Sometimes it seems strange what energy we expand working at, or planning for things that we question the value of to start with. I thought about this today when I finally decided I just had to get back to the woodshop and work on a project that I had started just before Christmas. Since my hospital visit and surgery I have picked up most of my work load, but I have been avoiding the woodshop, due to the fact that working with power tools that can very quickly remove body parts, particularly fingers and hands, that I would prefer to keep attached.
Today I decided was the ‘day’ to get back at it. The first thing I discovered was that “the dog had ate my homework”! Literally! The little ‘criminal Beagle” has been sleeping there at night, due to the winter cold and I never gave another thought to my project plans, that I had left laying on a low shelf, after having expended a lot of time and energy in drawing them up. Mr. Trigger must have gotten bored and decided my clipboard looked like a good ‘chew toy’, all I could recover was a few well chewed pieces of scrape paper. Since I had the framing for this project mostly done, it won’t take as much work to re-draw my plans as it did the first time. But it got me to thinking about the way we go about our lives.
It is my decided opinion that a person, young or older, should have some plans and direction they want to go in their life. It appears too many people simply ‘float’ with the stream, never having any solid ideal what who or what they want to become. The result is often poor. We find people who are never content, but from all known appearances, we can’t figure out why because they don’t seem to be working toward any tangible goals in their life. Often they jump from one meaningless job, that they despise, to another that is just as hateful. Complaining all the while that they are ‘mistreated’ by ‘society’, as if, society owed them some kind of debt by making them “happy”.
I consider that since I have reached the prime age of mid-50’s that some advice might be worthwhile. No one can make decisions about my life except me and the same goes for you or anyone else. The ultimate responsibility for our contentment must rest upon on our own shoulders. No matter what circumstances come our way that might interfere with our plans, we have to become like a stream of water. What I mean by that is this; water will find a way to flow downhill to it ‘goal’ no matter what is standing in its way. It might have to go around bends in the earth, cut its way down steep mountains or make a path around large boulders, but by and by water will reach the ocean for which it is headed, one way or another.
It is certain that all people cannot possibly reach some ’pie in the sky’, unrealistic goal. In our society, it appears that most people think only in terms of “wealth” as a measure of ones success. No wonder there are so many miserable people walking around. It is impossible for all of us to be multi-millionaires, that just can’t be under any known economic system. So using ‘wealth’ as a measuring device is a poor standard to judge a persons life, in fact, it is right down foolish or maybe a better term would be “insane”. Yet, all the communication media we see paints the picture of ‘contentment’ as, in one way or another, having to do with money or the things money can buy as the means to be ‘content’.
The “American Dream” that has been ‘sold’ to a couple generations now is something that has been modified and twisted into the “American Nightmare” for far too many people. Just look at any real estate advertisement. What you have is a nice house in the suburbs with a small yard and a two car garage that has many times been ‘thrown together’ with junk building materials and doctored up with cheaply made but nice looking furnishings. You can have it all if you will only take out a 30 year mortgage, that a two income family can barely manage to pay each month.
My advice to young folks is, don’t buy that “dream”. You will be far ahead in the long run to buy a smaller, older, better built, cheaper house. One that you could make the payments on even if you were reduced to a ‘one income family’. By exerting all your effort to pay this house off in less time than the mortgage calls for you will save a bundle of money and, if you are lucky, the value of that house will increase. At which time if you still what the more expensive house, you can sale your first one and use that money to greatly reduce a new mortgage.
This gets to a flaw in our current thinking, as a society. It has been said over and over, because it is true, that Americans no longer look to the ‘long term’, but want everything “now”! The bankers, finance companies and government have been very helpful in seeing that we don’t have to “wait”, they will find a way to “loan” us the “funny money” for whatever we want. At least that was true 5 years ago, now, as the saying goes, ‘our chickens have come home to roost’ and it is time to pay the bill.
