Friday Follies...
OK, so we're firmly entrenched in a "severe economic downturn", and forget the fact the DOW is at it's LOWEST point in SIX YEARS. Never fear because Leon Panetta is the new head of the C.I.A. (Is it just me, or does he seem like a curious mix between Inspector Clouseau and Dr. Strangelove?) Don't fret yourself when you hear the phrases "universal health care", or "economic equality", even though they DO sound a bit on the SOCIALISTIC side.
This is STILL America, people.
And it's still YOURS, if you're willing to work at it to keep it!
In the meantime, let me show you what Midwest living has come to mean.
You all know we had one helluva ICE STORM (two months ago) back in DECEMBER of LAST year.
Well, in MY neighborhood (just to show you HOW MUCH people CARE about where they live), we STILL have branches and limbs on a lot of properties (some still in the streets). Not on OUR property, though.We cleared OUR place up (at our expense)...score one for the good guys, eh?
Yet the people that live in these OTHER houses that have not touched ONE, single branch are FAR from disabled. Hell, they manage to get up, get out and go wherever, and on every frigging day.
But they must lack the "gene" that makes them give a rat's ass about the way a property must LOOK.
My guess would be the RESPONSIBILITY GENE (but I'm no biologist).
That would also account for a lot more of the crap that goes on around here daily.
So, as these branches, limbs, and trunks lie about, rotting away, it becomes the perfect time for total strangers to drive through the neighborhood and get...(what else?)
...some FREE FIREWOOD!
That's right, this gentleman brought his POS pickup, his chainsaw, and lots of time to kill between those gub'ment checks!
You have to admire one thing...he, AT LEAST is doing something PRODUCTIVE, and not being the lazy-ass that so many others are around here. Of course, he ONLY took the nice BIG chunks...and didn't bother to clean anything up in the process. In other words..."typical".
I mean he COULD have moved the branches in the street to the curb...NAH!
Oops. sorry...now THAT is too much like REAL work, and not nearly entertaining enough.
But if that's not exactly the "type of work" you have in mind, you can always...DEAL DRUGS on the street, especially when kids are in the process of coming HOME FROM SCHOOL.
Nothing says "we really give a damn about this neighborhood" MORE than that, right?
Still not good enough?
How about this?
Now, if you take a look across the street, you'll see interior doors and jambs (of the most cheaply made variety) adorning the fence (which itself is not maintained and coming apart like most rentals around here).
Needless to say, the trashmen didn't pick them up (well, the doors were NOT by the curb...where they SHOULD be)...again, typical.
((CAUTION - SEGUE ALERT))
Now my Dad had an old saying for something like this that I never forgot...
"Son, you only get back from anything that which you INTO it".
Yeah...works for me.
And that demonstrates PERFECTLY why these people get nothing from life.
They put nothing INTO it.
Oh, wait...
The gub'ment is making it possible for them TO GET SOMETHING FOR NOTHING, aren't they?
And we poor shlubs that "do the daily" in OUR workplaces are not even allowed on this "free ride", are we?
No sirree...we've gotta fuel the furnace that powers these entitlements. We just stand and watch those that do nothing have all the "fun".
Amazingly, we've created a generation (or two) that feel these "entitlements" are somehow OWED them, falsely thinking they are included in our inalienable rights in our Constitution...(pause for uncontrollable laughter),
Yeah, right.
Much of this "stimulus plan" will do no less than reinforce those beliefs, by handing out ALL that money (that would be $13 a week for the working peasants...big frigging whoop-de-doo) to people not really deserving of it.
It basically rewards BAD behavior, whether it was perpetrated by big business, or someone trying to keep up with the Joneses by purchasing a house with a huge mortgage (and a nice balloon payment), taking on debt they can't afford to pay, or others who would roll the financial dice knowing that they might be loaded AGAINST them.
Even our educational system is not immune.
Over a THIRD of college students believe (erroneously, I might add) that they should get a grade of *B* for JUST FOR SHOWING THE HELL UP. And it trickles down to the high school level as well.
Kids "feel" that they are wronged when they show up, nod out in class, don't pay attention and don't bother to LEARN the subject matter. They don't think they should FAIL (they don't think they should STUDY, either, which explains a lot).
They think they deserve at LEAST a *C*.
Sorry, but the word FAILURE always began with the letter *F*.
Since we've been dumbing down test scores (for decades) and have had our educators teach TO THE TEST, (like the ISTEP), it's small wonder that these kids are getting addicted to this manner of education.
And we'll feel the result when these kids grow up and hit the REAL WORLD (or when it HITS THEM).
They'll have a much harder time of it (unless we find a way to dumb down big business and big government).
When you GIVE something to someone because they EARNED it, that's ONE thing, and that's the way things SHOULD be, but when you GIVE something to someone because they did NOT earn it, but due to the fact that someone else said they were "entitled" to it, you debase the entire system, and demean the principles that made this nation great.
People do not receive awards for doing NOTHING.
Never saw ONE Nobel Prize winner that got that award for sitting on his ass, drinking a 40 oz, collecting food stamps while living in a HUD house with a new Caddy out front...have you?
(and you NEVER WILL, either)
When you "level the field" so that the WORST achiever becomes "on par" with the BEST one, that hurts the one who worked, studied, or produced more than their fair share.
And it does something even more insidious.
It makes the person that did NOTHING expect even more.
Like I said, it's an addiction. When they EXPECT something for nothing, and GET it, they will KEEP expecting.
Think of it like an infant or a toddler.
They have NO recourse but to bawl until their "needs" are met, be it food, changing, cuddling...whatever.
And someone meets those needs, and even exceeds them.
But sooner or later, that infant becomes accountable for it's actions, and because it cries when it wants candy, you no longer arbitrarily GIVE it candy. You TEACH it to UNDERSTAND that this candy (or anything else) is not at their beck and call.
When they behave...they get candy.
When they MISbehave...they get nothing.
(and they learn NOT to make that mistake again...hopefully, anyway)
I think you kind of get the gist of this analogy quite well.
So remember kids, you can't always get what you want (as the song goes), but you CAN learn and work to get it.
And the thrill of the hunt is always more fun than the capture.
Stay safe out there, and DO have a good weekend, wherever it may find you.