Must Must Must

Whilst I'm happy to see Isaac Asimov's "The Roving Mind" appear in yet another "Must-Read" list, I find myself gradually running out of patience with those "Must-Read", "Must-Do", "Must-See" and "Must-Have" lists.  What do people mean by Must?  So what if I have never read or heard of any of them?  Should I consider myself under-educated or a fool simply because I have read or not read all of those Must-Reads?

I am inclined to think that all those "Musts" only serve to create a sense of deprivation, insecurity and a void in the mind.  The fact is, finishing another "Must-Read" list, watching all the movies in another "Must-Watch" list and going to all the places in yet another "Must-Go" list simply does not make any difference.  At the end, I am bound to miss almost everything.

Let's say I read a serious book a week (which is not quite possible).  That lets me finish say 50 books a year.  If I am lucky enough to have sufficiently good eye sight and health for a sufficiently long time, I can probably finish another 2,000 books.  That doesn't sound a lot, does it?  Compared to the vast number of books out there that are worth reading, the number 2,000 has no significance.  It is just a pale gray dot in a space full of books.  And, that's books alone.  I am going to miss a lot of excellent music, films and literature.  Statistically, I will die having missed almost everything.

So, my dear, I'm not going to give a dame to all those Musts.