Saturday, 21 January 2012

TWIN ADDICTIONS

The 30th President of the USA, Calvin Coolidge, in a speech made in January 1925, said “the chief business of people……is business”. He went on to say “of course, the accumulation of wealth cannot be justified as the chief end of existence”.

The twin addictions to which I refer are power and money; regrettably many individuals are addicted to one or the other and some addicted to both and this, in my opinion, is one of the prime causes of where, globally, we are today.

Please do no misunderstand me; I am the first to applaud those who can, by hard work and effort, better themselves and their immediate family. But globally, what have we become? A race of people living with liberty and justice for all, or a bunch of money-grabbers stepping on each others liberties in the pursuit of self-centred “happiness”?

Probably the latter, as we idolise and worship wealth too much. And the methods individuals use to acquire their wealth are becoming more and more devious, and the in-built checks and balances appear no longer fit to do their job. Our politicians are there (supposedly) to defend the rights of individuals but in a large number of cases the opposite is the reality.

I would reiterate the words of President Coolidge “of course, the accumulation of wealth cannot be justified as the chief end of existence”. In all honesty, how much do YOU need since once you are addicted (to anything) it’s tough to break the habit…..

A new year and a new set of standards? Yes please.

Until next time (without addictions),

Peripatetic Scribe
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous21 January 2012 at 17:25

    Yes please, from New Zealand as well! As a small open country we, I think, do not suffer from the same size of problems as larger, more "western" societies. Yes, we have those who desire either and/or both but, overall, we are "smarter" so those who wish to hijack and bastardise the system soon find themselves alienated. Thanks, P.S.

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  2. Anonymous22 January 2012 at 08:48

    Couldn't agree more! Anything except investment in knowledge, healthy living and investment in a good cause seems to be futile and sheer vanity to say the least. There are still people dying of hunger and without decent life conditions. If we continue living the way we do, we will end up as ancient civilisations in the forthcoming future. Lucana

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  3. Peripatetic Scribe22 January 2012 at 08:50

    Anonymous - you make a good point. Peer-group pressure can work but within a community, I think. P.S.

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  4. Peripatetic Scribe22 January 2012 at 12:13

    Thank you, Lucana. I often think that vanity is hard-wired into the human psyche but, yes, there is a need to change. P.S.

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