I think what America lacks today is a sense of honor.
- Thread starter VintageBetter
- Start date
Teacher Terry
Well-known Member
we certainly didn’t fit in Kansas being liberal. I left behind my mom at 73 after helping her to care for my dad for 14 years. He died 2 weeks after we left. My parents were supportive of our choices as we had to do what was best for our family.
I have lived in 5 states because of jobs. I now have a pension which isn’t lavish because I only have 15 years of service. But it’s made a real difference and would make the same choice again. Because I stayed home with my kids and then went to college I had years out of the work force. We all make choices and have to live with them.
I have seen kids in their 50’s move in with parents to care-give and when the parents die they are in financial trouble. It’s a poor choice. Sometimes they inherited the home and sometimes it’s split with siblings.,
I have lived in 5 states because of jobs. I now have a pension which isn’t lavish because I only have 15 years of service. But it’s made a real difference and would make the same choice again. Because I stayed home with my kids and then went to college I had years out of the work force. We all make choices and have to live with them.
I have seen kids in their 50’s move in with parents to care-give and when the parents die they are in financial trouble. It’s a poor choice. Sometimes they inherited the home and sometimes it’s split with siblings.,
officerripley
Well-known Member
- Location
- Porlock, Calif
I've seen that a lot too.
VintageBetter
Senior Member
I don't think Thom Jefferson ever really said that. I’m a Great Believer in Luck. The Harder I Work, the More Luck I Have – Quote Investigator®
Quote Investigator: The saying has been ascribed to Jefferson for a few decades. However, the valuable Thomas Jefferson Monticello website states that there is no evidence to support the attribution [TJGB]:
In the meantime, his own lavish lifestyle and all the incessant and expensive renovations of his Monticello mansion were wholly dependent on slave labour. Whatever silent thoughts he might have harboured about freeing his slaves never found their way into the record. (He freed only five slaves, all members of the Hemings family.) His mounting indebtedness rendered all such thoughts superfluous toward the end, because his slaves, like all his possessions, were mortgaged to his creditors and therefore not really his to free. Thomas Jefferson - Slavery, Racism, Politics
I think Sally Hemings probably worked from sun-up to sundown and then provided other services. WHERE IS HER WEALTH? WHERE IS THE HEMINGS ESTATE?
VintageBetter
Senior Member
I agree. We all make choices and have to live with them.
What I am saying is, in the greater society, the ones who really were born lucky because they are the smartest, and they have generational wealth for decades backing up all their choices and introducing them to a rarified world I cannot even imagine, WHERE is the duty to care from all of us - not just from the poorest of us, but from 100% of taxpayers?
That's what I mean by America has no honor anymore. Now, all that is encouraged in America is selfishness, self-interest and greed. The media preaches this regularly. One portion of this media is the Wedding Industrial Complex. Oh my God I'm so glad I'm not young now and absorbing all that Dream Wedding malarky. A beautiful wedding is a lovely thing to have - I will not hold that against anyone - but now it's preached on the media as if it's a VALUE SYSTEM - as if you can tell the quality of the humans involved by judging the blankety-blank wedding.
Like this show, Four Weddings, and then the women sit around cattily rating them. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1559672/ Mean Girls, Inc., that is all that is.
Anyway Terry, I don't think we're ever going to see eye-to-eye on this, which is fine. None of us have the power to correct it. I'm just appalled at how I see society further falling apart in my area and because it's happening, everyone arms themselves with video doorbells and dash cams to catch the bad guys, and we listen to Scam Podcasts to avoid the bad guys, and if we're fortunate enough to live in a small town, people will go to city council meetings and beg the council to not let the small town turn into a hellhole; beg them to house the homeless - but the city council too often just doesn't care enough for that.
If leaders don't care, that's also what I mean. If leaders don't care, where is their HONOR? If leaders are only in those jobs for themselves alone, for self-promotion and self-ambition, are they really the most moral choice?
I love all cats. Can't keep all cats, or help all cats, BUT, I can help a few at a time, and they represent the species. It's the best I can do.
Maybe you can house one worthy, homeless person @VintageBetter? One, to represent the All.
Maybe you can house one worthy, homeless person @VintageBetter? One, to represent the All.
Teacher Terry
Well-known Member
Vintage, I don’t think most wealthy people have ever really cared about the poor, elderly and disabled people. With social media it’s just more obvious . I do worry about social issues and definitely people born into wealth have an advantage over the rest of us.
David777
Well-known Member
- Location
- Silicon Valley
Looking at the OPs posts again, I had trouble with her use of the term HONOR that seems to be awkwardly used in a narrower sense of an "acceptable level of high ethical conduct".
Thus is:
I think what America lacks today is a sense of honor.
Might better be:
I think what America lacks today is an acceptable level of high ethical conduct.
Thus is:
I think what America lacks today is a sense of honor.
Might better be:
I think what America lacks today is an acceptable level of high ethical conduct.
dilettante
Well-known Member
- Location
- Michigan
Sadly, this is a global condition. But then, it always has been even in relative terms.
