Satisfaction doesn’t always have to be experienced first hand to make us feel content. 

While in Sorrento, I stopped to watch a group of young men build up the courage to jump into the chilly, spring sea. The action was happening almost one hundred feet below, so while I couldn’t quite make out the satisfaction on their faces, it was obvious from their splashing and happy shrieks that the cool water was wonderful.

Then I noticed an older man swim into view. He must have been in the water for a while. Having adjusted to its freshness he dragged himself slowly across the surface. Occasionally throwing his head back to look to the sky, he calmly acknowledged the younger men beside him and our crowd that had gathered above.

I enjoyed the idea that everyone involved in this scene was on a spectrum of satisfaction.

The frolicking friends were happy but it would take a while for them to become perfectly content. As I and others around me looked on, we smiled at the antics; maybe not wishing that were us but satisfied with an understanding of how good it would feel.

However everyone secretly wanted to be that older swimmer. He had already reached the point of ultimate satisfaction.