I know that not everyone in our society has fallen for that ‘dream’ (nightmare), but enough have to put our whole economic welfare in danger of collapsing on our heads. I won’t go into a ‘rant’ on how the government and our politicians have helped to enable this mess, I would rather consider ways to “escape the trap”.
To start with we have to change our thinking if we find that our current mindset is flawed, in other words, “check your premise”. The ’premise’ of our current system is that a modern society like we have is “too big to fail”, or we are too advanced to collapse as a society. Sorry if I am the one to inform you of this fact; but it is not true. Many great societies and empires of past history were not much different than we are. The only difference between us and the Roman Empire is really just in our technology and that might be a questionable “advantage”.
By 400 A.D. Rome had lots of high level creature comforts that many people aren’t even aware of. For example most people know that they had aqueducts to deliver running water to many homes, but they also even had ’air conditioning’ that was provided by water pipes that would circulate cold water through some of the wealthier homes. Imagine air conditioning long before the invention of electricity!
Rome also had something that proved to be their “Achilles heel”, it was the “Just in Time” deliver system of food and other necessary products to a city of over a million people. It is not much different than most all of our cities, and even small towns, which are dependent on the steady flow of goods to the grocery stores on a daily basis. Just imagine what would happen if for some reason, any reason, the trucks were stopped in their tracks for even a week or two. This is what happen when Rome was surrounded by her enemies, the supplies to the city was shut off. Before that was over, people in Rome were reduced to little more than animals, even resorting to cannibalism, eating each other. As they say, the rest is history. The marvel of the Rome that was is no more than ruins that amaze tourists.
Let me advise you to think over your current state of affairs and ask yourself some questions. Then make some common sense plans on how you will deal with any crisis that might occur. Remember that water is pliable and will go around any obstacle, so I like to think that I will learn to be as pliable as water. I might have to change course and do a lot of turning and wandering, but as long as I have life I will keep moving, no matter what might stand in the way.
Got to get those chewed project plans redrawn and go back to work.
Showing posts with label Roman Empire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roman Empire. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Is History Worth Knowing?
History. To some, especially school age students the very word sounds boring, but so does math, English and a lot of other subjects. I was no different than a lot of my peers back in the “dark ages” of my school life. (60’s-70’s) Until! A ‘good teacher’ made history exciting. The sad part is that I can’t even remember his name, but I cannot forget the influence this high school teacher had on my interest in history. In some way this teacher reached my very distracted mind, (as in having a whole lot more interesting things to do than read history) to the point that the study of history has become one of my favorite subjects for lifelong learning.
Often it is said that if man does not learn the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat them. I might let the so called ‘scholars’ debate the actual facts of that argument, but the reality is we will do well to learn some things by observation rather than experience.
To illustrate the point. If I read in the news that someone attempted to fly off a high bridge, flap their arms as if they were wings, but hit the water in a splashy death, I should learn a lesson without repeating the experiment, that being, a human‘s arms are a poor substitute for wings. A rather simple example, but the reality is that if we would make a rational study of history we would find a whole world of mistakes and failures that man has already made and thus be educated without the consequences being upon our own head.
Some describe this as the ‘wisdom of the ages’. How many ancient nations have come and gone? The great ones we are aware of, the Greek kingdom of Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire being a classic case study of a republic, so-called, that more or less self destructed from within. No outside force was big enough to destroy that Empire. But when it decayed from within by individual and government moral decay, it fell. Some of the most visited sights in the world come from those marvelous ruins, of massive structures, build by the Romans. Many volumes have been written on the history and fall of that great Empire. So, is history worth knowing? I would answer it is, unless we want to find out everything the hard way.