As usual, you missed the point. The quote is widely attributed to Mr Jefferson, but no matter who said it first, the truth still holds - The harder people work the more 'luck' they have. Generally speaking, losers talk about bad luck, winners talk about hard work.
excellent reply - a very thoughtful read!!
VintageBetter
Senior Member
What about stay-at-home moms. If they work harder are they "luckier"?
VintageBetter
Senior Member
To those who think that personaly responsibility is the key to all success, no matter fires, floods, earthquakes, Great Depressions, hurricanes, tornados, chronic illnesses, or cancer....
Are you willing to GIVE UP your Social Security pensions and your Medicare and be personally responsible for yourself and your partner now in your old age?
Are you willing to GIVE UP your Social Security pensions and your Medicare and be personally responsible for yourself and your partner now in your old age?
Brookswood
Senior Member
If I had a life time to prepare that might be an option. But, I did not. Much of my earnings were taken from me to be used for SS, Medicare, and other social welfare programs. This has hobbled my ability to prepare. OTOH, one can argue that paying into SS, Medicare, etc. all my working life is my preparation. I certainly feel that way.
Besides, there will always be those who through no fault of their own are victims of what I will call ‘bad luck’ and need extra help from others. I wont’ kick them to the curb.
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Brookswood
Senior Member
Agreed. It reminded me that Bill Gates while being a very bright guy also came from a very well connected family.
Of course, Steve Jobs had no family connections. He was adopted at an early age by a blue collar couple of modest means.
Muskrat
Senior Member
- Location
- Mainly arizona
I think as humans most of us have concerns about the difference between the haves and the have nots. What is unclear is how do we as individuals or society deal with it. Personally, I try to give back thru donations, handouts, being fair minded. Nothing the government can do to help all people at all times. We as individuals are much more capable of opening our eyes and hearts.
As usual, your response shows you just can't grasp things. But to answer your questions, yes, of course, luckier in the sense of having better economic outcomes.
I'll give you an example. My mother, a stay-at-home mom (1950s), was widowed at the age of 31. A friend suggested she should go to college and get a teaching degree. So she did, doing that extra work for 4 years, while raising her children. When she graduated, with honors, she then taught school for 25 or 30 years. She would tell you that she did the extra work because she didn't want to spend the rest of her life working as a "clerk in the 5 & dime".
Can I suggest you look at this book:
Men Without Work: America's Invisible Crisis is a 2016 book by the American political economist Nicholas Eberstadt discussing the phenomenon of American men in their prime leaving the workforce. Statistically, the labor force involvement for men twenty and older fell from 86% to 68% between 1948 and 2015.
1 out of every 3 young men in their prime working and earning years are not working. The book was updated in 2022, and it is kinda a heavy read, but very informative.
This is an asinine post. I paid into SS for 50 years, and paid into Medicare ever since there was medicare. They are a reward/benefit for my hard work and accepting my personal responsibility to be a contributor, not a leach on the system. Sad that you can't see that.
And yes, in my lifetime I have felt the effects on floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, chronic illness, and cancer. Avoided fires and Great Depressions so far.
Well then, why don't you articulate an intelligent rebuttal to those essays and prove them wrong? After all, you're just criticizing those essays as being negative, but you refuse to make any attempt to refute them.
gruntlabor
Well-known Member
- Location
- Last Frontier, Age 83
It will never happen.
Paco Dennis
SF VIP
- Location
- Mid-Missouri
I watched a vid last night that highlighted a young man's theory on how to straighten this whole thing out. He calls it "Degrowth Communism"
Synopsis of the vid...
Capitalism 'has failed' and 'de-growth communism' is the future | Kohei Saito
Channel Times Radio
The Concept of Degrowth Communism and Its Potential Impact on Society
The interview discusses the concept of degrowth communism as a solution to the failures of capitalism in addressing environmental damage and societal well-being. It emphasizes the need to shift focus from GDP to sustainable measures, advocating for a redistribution of wealth and resources to prioritize basic needs over unnecessary luxuries. The idea is rooted in a radical redefinition of wealth, drawing inspiration from Karl Marx's later writings on ecological planning and communal abundance.
You might want to turn on Closed Captions, and pause the vid to think about what is being discussed...but that's up to u.
Synopsis of the vid...
Capitalism 'has failed' and 'de-growth communism' is the future | Kohei Saito
Channel Times Radio
The Concept of Degrowth Communism and Its Potential Impact on Society
The interview discusses the concept of degrowth communism as a solution to the failures of capitalism in addressing environmental damage and societal well-being. It emphasizes the need to shift focus from GDP to sustainable measures, advocating for a redistribution of wealth and resources to prioritize basic needs over unnecessary luxuries. The idea is rooted in a radical redefinition of wealth, drawing inspiration from Karl Marx's later writings on ecological planning and communal abundance.
Key Points Covered
1. The Concept of Degrowth Communism and Its Potential Impact on SocietyYou might want to turn on Closed Captions, and pause the vid to think about what is being discussed...but that's up to u.
Brookswood
Senior Member
See post #81.