Friday, November 18, 2011

“Is there a course in condescension that everyone is taking here?”

Most of us are inclined at any one time, to want what someone else has. It has been this way since the dawn of creation. Get enough people in one place who think that way, and the temptation arises to assume an unfair advantage on the part of those who "have" as opposed to "have not." Sometimes it is true, but usually it is not. This is why envy is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. “Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies; for he is like one who is inwardly reckoning. ‘Eat and drink!’ he says to you; but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsels which you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words.” (Proverbs 23: 6-8)

Envy can lead to a death, a self-destruction; in this case, of one's own contentment, of one's own aspirations to improve oneself.

For those who missed the party that was “Occupy Wall Street” in recent weeks (and loitering during the day without squatter's rights is simply not the same), there was already a recreation of George Orwell's Animal Farm in the works. We here at mwbh recommend this book to all budding young anarchists. Why? Because it demonstrates that if you are going to create Utopia, you must either first shed the foibles of human nature, or spend most of the time making excuses for them.

I'm more against private property, not personal property ...

Because, at the end of the day, not everyone walks away with a free iPad.
 

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