There are some really good, decent, honest people around. Take Scott (his real first name). Yesterday I sold him a product and due to a moment of aberration on my part charged him $200.00 less than I should have. He paid cash. I realised my error a few moments after he had driven away. I had his mobile phone number so gave him a call to explain the situation. He agreed to come back and pay later that day.
Late in the afternoon he called to say that he could not make it but would be in early the next morning. I had no trouble with this because I knew, I just knew, with a gut certainty, that he would keep his word and come back and pay me.
I was quite busy in the morning but in came Scott, slapped $200 on my desk with the words, “This is for you” and left before I could thank him. I did send a text message, via his mobile, to thank him, which he acknowledged with a “No problems. Cheers” reply.
I do not even know his full name or where he lives. His honesty is an example of what one always hopes to experience but unfortunately seldom does today. So Scott, where ever and whoever you are, thanks mate, you are a star. You have confirmed my faith in human nature and I am sure your clear conscience will let you sleep well tonight.
Cheers.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Down with financial doomsayers
We are now told what to think by the media (what is new?). I have one word for this – codswallop! They are not soothsayers nor are they experts. They never saw this financial crisis coming. How can we now look to these same ‘experts’ and believe what they now say? They got it wrong once, just maybe they got it wrong again.
There is no need for us all to think the same way – we are not lemmings; we are not clones to all turn left on an order and head for the cliff’- “Last one over is a sucker.” Come on, get real!
All it takes is one person to say “Boo”, to stand up and say “Enough is enough.” Two like minded people can change the world.
The human spirit is invincible; it is unconquerable; it is indomitable! The human spirit embodies all that is noble, courageous and has all that we need to triumph over adversity. Everything ‘comes to pass’ and we WILL overcome this present malaise and emerge stronger and more resilient from the experience.
Where there is a will there is a way.
Life is too short to dwell on the negative. The light of positivity will always illuminate and dissipate the darkness our worst imaginings dream up. Remember that nothing is beyond human ingenuity.
Much of what the ‘experts’ forecast may well eventuate because dwelling on the negative gives it legs and the power to run – it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
The reverse is also true. Write and think positively and the positive will eventuate. The positive also has legs and dwelling on the positive gives it the power to run – another self fulfilling prophecy.
Which one would you prefer?
Be strong and of good cheer. I promise you the sun will rise in the East tomorrow morning.
Just a little anecdote from ancient history which is apposite today. When Philip II of Macedonia (Alexander the Great's father) sent a threatening message to the Spartans, saying "If I ever enter Laconia, I will level Sparta to the ground." The Spartans responded with the now famous Laconic reply: "If".
There is no need for us all to think the same way – we are not lemmings; we are not clones to all turn left on an order and head for the cliff’- “Last one over is a sucker.” Come on, get real!
All it takes is one person to say “Boo”, to stand up and say “Enough is enough.” Two like minded people can change the world.
The human spirit is invincible; it is unconquerable; it is indomitable! The human spirit embodies all that is noble, courageous and has all that we need to triumph over adversity. Everything ‘comes to pass’ and we WILL overcome this present malaise and emerge stronger and more resilient from the experience.
Where there is a will there is a way.
Life is too short to dwell on the negative. The light of positivity will always illuminate and dissipate the darkness our worst imaginings dream up. Remember that nothing is beyond human ingenuity.
Much of what the ‘experts’ forecast may well eventuate because dwelling on the negative gives it legs and the power to run – it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
The reverse is also true. Write and think positively and the positive will eventuate. The positive also has legs and dwelling on the positive gives it the power to run – another self fulfilling prophecy.
Which one would you prefer?
Be strong and of good cheer. I promise you the sun will rise in the East tomorrow morning.
Just a little anecdote from ancient history which is apposite today. When Philip II of Macedonia (Alexander the Great's father) sent a threatening message to the Spartans, saying "If I ever enter Laconia, I will level Sparta to the ground." The Spartans responded with the now famous Laconic reply: "If".
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Love of money - it can be dangerous
Sometimes it is both interesting and instructive to read what the ancients had to say about life in general and in particular about money and wealth. Plato (427 – 347 BC) in his Dialogues, particularly the Republic (Jowett translation) writes about Oligarchy as:-
“A government resting on the valuation of property, in which the rich have power and the poor man is deprived of it.
