Today is the birthday of
someone that I used to be friends with.
He was a very wealthy man who inherited real estate and acquired many
more parcels of land on his own after inheriting. He was very actively involved in politics and
seemed to be very highly thought of in the community, but he confided to me
once that he had never been able to keep a personal relationship with women
because they always took advantage of him.
He died two months ago and I am told that he left behind a legacy of
slum properties that were condemned by the city and were scheduled for
demolition because he refused to maintain them and keep them up to code. His legacy of acquisition without being truly
responsible for his assets has now fallen to a relative whom I’m sure is having
a devil of a time trying to sort out his affairs. He also owned and trained show horses which
will most likely not be taken care of, and one can only guess what will happen
to these magnificent animals. It is not
clear how much good his money did him when as far as I could tell his first
loves in life were a good relationship, which always eluded him and the desire
to be in politics, which he was only able to participate in on the sidelines,
with his monetary contributions being the most likely reason that his political
party had anything to do with him in the first place. I was very sad to hear of his passing because
he struck me as someone who would always be striving for the things that he
truly wanted but he was only able to obtain the things that might have made him
look like a success in the community, but were never the things that would have
given him any true happiness.
A physician that I knew some
years ago quoted Ecclesiastes 10:19 in
the bible to me once when the place I was employed was going through a bad
patch. The verse was “Money solveth all
problems.” He had taken it out of the
context in which it was meant to convey, that people believe this but it is
sorely not true. Interestingly enough, this man was convicted of the federal
crime of loan lapping a couple of years later.
He spent several years in prison and lost his medical practice then died
about 6 months later. Clearly money did
not solveth his problems, as we would see that it is solving none of the
problems that we are facing right now if we would pay attention.
We find ourselves in a world
that demands more and more money of us every single day now just to sustain
life. It is required of us to have a
computer, internet service, a cell phone, and in most areas a car. Lately, I have been seeing more people in the
town where I live on foot. One can only
assume that they cannot afford the price of a car or the licensing or the
insurance on one, not to mention the gasoline and maintenance. We see that millions of dollars are poured
into political campaigns all the time and precious few of those who get elected
are doing anything to solve the multitude of problems here in America. It is not surprising to me that this is so,
because the things that are truly wrong here are the warped priorities of
people. In the past year I have seen
hundreds of American and Confederate flags spring up on vehicles and in the
yards of many citizens. These are people
who are angry about their world changing and their very lives being dictated to
by a few who have decided that they are superior and should dictate to all. The problem with those who want to rule and
those who are angry at them is at it’s core an issue of jealousy. The angry are
most angry at the fact that they aren’t the ones doing the dictating. Until we
promote a way of life and existence that says we all deserve to live a decent
standard and not a superior standard for a few, we will never have peace.
I have been watching the news in Europe
regarding the emigration of thousands of people per day from middle-eastern
countries to France, Greece, Germany, and others in the Eurozone, and I can’t
help wondering why the problems are being abandoned by the citizens of the
middle east and no one seems to be trying to get their countries in hand. There has been an abandonment of the extreme
social problems that are plaguing America as well, and a focus mainly on the
economy and politics. It is the people who are creating all of the problems
in the world. It is not simply a lack or
an abundance of money. People with money are corrupting the world and people
without it are doing the same. Their
methods are different, but both produce corruption nonetheless. There is not a political solution or an
economic solution in the world that will solve this. Only people who know themselves and know
their own strengths and abilities can make any change in the world. We have to
understand that we are not an island in the world where only our needs are
important.
Without making this essay a
forum for my own misfortunes I will say that I have learned so much about the
extent of how horrible our society has become just this year in trying to
provide a safe and secure living arrangement for my elderly mother. She is on a fixed income and has lived in
subsidized housing for the past 7 years.
This worked well enough for her until this year when we realized that
she had developed dementia. She suffers
from short term memory loss and does not remember to take needed medications or
pay her bills on time. I have been
working with Human Services and organizations for the elderly most of this year
and I’ve been trying to buy a home with enough space to bring her here to live
with me. I have found out just how
little anybody cares for a person who is elderly and needy. All of my efforts have been met with people
who don’t give one damn what happens to anyone if they are not going to
directly benefit from getting off their asses and providing assistance. I have learned that the social programs that
purport to exist for the benefit of the needy are only a venue for some people
to have a job. They set up the
organizations and put 20 – 30 people to work and make it their job to deny the
very care that they were set up to provide to anyone who dares to ask for it or
assume that they might have some
entitlement to a decent quality or life. The unspoken attitude that I have
encountered at every turn is; “Forget that!
You may rot in hell. I don’t care
what your problem is. You probably
created it yourself anyway!” So as the cracks in society become too large to be
called cracks any more a large number of people who are guilty of nothing more
than not being capable of “getting with the program” are set aside as
unimportant and left to their own devices in a country that demands a superior
Ferengi style attitude of acquisition as its standard and those who cannot live
up to it deserve to be left behind.