Human nature makes for a strange study. Even closer to our own lives we see many examples illustrated in ‘living color’ of human beings, assumed to be rational creatures, do things that defy what should be common sense. How is it that our modern American society spends more money on ‘education’ than any nation in history, but somehow we forget the most basic elements of education that affect our whole nation and every individual citizen? I speak here of economics. I don’t recall having taken a course in economics in high school, maybe there was one and I have forgotten it. We were required however to take common general math. Truthfully, simple math is all one needs to realize that you cannot subtract 90 from 10 and end up with a positive number. Yet it would appear that such accounting is what our society would have us accept. As if a negative balance sheet for our personal households and our nation is a “good thing”.
Through whatever insanity that afflicts our politicians, lawmakers, educators, banking firms and even our households we cannot grasp the simple fact that oppressive debt will destroy us, something is “upside down”, besides millions of home loans.
It is not so hard for us to understand how a company or individual can get into debt beyond their ability to pay. Sometimes it is by unfortunate circumstances, like medical bills or accidents that take away our source of income, or a sudden downturn in the economy that dries up a particular market that a business depends on and they simply ‘go broke’. Often it is being irresponsible in spending verses income, easy credit can be an addiction to some people and they can’t, or won’t, stop spending until they ‘crash’. When that happens most people look at them with a mixture of pity or in the case of unnecessary spending, they are judged to be ‘spending addicts’ and void of common responsibility.
In the most resent economic upheavals ‘capitalism’ has been blamed, with some people saying, “see, capitalism does not work”. When I hear such talk, the first thing that enters my mind is the late Soviet Union. They were not capitalist and they went broke, so maybe we should look at history in an attempt to learn why nations fall.
Here is my short answer, since I am not writing a book. Just as it was said by some of our founding fathers about freedom, and which one of my teachers in school strongly enforced that we learn; “freedom cannot exist without responsibility”. Taking responsibility for our own actions, whether it be a person or nation should be an easy concept to understand, even if it is not always easy for our egos. If you run a business and make a bad choice to invest a lot of money in a project that fails, you know (at least we used to know) that your decision could very well bankrupt your business. If we fail to teach our children to be responsible for their own actions, are we surprised when those children spend their whole lives blaming others for their own failures?
The Soviet Union is a prime recent historic example that we should learn from. They embraced the socialist/communist ideal that collectivism was a “good thing”. That Peter should share with Paul, even if Paul had no ability or ambition to provide his share of the labor. But Peter, being full of ability and drive could create income was forced to give up the fruit of his labor to bring Paul up to his living standards by sharing with Paul his hard earned wealth. The theory was that all human effort should be considered as equal in value. No matter that a doctor must spend years of intense dedicated study to learn the skills necessary to treat the ill, his time was worth no more than another’s, who might be doing work that any unlearned child could perform. The great socialist experiment proved one thing for certain. Take away a persons incentive to produce, by giving it to a non-producer, and what you end up with is two non-producers, not two equal partners. That theory tries to defy all of history. It denies basic human nature. For as far back as history records, there are some people who excel and achieve great things, while the mass of folks live a “common life” with no such ability, nor ambition.
How can it be consider as moral, if I, who have no great burning desire to create wealth, (nor ability that I am aware of) just tell Paul; “since you have more than I do, I am just going to take part of what you have and we will be equal?” In realistic terms this is what socialism attempts. The result is as predictable as the sunrise, Paul is going to do one of two things. He might say, “over my dead body” and go to war! Or the common alternative in history has been, if Paul sees he can’t win the war, he just quits producing.
Once his wealth is all gone, taken by the non-producers and consumed, they all starve together
Hum? Makes me wonder about a lot of details. How is our “social justice” movement any different than the communist ideals of the 20th century? Tax the rich and give to the poor, so we all can have a more “equal” living standard. Here will be the results, which in our own time we see taking place. One, the so-called “poor” come to depend upon a handout and thus are content with a few basic comforts, so they quit trying to pull themselves up and turn to idleness, which always destroys a people. Or, in our day of “Hollywood appetites”, the poor want more, and more and more. Until they, by sheer numbers, like a plague of locust, have consumed the wealth of a nation. Two, the so-called rich, sooner or later will pull the Atlas Shrug routine and just quit producing.