“The accumulation of gold in the treasury of private individuals is the ruin of Timocracy (for definition of Timocracy, see below); for first they invent for themselves new models of expenditure and wrest the laws to allow of these; for what do they or their wives care about the law? Seeking to rival rich men, the great mass of citizens become lovers of money. The more they think of money the less they honour virtue. At last instead of loving contention and glory, men became lovers of money and money-making; they honour and look up to the rich man and promote him to high office and dishonour the poor man. A law is passed which fixes a sum of money as qualification of citizenship.....
.... There is a further defect, its division. The State is not one but two States, the one of the poor, the other of rich men, living in the same spot and always conspiring against one another....
.... At the same time their fondness of money makes them unwilling to pay taxes. And perhaps the greatest evil of all, a man may sell all that he has and live without participating in any way (the drone); thus poverty arises, and with that arise thieves and cut-purses.”
All this sounds distressingly familiar, doesn’t it? We can all relate to Plato’s comments, which show that human nature hasn’t changed in twenty five centuries (at least)! (refer ‘Republic’ paragraphs 550 c and d, 551 c and d)
Timocracy:-
Plato defines this as, “An intermediate state between Oligarchy and Aristocracy (Aristocracy according to Plato is a state ruled by philosopher kings – rule by the wise) ... unique in the fear of philosophers as rulers (preferring passionate, less complex characters more fitted to war than peace) and on the value placed on military stratagems and contrivances, and in the waging of everlasting wars. Like the Oligarchy in the covetousness of money.... They will spend large sums of money on women, and other others who please them .... they will spend that which is another man’s on the gratification of their desires, stealing their pleasures and running away like children from the law...” (‘Republic’, para. 547c)
Oh dear; Oh deary me!! I wonder where I have heard all this before – it seems that we never learn! There are ways of escaping the maelstrom that we are descending into, but I don’t know how many times I have to repeat it; – have some sort of moral compass, establish your values, connect with and honour the universal virtues and live an ethical life. It cannot be that difficult surely? Unless of course you love money more, in which case the status quo remains.
“A government resting on the valuation of property, in which the rich have power and the poor man is deprived of it.
“The accumulation of gold in the treasury of private individuals is the ruin of Timocracy (for definition of Timocracy, see below); for first they invent for themselves new models of expenditure and wrest the laws to allow of these; for what do they or their wives care about the law? Seeking to rival rich men, the great mass of citizens become lovers of money. The more they think of money the less they honour virtue. At last instead of loving contention and glory, men became lovers of money and money-making; they honour and look up to the rich man and promote him to high office and dishonour the poor man. A law is passed which fixes a sum of money as qualification of citizenship.....
.... There is a further defect, its division. The State is not one but two States, the one of the poor, the other of rich men, living in the same spot and always conspiring against one another....
.... At the same time their fondness of money makes them unwilling to pay taxes. And perhaps the greatest evil of all, a man may sell all that he has and live without participating in any way (the drone); thus poverty arises, and with that arise thieves and cut-purses.”
All this sounds distressingly familiar, doesn’t it? We can all relate to Plato’s comments, which show that human nature hasn’t changed in twenty five centuries (at least)! (refer ‘Republic’ paragraphs 550 c and d, 551 c and d)
Timocracy:-
Plato defines this as, “An intermediate state between Oligarchy and Aristocracy (Aristocracy according to Plato is a state ruled by philosopher kings – rule by the wise) ... unique in the fear of philosophers as rulers (preferring passionate, less complex characters more fitted to war than peace) and on the value placed on military stratagems and contrivances, and in the waging of everlasting wars. Like the Oligarchy in the covetousness of money.... They will spend large sums of money on women, and other others who please them .... they will spend that which is another man’s on the gratification of their desires, stealing their pleasures and running away like children from the law...” (‘Republic’, para. 547c)
Oh dear; Oh deary me!! I wonder where I have heard all this before – it seems that we never learn! There are ways of escaping the maelstrom that we are descending into, but I don’t know how many times I have to repeat it; – have some sort of moral compass, establish your values, connect with and honour the universal virtues and live an ethical life. It cannot be that difficult surely? Unless of course you love money more, in which case the status quo remains.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Ethics and globalisation
Now that we are all in this together – the world crisis I mean, isn’t it time that we recognized the close interrelationship of all peoples? Rather glibly we speak of the ‘global village’ and of the benefits of ‘globalisation’ but do we really know what we are talking about? As an example of what I mean let me relate the following:
Some years ago now I listened to a radio programme (ABC National) about the changes that had taken place on a Pacific island (I cannot now remember which one). The speaker, an Islander, told of how, until only a few years previously there had been no unemployment, no starvation and no crime (except the occasional ‘crime of passion’ and some ‘domestics’) and that there had been a general sense of well being and of belonging to a community and of a long continuum in that community – going back generations. Each knew their place. Everyone was educated in the traditions of the community, their complex (and very accurate) system of navigation and the various skills of canoe building, weaving and such like. Everyone did what they could – they planted their taro, they fished, collected coconuts or whatever and they continued a simple barter trade with neighbouring islands – sometimes many days away in their out-rigger canoes. While they had never known any other way of living they were content.
