Our Connection to Each Other (and how the government, void of principles, severs our connections)


I read a great book a few weeks ago, but it had a few flaws within it that kept me back-pagin' and confused. The book, by Og Mandino, is called "The Greatest Salesman in the World" and it's semi-based upon the principles 'made famous' by Jesus Christ - the story telling is great, fantastic imagery and character development and all that, and some parts really made me *think* about some stuff in today's world that are in direct violation of our internal 'code of ethics' and/or 'morality.'

The books is a list of 'secrets' passed from one man to the next for 3 generations, and then shared with the world upon the last recipient's obtaining of them. I wondered to myself how secret these secrets would remain over time, as people often emulate those who are happy and living a successful life - and I think the book does a good job of showing how well the principles themselves would/could/should work, as each recipient of the secrets does achieve all they hoped to and more.

But the first part of the secrets lists these actions as 'bad habits': appetite, passion, prejudice, greed, love and fear.

I'd argue that appetite and fear aren't always a bad idea to pay attention to - as our fears are sometimes right, instinctual, and the whole use of logic in confronting our fears has kept us alive (such as... we hear a loud lion-roar noise while we are in the woods alone - we walk the other way, in case it is a predator and we are to be prey.) Instincts also let us know when we need to eat or drink water - appetite is usually just the body saying "I need fuel."

I'd also argue that passion and love aren't bad habits - in fact, the strange thing about love being in that list of bad habits is that the first 'secret' is to greet each day with love in your heart! And then goes on to describe sincere love towards all of mankind and even self. Argh...

I disagreed with the part about not listening to idle mouths, not lingering around idle hands and not visiting idle bodies (on page 76, for anybody who owns a paperback copy printed in 1985) - those are the very kinds of people who may need somebody with love in their hearts to inspire, comfort and guide them. To educate them, or help them out in some fashion. I've known people who went through 'idle' years who rose up and outta their funk.

The part of the book that most impressed me, in spite of the few things I disagree with, was the part about 'constantly dispose half of your earnings to those less fortunate than you' (on page 44) - this is great advice, as it is both logical and compassionate. It's logical to help out people, as a businessman, because people will view you (and your products/services) as 'good' and 'worthy.' That's just great marketing. The other part of this is that the compassion involved in it is our connection to each other - if you've ever helped somebody out who then went on to shine, you know that these 'acts of charity' aren't just you giving to the person, but them giving back to you in terms of internal peace, happiness and hope for the whole of mankind.

There's so many ways to give half of your earnings to people - be it time, money, or any other resource you 'earn' in life, once your world is personally in order.

And this is where government really shafts us and tears us all apart.

Currently, the government of the USA forcibly takes taxes and tells us they are going to do things 'for the common good' or 'for the good of mankind' or 'for the cause of democracy' or whatever sweet sounding phrase makes it sound like the taxes will, in effect, be the 'equivalent' of what Og Mandino suggests with 'giving half of your earnings to those less fortunate.'

But, see, the government a) actually doesn't do the charitable things it claims it is going to do with the money, and b) strips you of your connection with your community by dictating who is helped and who is not.

Sometimes charity is needed at home... sometimes there's a neighbor in dire circumstances, sometimes a family member needs assistance, and/or sometimes we personally find ourselves in a real pickle where we could help ourselves out quicker, more efficiently and independently if only we weren't throwing money into government coffers that consistently 'go missing' in various town, state and federal 'whoops, we dunno where that money went' moments. For instance, 2.3 trillion was unaccounted for and was reported in 2001 (video: http://www.videosift.com/video/Rumsfeld-Admits-23-Trillion-Missing-on-091001 )


What has happened? Was the money ever found? Was the person responsible held accountable?

Nothing, no and no.

On local and state levels, just going to google and typing in 'school audit missing money' reveals a bunch of recent stories in the 'news' section - type in your own town or state for local 'missing money.'

Some states won't even open their books for residents to oversee how much money there is, where it's going, and if there's waste that could be addressed... *cough cough MASSACHUSETTS cough cough*



The people of Massachusetts and every state out there are a good people - we are a giving nation of individuals, groups and churches. We are community oriented and do care about our fellow man - the government seems to act upon the notion (and manipulate us with it) the false impression that we're not 'capable' of doing good things for each other, our communities and our states without taxes being taken from us - and then misspent, stolen/gone missing, and/or squandered.

They take from us twice - not just monetarily, but spiritually - they strip us of resources that we could personally select to give out in charitable ways. Heck, even WITH the government taking money from us by force each paycheck, we still donate to charities! And we do it so overwhelmingly that after the tsunamis of 2005, private USA citizens gave over 140 million - more money in donations to aid those who suffered through that trauma than our own federal government did (which is not the role of government anyways, charity/foreign aid with our tax money isn't authorized by the Constitution(s), and most likely was given only to secure all of the 'deals' sure to come in the form of 'contracts' for rebuilding the areas demolished.) Bush later 'promised' something like 300 million over the course of years to come for victims of the tsunami areas ... but, again, that isn't his role nor his right. Private citizens will donate what they can - from all over the world. Governments should not be doing anything 'charitable' because there's always political strings attached and/or business type deals being made, like ones made through the Military Industrial Complex, and it's not moral. The money often ends up in the hands of corrupt government leaders in other areas - squandered again.

Also, foreign aid and charitable 'giving' while our own Social Security and Medicare system tanks is an awful thing to do to our most vulnerable - our senior citizens.

I've volunteered my time, money and personal resources to many, many causes - I was 14 when I first asked to volunteer at an orphanage, washing dishes. I asked to do it - I didn't need to be told to do it nor forced to do it - I wanted to do it. I've volunteered time to disabled folks, to private organizations and community efforts. When it's by choice, I know for sure something 'good' is being done, I get the personal connection that goes along with volunteering/charitable giving, and for any government to rob us of those connections to each other is the far worse offense against us when taking money from us and giving it away 'for us' - the money isn't even the greater loss.

It's those connections. It's looking each other in the eyes or holding somebody's hands or sharing a hug and knowing somebody cares - and that they weren't 'made' to do the right thing.

Every time the government gets involved in 'helping out', it goes horribly wrong. Look at education - more money thrown into the pit of the Federal Department of Education (in the billions) yet our students drop out at over 30% nationwide, and more and more fail to learn at standards being met by other countries who spend far, far less than we do. And now Hillary Clinton wants to spread this USA educational system (with tax dollars) to other nations... to educate the world using our failed system? Why would we do that to other nations?

If we really cared about the children of other nations, the last thing we'd want to do is shove them into our brand of 'education' - our schools, like our government, are in the habit of pushing failing systems onto others... just look at what they are doing with the pushing of 'Democracy' when the USA isn't even supposed to be a Democracy, but a Constitutional Republic - a REPUBLIC! I still laugh at how stupid I was to never question this in my school years, when our pledge of allegiance stated every morning for us, out of our own mouths, that we were a Republic. But, I was also led to 'think' that our Federal Reserve system was part of our Federal Government, too - and that our American dollars were backed by gold and silver... manipulating young minds is easy, I guess. I wonder what type of government is cited as the USA's form of government in other nations' schools? I wonder if the lie of Democracy has gone global. It probably has, considering the owners of the Federal Reserve aren't from the USA - private international bankers. Blech.

Anyways... there's my long afternoon ramble about how the government steals from us twice in terms of charitable giving and services - and severs our ability to connect with each other on levels achieved by helping out mankind not through force, but through real, honest, moral and compassionate charitable giving and volunteering.