A breakdown of the 12 signs
in the zodiac would reveal much in showing us how everyone and everything
counts in a balanced world. Starting
with the sign of Aries as the standard of what people maybe should be, you
would have a world full of go-getters who charge in to a problem head first. Without
the balance of Taurus, who can sit and wait and bide their time until they feel
things are right, you would have everyone butting heads to get something
accomplished that might not require a gung-ho approach. Gemini will seek their own needs without
stepping on others to get it but they also may feel that they require no one
else to make their way. Cancer knows that they need others. The two together can help and modify the
outcomes for both. Leo has strength and
stamina but tends to be more egotistical than is necessary and Virgo can see
the way past a selfish approach to organize the way with intelligence and logic
that can be hard to muster in a Leo dominated world. Libra seeks balance in all, but like so many
people with a one track view, what they see as balance can upset the balance if
carried to an extreme. Scorpio can lie
quietly and watch others make things happen but are ever in a position to sting
the hell out of those who might upset their view of what should be, and
Sagittarius is capable of showing us that a positive point of view in
combination with zeroing in on the truth of what is unjust needs to be taught
in the public forum to jar us out of our complacency and topple an indignity
among us. Capricorn sets the example of
family closeness and values but Aquarius reminds us that we still need some
independence in thought and living to keep our individuality. Pisces, as the last sign, shows us that we
should keep an open mind and heart and not be so rigid in point of view that we
cannot see the magic in the world and cannot set aside the concerns of life
sometimes to have a bit of fantasy and adventure. As in breaking down the
individualities of the zodiac, one can also break down the strengths and
weaknesses of every country on earth.
Many of them can blend well with each other, but as is the case in
astrology, there will be many who should recognize it when there are too many
divisions in thought and belief to to form a true alliance. Polar
opposites in cultures have to be recognized and only the truly arrogant would
try to force a bond and a different way of life on others. It has been done many times throughout
history with disastrous results, and it is a lesson that sadly too many people
in power are too blind to acknowledge.
The world was created in a
way that should teach us that we all have something to give and much to
learn. None of us are so important
individually that we cannot benefit from others with a different point of view
and different way of living life in our evolution . What I am seeing from the human race right
now is a terror of finding out that we might actually not know everything or be
entitled to all of our desires. We have
become very quick to blame others for screwing up the world and deciding that
they do not deserve to live if they disagree with us. At the bottom of all conflict amongst humans
is the fear of death and the fear of others forcing us to look at the mess we
have made of our world and take responsibility for our own contribution to it’s
many problems. We are so haughty and
superior that we will not tolerate any one else having the audacity to tell us
that we may have been so very wrong about the way we have created the world as
it is. It took many, many individuals
deciding that the fault is not in themselves but in others who are ushering in
unwanted changes at an alarming rate to set in motion the desperate situations
that we are dealing with right now.
Nothing I say here will change the mind of those who refuse to realize
that we are all important and have no entitlement to anything that the overly
stubborn Taurus types or the hoarders of
Cancer do not want to share, but a quick look at what we were given at birth
and a realization that the Capricorn understanding of family, and the Libra
understanding of balance and reason, and Virgo’s ability to dissect the problem
down to it’s elements can redirect the abundance of negative energies that are
running rampant in the world and show us what we can truly be as a species if
we will just step out of hiding in our Cancer-like crab shells and realize that
it will take all of us individually to stop the flow of hate and fear. Look at yourself and look at how you can
start a new way of thinking in you and in your environment. Someone has to take
the initiative. What you do today has
the potential to influence so many others to take the same steps and reverse
the tide of conflict and hate.
It would be worth your while
to read chapter 10 of Ecclesiastes in it’s entirety. It speaks of a world that parallels what we
are experiencing now. It is a world
where people run away from the problems in their country and leave fools in
charge. There will be no answers found
in taking the high road and leaving the very people in charge who have created
the problems in the first place. We can
and should help each other but there is no help when the only good people who
know that there has to be another way leave the scene. No problem can be solved in this manner. All of us have something to give in this
world but we will have to stand back and stop taking in order to see what we could be giving. Money will not “solveth”
the current state of affairs in any country.
Only what we possess inside ourselves can accomplish that. Without discovering the truth of why we exist
on planet Earth we are not capable of living the life that we were meant to
live. We are doomed to pursue the ideals
of others and promote a way of life that benefits only those who perceive
themselves to be superior. We will spend
all of our lives acquiring and spending money on things that others tell us are
necessary for happiness, but the truth is, we will just be supporting what
those in power want us to do in order to maintain their own agendas and keep us
willing slaves to their illusory power.