Then all of a sudden some developer thought it would be a good idea to open a supermarket and associated infrastructure on the island. This brought about an abrupt change in their way of living. Now all of a sudden they had to have money to purchase the many desirable items in the shop and they quickly acquired a taste for the different foods on offer.
This brought massive disruption to their previously ordered society. Families were split up when some members had to travel to either Australia or New Zealand to find work to send back money to their families ‘back home’ so they could purchase ‘stuff’ from the supermarket. Previously unknown health issues arose (from the changes in diet and alcohol intake), previously unknown types of crime occurred – theft and violence. There was now greed, unemployment, poverty, exploitation and the occasional case of starvation.
The Islander asked the plaintive question, “Are we better off entering the Global Economy?”
I know things never stay the same and that longing for the past is a fruitless exercise, but I again ask the question do we really know what we are doing?
I have often wondered about the ethics of globalisation and whether it really has brought the benefits to ALL that its promoters trumpeted that it would.
What do you think?
Some years ago now I listened to a radio programme (ABC National) about the changes that had taken place on a Pacific island (I cannot now remember which one). The speaker, an Islander, told of how, until only a few years previously there had been no unemployment, no starvation and no crime (except the occasional ‘crime of passion’ and some ‘domestics’) and that there had been a general sense of well being and of belonging to a community and of a long continuum in that community – going back generations. Each knew their place. Everyone was educated in the traditions of the community, their complex (and very accurate) system of navigation and the various skills of canoe building, weaving and such like. Everyone did what they could – they planted their taro, they fished, collected coconuts or whatever and they continued a simple barter trade with neighbouring islands – sometimes many days away in their out-rigger canoes. While they had never known any other way of living they were content.
Then all of a sudden some developer thought it would be a good idea to open a supermarket and associated infrastructure on the island. This brought about an abrupt change in their way of living. Now all of a sudden they had to have money to purchase the many desirable items in the shop and they quickly acquired a taste for the different foods on offer.
This brought massive disruption to their previously ordered society. Families were split up when some members had to travel to either Australia or New Zealand to find work to send back money to their families ‘back home’ so they could purchase ‘stuff’ from the supermarket. Previously unknown health issues arose (from the changes in diet and alcohol intake), previously unknown types of crime occurred – theft and violence. There was now greed, unemployment, poverty, exploitation and the occasional case of starvation.
The Islander asked the plaintive question, “Are we better off entering the Global Economy?”
I know things never stay the same and that longing for the past is a fruitless exercise, but I again ask the question do we really know what we are doing?
I have often wondered about the ethics of globalisation and whether it really has brought the benefits to ALL that its promoters trumpeted that it would.
What do you think?
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Israel and Gaza again
The scale of the destruction in Gaza, from all reports, is almost incomprehensible. I have written about this before but it still both irritates and distresses me. It irritates me because of the seeming inability or unwillingness of the parties to resolve the matter and allowing it to fester, apparently, indefinitely. I am distressed by the senselessness of the destruction and the appalling loss of innocent lives – some Hamas operatives were certainly killed but so also were hundreds of innocent men, women and children. What for? What have the Israelis achieved? Rockets are still being fired into Israel on a daily basis; the Israelis are still bombing tunnels and other targets; the Palestinians in Gaza are still without housing, water, sewage, electricity, means of employment or adequate supplies of food and medicine – and Hamas is still the elected government of the people of Gaza.
I am also amazed at the Israelis apparent lack of understanding of human nature. As I have said before many times, Jews have been persecuted for millennia; has this altered or affected their determination to once again have and preserve their own ‘homeland’ of Israel? Why do they think that the Palestinians will be any less determined or show any less fortitude in their desire to return to their own homeland of Palestine?
Again, so that no one can misunderstand the situation, the Palestinians will be satisfied with nothing less than justice. Every person’s birthright is to have somewhere to call home. The Palestinians were deprived of that right in 1947 (the birth of the State of Israel) by the international community – principally Britain, France and America.
