Life

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

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They laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at them because they're all the same.

Kurt Cobain

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Think before you speak. Read before you think. This will give you something to think about that you didn’t make up yourself–a wise move at any age, but most especially at seventeen, when you are in the greatest danger of coming to annoying conclusions.Try to derive some comfort from the knowledge that if your guidance counselor were working up to his potential, he wouldn’t still be in high school.

From "My Turn" column in Newsweek, January 1, 1979 issue, titled "Tips for Teens" by Fran Lebowitz

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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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California has been cited recently as a disaster and a total "basket case" that everyone is deserting. This narrative is particularly common in right wing political media. It is referred to as a state full of rampant socialism and communism. California is a state that is dying due to it's liberal policies, crazy people, and huge immigration. Right?

Well, at least economically, the facts don't support such statements and conclusions. Other states should be so lucky as to be the economy that is California. Let's review.

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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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Is it possible we've reached a limit on the extreme focus on the individual in America? By this I mean the supremacy of the individual's rights with little regard for the group. I hope we have reached some limit.

American was created to include the then unique concept of individual "freedom" as in "it's a free country" to do as you please. The limit of freedom has always been when you cause harm to others. Your freedom ends when it negatively impacts me. But, there are many cases where this line between freedom/rights of the individual and those of the other or the group are unclear. The classic example is you are not free to yell "fire" in a crowded theater (unless there is a fire). You are free to choose your own medical treatment but what if that choice impacts my health such as with vaccines?

In recent years, America has pushed firmly in the direction of individual rights. Group "rights" or freedom has nearly disappeared. This is true in many areas; speech, guns, health, and taxes to name a few.

We've reached a point where "freedom" is now used to exclude people rather than including them. Some examples:

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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.

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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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Written in 1976 by Carlo M. Cipolla his essay on stupid people, defined as those that by their actions cause losses to others without benefiting themselves, asserts that as a group they are the most powerful force. Beyond evil doers such as organized crime.

He provides the following structure to group people by their impact on themselves and others.

Graph with the benefits and losses that an individual causes to him or herself an causes to others.
Benefits and losses that an individual causes to self and others

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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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Taken from a circular letter, addressing many topics, written to three friends and co-workers in the conspiracy against Hitler, on the tenth anniversary of Hitler’s accession to the chancellorship of Germany (note: emphasis added)…

Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.