Life

Thoughts and insights about life. Philosophy. Sociology. Politics. How to live life and get the most out of it.

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Category: Life
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Taxes are a tough topic. For some time now, many have espoused a philosophy that lower taxes are always better. It is time to re-evaluate that viewpoint. We need to determine what level of tax is appropriate for the services we are receiving and collectively agree to pay it. The products and services we want must be paid for.

We have already received more than we acknowledge.

While no one, certainly including me, wishes to pay more than necessary I also understand that taxes have an appropriate role and purpose. The continuous desire to always reduce taxes seems to me to go together with a quintessential American pride in the self-made man notion. If you feel that you alone made whatever success you enjoy happen all on your own then you likely also feel that you don't owe a debt to the society in which you live. You'd be wrong in that assessment.

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Rabbi Elliot Kukla1 once described a woman with a brain injury who would sometimes fall to the floor. People around her would rush to immediately get her back on her feet, before she was quite ready. She told Kukla,

I think people rush to help me up because they are so uncomfortable with seeing an adult lying on the floor. But what I really need is for someone to get down on the ground with me.

A reminder to me for the next time I see someone in physical or emotional distress. Rather than acting on impulse driven primarily by what makes me feel better, pause to consider what will make them feel most comfortable, then do it.

1 Elliot Kukla is the first openly transgender person to be ordained by the Reform Jewish seminary Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles.↵

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Most people have at least heard of the story of the good Samaritan. Maybe we've only heard, "be a good Samaritan," in reference to helping someone in a broken down car alongside a roadway1. Likely fewer know that the story is from the Bible. Specifically from the Gospel of Luke. It is a parable (a.k.a. a story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson) told by Jesus as an illustration. And, what was the point of the story? What did Jesus intend for us to learn from it?

First, here's the story from the King James Bible (highlights added):

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The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

Jack London

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Ithaca Shotgun Christmas Gift

Back in the mid-1980's (maybe 1984?) my brother-in-law gifted me for Christmas a new Ithaca shotgun. I've kept it—unfired—all these years. Not only is it a classic example of a very popular gun from that area and time but also a representation of my family. Both my father and grandfather worked at Ithaca Gun.