What the Palestinians have been trying to do for more than sixty years is to draw attention to their plight and to get some redress. I disapprove of the methods they use (or have used) but then neither do I agree with the eye for an eye methods used by the Israelis – God knows how many thousands of people have been killed or injured in the fighting between these two Semitic ‘tribes’. They both worship God and a basic tenet of both their faiths is, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” – or words expressing a similar sentiment. Yet after some sixty years nothing has been achieved!
I would remind all my readers that the Palestinians are using terrorist tactics first developed by the Israelis and used against the British with the destruction of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22nd July 1946 when a bomb placed in the basement by a specially trained team, from the right-wing Zionist underground movement, the Irgun, demolished part of the hotel, killing 91 and injuring a further 46 people. (Israelis celebrated the 60th anniversary of this event!)
The Israelis blew up the hotel to draw attention to their plight. Sound distressingly familiar? Injustice is the root cause of all the present problems in the Middle East. Using force of arms instead of reason is no way to arrive at a just solution.
I am also amazed at the Israelis apparent lack of understanding of human nature. As I have said before many times, Jews have been persecuted for millennia; has this altered or affected their determination to once again have and preserve their own ‘homeland’ of Israel? Why do they think that the Palestinians will be any less determined or show any less fortitude in their desire to return to their own homeland of Palestine?
Again, so that no one can misunderstand the situation, the Palestinians will be satisfied with nothing less than justice. Every person’s birthright is to have somewhere to call home. The Palestinians were deprived of that right in 1947 (the birth of the State of Israel) by the international community – principally Britain, France and America.
What the Palestinians have been trying to do for more than sixty years is to draw attention to their plight and to get some redress. I disapprove of the methods they use (or have used) but then neither do I agree with the eye for an eye methods used by the Israelis – God knows how many thousands of people have been killed or injured in the fighting between these two Semitic ‘tribes’. They both worship God and a basic tenet of both their faiths is, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” – or words expressing a similar sentiment. Yet after some sixty years nothing has been achieved!
I would remind all my readers that the Palestinians are using terrorist tactics first developed by the Israelis and used against the British with the destruction of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22nd July 1946 when a bomb placed in the basement by a specially trained team, from the right-wing Zionist underground movement, the Irgun, demolished part of the hotel, killing 91 and injuring a further 46 people. (Israelis celebrated the 60th anniversary of this event!)
The Israelis blew up the hotel to draw attention to their plight. Sound distressingly familiar? Injustice is the root cause of all the present problems in the Middle East. Using force of arms instead of reason is no way to arrive at a just solution.
Is it the singer or the song?
Here is a curious thought and a whimsical reflection on singing.
With singing and sentient beings - is it the singer or the song? Does a bird suddenly take thought and decide to sing or does the song ‘sing’ the bird? Does a happy little child, singing as it plays know what it sings or is it happy and the ‘song’ just arises from within?
Is the song always there and just needs an outlet? Is the ‘song’ happiness and contentment; is the ‘song’ part of the psyche of all sentient beings – birds, whales and other aquatic mammals, some forest dwelling mammals and human beings (I am sure there are other sentient beings which ‘sing’ in one form or another that I have missed – frogs and crickets maybe?). I don’t know – maybe the ‘song’ is part of the ‘collective unconscious’ that (possibly) is behind all the activities of all sentient beings.
Just a thought.
With singing and sentient beings - is it the singer or the song? Does a bird suddenly take thought and decide to sing or does the song ‘sing’ the bird? Does a happy little child, singing as it plays know what it sings or is it happy and the ‘song’ just arises from within?
Is the song always there and just needs an outlet? Is the ‘song’ happiness and contentment; is the ‘song’ part of the psyche of all sentient beings – birds, whales and other aquatic mammals, some forest dwelling mammals and human beings (I am sure there are other sentient beings which ‘sing’ in one form or another that I have missed – frogs and crickets maybe?). I don’t know – maybe the ‘song’ is part of the ‘collective unconscious’ that (possibly) is behind all the activities of all sentient beings.
Just a thought.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
When lizards scream
We are amazingly complex beings – complex yet in a strange way quite simple in our needs. We actually only need sufficient food, shelter, clothing, close contact with a chosen few others of our kind, a modicum of comfort and a ‘space’ or time for ourselves to do our own thing to be happy and have peace of mind.
Yet somehow in the mix we seem to get it wrong. We complicate life by introducing desires – now some desires are good; the desire to better oneself; the desire for a mate and for children; the desire to help others. These are admirable desires; these are humble desires.
