have no
choice in the matter or something bad will happen.
WANT = to willingly take what you don’t have to take, but can
still possess it.
Vampirism is the same way, although a lot of people don’t see it
as such. Many new vamps, or those trying to be vamps do not realize that
there IS a difference, and an important one for that matter. It is important
because it helps you determine whether or not you REALLY are a vampire.
In the vampire world, NEED and WANT are different by way of feel.
The problem with WANT is it’s such an addictive little bugger, and
9 times out of 10 a newly awakened may not realise what NEED feels like
and what WANT feels like, mostly because the person may feed and may like
what feeding feels like until you get addicted to the “taste”
of what you are feeding (in the case of a sang or hybrid, “taste”
is more literal)
You have to look into yourself and identify what feels like want and
what feels like need.
I have heard of people ask how they determine want and need of their
hungers, and the best way is simple.
Don’t feed…and see what happens to you. It’s along the
same lines as to help you self-determine whether you hunger for energy
or blood, or if you just like to feed for entertainment.
Don’t feed, and if you get hungry, ignore it for awhile. Want ALWAYS
goes away eventually if the want is not satisfied. If it does, keep in
mind what it felt like. If you don’t feed and it DOES NOT go away
after a reasonable amount of time or just makes you feel worse, then you
may NEED to feed.
Also, go though your day and with everything you do ask yourself, “Do
I WANT to do this, or do I NEED to do this?”
Paying your bills. going to work, and taking care of your home and family
are NEED TO DO’S, while spending your money on whatever, sleeping
in because you can, not going to work because you just don’t feel
like it is all WANT. Try to ask and determine if you WANT or NEED to do
what you do every day, and then move to that hunger for blood or energy
and ask yourself if you want or need to feed.
Also I have heard this from people:
“I drink blood and I like it / I drain energy from people and
like it, so that makes me a vampire.”
I said it once, and I will say it again:
Don’t make it harder on yourself by pretending to be what you may
not be. If you don’t NEED to take energy or drink blood, but rather
only WANT to because you think its “cool“, and label yourself
a vampire just because you drink 15 plasma bags a day or have drained
people of their energy till they fall asleep (VERY unethical FYI) and
just because you felt like it and to keep up the “persona” in
order to SAY that you are a vampire…I have news for you….
YOU ARE NOT A VAMPIRE. Period! Sorry.
If you realize you DO need to take energy or blood to stay healthy….then
you have learned the difference between WANT and NEED.
-©Myrbree (2007)
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