I understand the anger and frustration that is experienced by thousands of Americans in the face of some “close-by” historic facts. There really appears to be no doubt that some of the “big bankers” and corporations have economically raped our nation. However, we must look at the root of the problem rather than just on the surface. The root is that we have a “moral problem”. That is, when those in positions of power have no moral foundation of right and wrong it is easy for them in an environment of “freedom” to steal from others, anyone and everyone.
Capitalism has not failed, our “moral standards” have failed.
Capitalism is the vehicle that produced the greatest nation to arrive on earth. It thrived as long a we had a basic moral standard where most people were not out to cheat, steal and plunder, but create wealth by hard work and imagination, fueled “freedom” which gave them the right to attempt whatever honest enterprise their minds could think of. Some failed, some succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. But if we remove the underpinnings of “moral behavior”, then not only will capitalism fail, freedom also will fail.
There has never been a nation supported and sustained by a few producers, while the masses ate drank and were happy. As long as the known principles of nature exist, there will also never be a nation that can provide a “free ride”. The USA cannot just, out of thin air, keep printing money to prop up failed enterprises or individuals.
I say, “History is worth knowing”.
.
Often it is said that if man does not learn the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat them. I might let the so called ‘scholars’ debate the actual facts of that argument, but the reality is we will do well to learn some things by observation rather than experience.
To illustrate the point. If I read in the news that someone attempted to fly off a high bridge, flap their arms as if they were wings, but hit the water in a splashy death, I should learn a lesson without repeating the experiment, that being, a human‘s arms are a poor substitute for wings. A rather simple example, but the reality is that if we would make a rational study of history we would find a whole world of mistakes and failures that man has already made and thus be educated without the consequences being upon our own head.
Some describe this as the ‘wisdom of the ages’. How many ancient nations have come and gone? The great ones we are aware of, the Greek kingdom of Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire being a classic case study of a republic, so-called, that more or less self destructed from within. No outside force was big enough to destroy that Empire. But when it decayed from within by individual and government moral decay, it fell. Some of the most visited sights in the world come from those marvelous ruins, of massive structures, build by the Romans. Many volumes have been written on the history and fall of that great Empire. So, is history worth knowing? I would answer it is, unless we want to find out everything the hard way.
Human nature makes for a strange study. Even closer to our own lives we see many examples illustrated in ‘living color’ of human beings, assumed to be rational creatures, do things that defy what should be common sense. How is it that our modern American society spends more money on ‘education’ than any nation in history, but somehow we forget the most basic elements of education that affect our whole nation and every individual citizen? I speak here of economics. I don’t recall having taken a course in economics in high school, maybe there was one and I have forgotten it. We were required however to take common general math. Truthfully, simple math is all one needs to realize that you cannot subtract 90 from 10 and end up with a positive number. Yet it would appear that such accounting is what our society would have us accept. As if a negative balance sheet for our personal households and our nation is a “good thing”.
Through whatever insanity that afflicts our politicians, lawmakers, educators, banking firms and even our households we cannot grasp the simple fact that oppressive debt will destroy us, something is “upside down”, besides millions of home loans.
It is not so hard for us to understand how a company or individual can get into debt beyond their ability to pay. Sometimes it is by unfortunate circumstances, like medical bills or accidents that take away our source of income, or a sudden downturn in the economy that dries up a particular market that a business depends on and they simply ‘go broke’. Often it is being irresponsible in spending verses income, easy credit can be an addiction to some people and they can’t, or won’t, stop spending until they ‘crash’. When that happens most people look at them with a mixture of pity or in the case of unnecessary spending, they are judged to be ‘spending addicts’ and void of common responsibility.
