The Gift of Need
Welcome to a new series by Jude DiMeglio Trang, author of Opiate Nation.
Refusing to ask for help when you need it is refusing someone the chance to be helpful.
– Ric Ocasek, front man for The Cars
Hello!
I’m just completing work on a new book entitled
The Gift of Need: How Need Can Strengthen Individuals and Communities
As I am looking for the right publisher, I want to begin sharing some of the thoughts and ideas that I delve into within the book. This is the thesis of the book:
Rather than viewing need as weakness, The Gift of Need flips the conventional narrative and redefines need as a powerful force for growth, connection, and social transformation as it draws from a wide range of disciplines. Once we recognize the needs we have, if we acknowledge them, and ultimately embrace them as opportunities and gifts, this benefits ourselves, others, and the world around us.
Some Background About Me
I am an author, musician, landscape designer. I am married to a Pharmaceutical Scientist. We travel extensively. We spend much of the year in Australia with our daughter and family. We lost our son to an accidental heroin overdose in 2014. As a result, my husband and I kept a journal together for a year. From that, I wrote Opiate Nation: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Acceptance which won the National Indie Excellence Award (NIEA). My husband and I advocate for drug addiction awareness in the community. I regularly write blogs on my Opiate Nation website that deal with the many areas of need surrounding addiction. (1) I discuss stigma and shame. Loss and grief. Drug laws and reform. Recovery, family dynamics and the role of genetics.
The Gift of Need
Over a decade ago, I began making notes on human need. The motivation came from observing people in my affluent community, people afraid to admit they even had a need until they had no other option than desperation. Otherwise, it was simply a matter of using whatever resources were available to solve the problem on their own. Never having to ask someone else for help. People of faith had trouble even asking for prayer until it was a last resort.
The questions that came up as I thought about it centered around how we as individuals respond when need arises in our lives, wondering if we might be able to view need differently, and then could we move to understanding how need can become a gift to the one in need and the one offering the help?
In the process of examining these questions, I explore fascinating topics such as resistance and conflicts. Community and poverty. Inventions and fairy tales. Writing and music. Love and pain. Compassion and justice. Transcendence and faith.
The Gift of Need explores the overlooked power of human need and how it shapes behavior, relationships, and society. In a world that prizes independence and self-sufficiency, need is seen as a weakness. I discuss the cultural stigma of needing others, the psychological complexity of dependence and interdependence, and the economic, social, and political implications of need. Need is exposed as not only an inherent part of the human condition, but also a source of profound personal and collective strength. Drawing on sociology, psychology, philosophy, theology and engaging real-world examples, The Gift of Need reveals how acknowledging our needs—whether emotional, material, or spiritual—and embracing them as opportunities and gifts can lead to richer lives, healthier societies, and a more compassionate world.
While I could not possibly include every area of human need, I have chosen topics that are of common interest or focus at this time in our world. There are two ways that need is explored: needs that exist and that are a problem or difficulty that we want a solution to or that we want to eliminate; and needs that are a void, an area where something is missing and needs to be acknowledged and added in. Regardless of the type of need we face, the reality is that it is through people that any and every human need is met. Even “divine intervention” is normally accomplished through human beings, not angels.
Each week I hope to share a different area of human need. I will include new ideas and research, and stories from the past and from those who are alive and well. All of whom have experienced the gifts that need has brought into their lives and into the lives of others.