Trisonic is a Flushing based company that sells and distributes a variety of products made in China. Trisonic’s brand is commonly seen at dollar stores. I see Trisonic most often when shopping for things like computer cables, telephone accessories, and light bulbs.
I noticed years ago that the packaging for every Trisonic product includes a short aphorism. These pithy maxims read like fortune cookie messages, usually offering a positive shred of inspiration for whoever might notice it, either by chance or from knowing that Trisonic products contain these easter eggs.
Last week’s purchase of a Sensor Light included these wise words:
OUR NEEDS ARE FEW; OUR WANTS ARE MANY.
The spirit of this message is not as positive as I have come to expect from Trisonic. It is accusatory and high handed. If I make the mistake of thinking about it long enough I might assume that the circumstances of my life, no matter their spartan or even ascetic tendencies, are included among the royal “OUR”, and that “OUR NEEDS” are assumed to include “MY NEEDS”. I simply must disagree, and even take offense, at least when the purchase of the Sensor Light is used as a standard against which this wisdom can be tested.
This pearl of wisdom is adapted from Buddhist sayings. A fuller version, found in The Common Ethos of Dharma Drum Mountain, might have actually stopped me from buying the Sensor Light, an item I wanted more than needed but which I clearly could acquire, and for which I cannot find a reason why I should not acquire.
Our wants are many
Our needs are few
Pursue only what you can and should acquire
Never pursue what you can’t and shouldn’t acquire
If I want the Sensor Light because it offers the convenience of not having to manually flip a light switch to have light in the darkness, and because it emits a guiding but not glaring light for use in the middle of the night bathroom visits, then do these wants negate the need for having light in the darkness, or do they complement it?
The additional two lines from Dharma Drum Mountain break down for me in this context (not universally), taking down the substance of the first two lines with it.
This is not a complaint, just an observation which I hope will be the first of a series of commentary and reviews of Trisonic’s seemingly wise words hiding in plain sight on dollar shop store racks.
OUR NEEDS ARE FEW; OUR WANTS ARE MANY.