In the most resent economic upheavals ‘capitalism’ has been blamed, with some people saying, “see, capitalism does not work”. When I hear such talk, the first thing that enters my mind is the late Soviet Union. They were not capitalist and they went broke, so maybe we should look at history in an attempt to learn why nations fall.
Here is my short answer, since I am not writing a book. Just as it was said by some of our founding fathers about freedom, and which one of my teachers in school strongly enforced that we learn; “freedom cannot exist without responsibility”. Taking responsibility for our own actions, whether it be a person or nation should be an easy concept to understand, even if it is not always easy for our egos. If you run a business and make a bad choice to invest a lot of money in a project that fails, you know (at least we used to know) that your decision could very well bankrupt your business. If we fail to teach our children to be responsible for their own actions, are we surprised when those children spend their whole lives blaming others for their own failures?
The Soviet Union is a prime recent historic example that we should learn from. They embraced the socialist/communist ideal that collectivism was a “good thing”. That Peter should share with Paul, even if Paul had no ability or ambition to provide his share of the labor. But Peter, being full of ability and drive could create income was forced to give up the fruit of his labor to bring Paul up to his living standards by sharing with Paul his hard earned wealth. The theory was that all human effort should be considered as equal in value. No matter that a doctor must spend years of intense dedicated study to learn the skills necessary to treat the ill, his time was worth no more than another’s, who might be doing work that any unlearned child could perform. The great socialist experiment proved one thing for certain. Take away a persons incentive to produce, by giving it to a non-producer, and what you end up with is two non-producers, not two equal partners. That theory tries to defy all of history. It denies basic human nature. For as far back as history records, there are some people who excel and achieve great things, while the mass of folks live a “common life” with no such ability, nor ambition.
How can it be consider as moral, if I, who have no great burning desire to create wealth, (nor ability that I am aware of) just tell Paul; “since you have more than I do, I am just going to take part of what you have and we will be equal?” In realistic terms this is what socialism attempts. The result is as predictable as the sunrise, Paul is going to do one of two things. He might say, “over my dead body” and go to war! Or the common alternative in history has been, if Paul sees he can’t win the war, he just quits producing.
Once his wealth is all gone, taken by the non-producers and consumed, they all starve together
Hum? Makes me wonder about a lot of details. How is our “social justice” movement any different than the communist ideals of the 20th century? Tax the rich and give to the poor, so we all can have a more “equal” living standard. Here will be the results, which in our own time we see taking place. One, the so-called “poor” come to depend upon a handout and thus are content with a few basic comforts, so they quit trying to pull themselves up and turn to idleness, which always destroys a people. Or, in our day of “Hollywood appetites”, the poor want more, and more and more. Until they, by sheer numbers, like a plague of locust, have consumed the wealth of a nation. Two, the so-called rich, sooner or later will pull the Atlas Shrug routine and just quit producing.
I understand the anger and frustration that is experienced by thousands of Americans in the face of some “close-by” historic facts. There really appears to be no doubt that some of the “big bankers” and corporations have economically raped our nation. However, we must look at the root of the problem rather than just on the surface. The root is that we have a “moral problem”. That is, when those in positions of power have no moral foundation of right and wrong it is easy for them in an environment of “freedom” to steal from others, anyone and everyone.
Capitalism has not failed, our “moral standards” have failed.
Capitalism is the vehicle that produced the greatest nation to arrive on earth. It thrived as long a we had a basic moral standard where most people were not out to cheat, steal and plunder, but create wealth by hard work and imagination, fueled “freedom” which gave them the right to attempt whatever honest enterprise their minds could think of. Some failed, some succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. But if we remove the underpinnings of “moral behavior”, then not only will capitalism fail, freedom also will fail.
There has never been a nation supported and sustained by a few producers, while the masses ate drank and were happy. As long as the known principles of nature exist, there will also never be a nation that can provide a “free ride”. The USA cannot just, out of thin air, keep printing money to prop up failed enterprises or individuals.
I say, “History is worth knowing”.
.
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