I find myself struggling sometimes even with the concept of "wanting" things vs. needing them. In western culture, we define "needs" much differently than a lot of other places do. I struggle with that at times as well and wonder if many of our problems are actually rooted in this - since most of us don't have to really struggle to have the basics ( a place to live, clean water to drink, food to eat, relative security ) - I think we take it for granted sometimes and get confused about what we really need. I do understand that there are people who struggle for the basics even in modern/western cultures, but for the most part things are far different than they were in the previous generations, and MUCH different than in developing countries.