100310 "Stop the World, I Want Off"
That was an old country song. I have to quit taking things personally. Some stinkin’ SUV driver decided that doing the speed limit was too much of an affront, so on a two lane country road, he swung out across the double yellow line, against opposing traffic and swerved on two tires to pass me. Amazingly, there was no accident. The SUV proceeded to attach itself to the bumper of the car in front of me until it could perform a similar maneuver and disappeared down the road. Why? What prompted him to risk not only his own life, but ours as well? There was not a lot of traffic, just four or five of us on this lonely farm road. We were all doing the speed limit. There was no fire; no farm equipment blocked our way; no one was gawking, and no hospital waited at the end of the road. Was the feed store part of his emergency? Maybe he forgot to hit the can on the way out and needed that bathroom immediately?
Maybe, it was just a sign of the times. Politeness is so old school, so old-fashioned, so five-minutes ago. What are the seven deadly sins? What are the seven virtues? Who cares? Obviously, they are part of an archaic system that does not take into account ‘modern’ life. I look at ancient history, and I see humans making the same mistakes in ridiculous repetition. I thought it was a joke when someone told me that intelligencia claimed that they can make failed systems work. Then, I heard someone actually say it to me.
She said, “Just because they failed, doesn’t mean we won’t make it work now.”
She may have read George Orwell’s famous book, but she didn’t learn anything from it. Neither does she know history. One definition of insanity mentions doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result. A third-rate sci-fi movie had one good line that summarized my point of view. Someone asked a scientist why he was so depressed about the future. He replied, “I’m an archeologist. I’ve seen mankind repeat the same stupid mistakes over and over again for millennia.”
Greed, lust, murder, pride, vanity,... Do you understand greed? If you have EVER thought that is was unfair of a person to have received a lot of money, you have experienced greed. Your OWN greed. It should not matter what another person has. Some people actually worked long, hard hours for their money. That is what is behind the cry about what CEOs make. It’s not the greed of the CEO that is the problem; the problem stems from the greedy person who wants to limit another person’s income. In a free society, it does not matter what another person makes! For every dollar you pay in gasoline, how much goes to profits. Now, profits include what goes to the share holders and for R&D, and is not limited to what some executive makes. How much? How much goes to the government? Do you know? Guess!.
Why do people play the lottery? Greed. They want something for nothing. Some people have money because they never spend it. What’s the difference between ‘frugal’ and ‘miserly’? It’s not a matter of degree. It is a matter of attitude. Is a person greedy for having things? No. A person is greedy for WANTING things they don’t need. ‘Things’ are easy to get. Why do you think there are so many garage sales in this country? People buy too many things! Have you ever noticed how large those Goodwill stores are? They are packed with everything imaginable! Where did they get all that stuff? They received it from people who had too many things!
What does greed have to do with an SUV trying to run me and another off the road? Both show a lack of virtue. The SUV driver thought his time was more important than ours. He was greedy of that fraction of a minute that politeness would have taken. The passing zone, which would have been safer and more convenient, was a mere 30 seconds ahead.
Maybe, it was just a sign of the times. Politeness is so old school, so old-fashioned, so five-minutes ago. What are the seven deadly sins? What are the seven virtues? Who cares? Obviously, they are part of an archaic system that does not take into account ‘modern’ life. I look at ancient history, and I see humans making the same mistakes in ridiculous repetition. I thought it was a joke when someone told me that intelligencia claimed that they can make failed systems work. Then, I heard someone actually say it to me.
She said, “Just because they failed, doesn’t mean we won’t make it work now.”
She may have read George Orwell’s famous book, but she didn’t learn anything from it. Neither does she know history. One definition of insanity mentions doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result. A third-rate sci-fi movie had one good line that summarized my point of view. Someone asked a scientist why he was so depressed about the future. He replied, “I’m an archeologist. I’ve seen mankind repeat the same stupid mistakes over and over again for millennia.”
Greed, lust, murder, pride, vanity,... Do you understand greed? If you have EVER thought that is was unfair of a person to have received a lot of money, you have experienced greed. Your OWN greed. It should not matter what another person has. Some people actually worked long, hard hours for their money. That is what is behind the cry about what CEOs make. It’s not the greed of the CEO that is the problem; the problem stems from the greedy person who wants to limit another person’s income. In a free society, it does not matter what another person makes! For every dollar you pay in gasoline, how much goes to profits. Now, profits include what goes to the share holders and for R&D, and is not limited to what some executive makes. How much? How much goes to the government? Do you know? Guess!.
Why do people play the lottery? Greed. They want something for nothing. Some people have money because they never spend it. What’s the difference between ‘frugal’ and ‘miserly’? It’s not a matter of degree. It is a matter of attitude. Is a person greedy for having things? No. A person is greedy for WANTING things they don’t need. ‘Things’ are easy to get. Why do you think there are so many garage sales in this country? People buy too many things! Have you ever noticed how large those Goodwill stores are? They are packed with everything imaginable! Where did they get all that stuff? They received it from people who had too many things!
What does greed have to do with an SUV trying to run me and another off the road? Both show a lack of virtue. The SUV driver thought his time was more important than ours. He was greedy of that fraction of a minute that politeness would have taken. The passing zone, which would have been safer and more convenient, was a mere 30 seconds ahead.