My concern is what happens when our ego kicks in. Our ego ‘tells’ us we are better than the next person; our ego tells us that we are hard done by and that we ‘deserve’ better or deserve more. These are not humble desires. These are the desires that give rise to corruption and fraud, to criminal activities, to categorizing people by race, colour or creed; to cruelty and abusive behaviour, to wars and death and destruction. These desires start us on the slippery slope of apartheid, of ethnic cleansing and generally deeming some people to be less than human – e.g. South Africa, Nazi Germany, Bosnia, Rwanda/Burundi, the Israel - Gaza problem and unfortunately many, many other examples in every country, including Australia (the aboriginal question).
On the issue of cruelty we humans are I believe the ‘caretakers’ of all sentient beings – all life forms (by sentient beings I mean all creatures that have nerve ends that can feel pain and use their senses). We are all on this earth together and as humans (at the top of the ‘food chain’) it is our duty, one of the reasons for our existence, to care for and preserve all life forms. Some we eat, some we use for other purposes – personal transport and to carry our burdens, some provide us with material for clothing. Bountiful nature has provided us with all we need. We might not appreciate it but all life forms have their purpose. So when my son (a lawyer) told me, some years ago now, that a female articled clerk told of how she used to spray geckos with insecticide to hear them scream, I was left speechless. I have no idea if geckos can scream and I have no desire to test it out – but I have no reason to doubt my son’s word – he was as shocked as I was. How anyone could even contemplate doing what this girl (allegedly) confessed to doing is quite beyond me. If it is true this is a sad example of a manifestly deviant ego and some warped desires completely over shadowing reason, compassion and basic decency.
On a less violent and more topical vein the entire Wall Street fiasco was brought about entirely by ego – the vastly inflated ego’s of many people for whom enough was never enough.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having an ego. It is necessary to have one, to identify our individuality. I AM different from you – I have a different outlook on life and I have had different experiences and I am a male. Females have a different viewpoint again. This is as it should be. It is when we start making a virtue of our differences that problems arise.
We have to be very careful. We have to use reason. Of course the best way of avoiding the entire issue is to be ethical and treat EVERYONE (and all sentient beings), all together now – one, two, three – “As we would like to be treated.” Simple isn’t it?
Yet somehow in the mix we seem to get it wrong. We complicate life by introducing desires – now some desires are good; the desire to better oneself; the desire for a mate and for children; the desire to help others. These are admirable desires; these are humble desires.
My concern is what happens when our ego kicks in. Our ego ‘tells’ us we are better than the next person; our ego tells us that we are hard done by and that we ‘deserve’ better or deserve more. These are not humble desires. These are the desires that give rise to corruption and fraud, to criminal activities, to categorizing people by race, colour or creed; to cruelty and abusive behaviour, to wars and death and destruction. These desires start us on the slippery slope of apartheid, of ethnic cleansing and generally deeming some people to be less than human – e.g. South Africa, Nazi Germany, Bosnia, Rwanda/Burundi, the Israel - Gaza problem and unfortunately many, many other examples in every country, including Australia (the aboriginal question).
On the issue of cruelty we humans are I believe the ‘caretakers’ of all sentient beings – all life forms (by sentient beings I mean all creatures that have nerve ends that can feel pain and use their senses). We are all on this earth together and as humans (at the top of the ‘food chain’) it is our duty, one of the reasons for our existence, to care for and preserve all life forms. Some we eat, some we use for other purposes – personal transport and to carry our burdens, some provide us with material for clothing. Bountiful nature has provided us with all we need. We might not appreciate it but all life forms have their purpose. So when my son (a lawyer) told me, some years ago now, that a female articled clerk told of how she used to spray geckos with insecticide to hear them scream, I was left speechless. I have no idea if geckos can scream and I have no desire to test it out – but I have no reason to doubt my son’s word – he was as shocked as I was. How anyone could even contemplate doing what this girl (allegedly) confessed to doing is quite beyond me. If it is true this is a sad example of a manifestly deviant ego and some warped desires completely over shadowing reason, compassion and basic decency.
On a less violent and more topical vein the entire Wall Street fiasco was brought about entirely by ego – the vastly inflated ego’s of many people for whom enough was never enough.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having an ego. It is necessary to have one, to identify our individuality. I AM different from you – I have a different outlook on life and I have had different experiences and I am a male. Females have a different viewpoint again. This is as it should be. It is when we start making a virtue of our differences that problems arise.
We have to be very careful. We have to use reason. Of course the best way of avoiding the entire issue is to be ethical and treat EVERYONE (and all sentient beings), all together now – one, two, three – “As we would like to be treated.” Simple isn’t it?
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