Knowledge is Useless …

Submitted by Steven Kaszab

Human Beings are not all great thinkers . Don’t want to insult anyone but think about it.

Building a house or community along river banks or water ways that will in time flood. Notice how many communities are located in flood plains? Also, noticed how the community continues to live there knowing that disaster will cometh once again.

Watch people tie all sorts of things onto their vehicles roof believing that they will be able to travel safely with their load secure? 

Leave high school incomplete only to regret it in your midlife. 

The temperature out side is warming, the ice below you is thinning and yet you go ice fishing , often way out along the water flow with your new snowmobile.

You have a fire arm, a pistol. Thinking about hiding it, you place it in a shoe box under your bed. You have young children at home too.

You purchase a fixer up building, with every intention of fixing it over time, with a limited budget. Have to own something like the folks did before you. You did not spend the money on a forensic engineer, someone who could have told you the building is a death trap to your health and pocket book.

You were given the opportunity to experience higher learning. Your parents though you’d learn useful things, but you choose to study seemingly useless subjects that interested you. Hey, its not your money right?

Your late for a date in a urban center. The night club is just the other side of this city block. Maybe you should go through that darken alley down yonder. It may save you some time.

Bought a used motor bike. Your friends challenge you to do things you know are danger for you and others. You accept their challenge bravely.

There are many people out there who are uneducated. Yes I said it. There are uneducated people out there, often it is not their fault. They may not have had the opportunity. You do what you must, often for your family and yourself. While you may not be well educated, you can be extremely wise. Knowing what is right and wrong has always been something we learn as children and young folk. They call it Common Sense, Astuteness, resourcefulness, levelheadedness, mother wit , enterprising or  some one with horse sense. The Virtue of Wisdom is what we all need, something we need to acquire or strive for as we move along in our worldly journey. How do you acquire wisdom? We look to Aristotle for some points that matter. You must learn to contemplate. Don’t freak out folks. That only means you need to learn how to think. Simply look, observe, contemplate and then act.

Always think before you do something. So many of our neighbor’s react without contemplating the question, situation, event they are living. 

It is useless having knowledge, without applying that knowledge. Martin Luther King was a knowledgeable and wise man. Mr. King became a legend, a name with power because he took a stand against Inequality, racism and hatred. He Acted upon his principals. Wisdom and knowledge have no worth unless they are acted upon. “If a good man see’s evil, and walks away without stopping this evil, is he a good man”? “It is the failure of good men, that allows evil to continue spreading in this world”. May have been said by W.Churchill, but non the less its meaning says every person you know, every neighbor you have can be a Martin Luther King. Every one of them. All they need to do is see, observe, contemplate and then act upon your principals. Lift up your family, neighbors and others using something poor, wealthy, uneducated or different people have… The Power of WISDOM. Wisdom will help you survive and prosper on your lives journey.

Forgive Politicians, ‘They Know Not What They Do’

The blogmaster replied to retired trade unionist Facebook post titled Barbados Exports to Caricom and the World:

Robert Morris you have highlighted maintenance issues we must confront, however, you did not address the inadequate capacity as a country to earn in order to satisfy conspicuous consumption behaviour and generate employment opportunities.

Robert Morris replied:

David King, Sorry to repeat. You point out ‘conspicuous consumption behaviour’, as a major problem. Should we try to earn to satisfy that or to curb that? Give examples and strategies to curb.

The blogmaster replied:

Robert Morris we cannot continue to rely on the existing economic drivers of fickle tourism and international business. We definitely have to curb our taste for foreign, weaning Barbadians from champagne taste will require a re-education of our but it must be done. Improve mass transit (expand TAP), stop importation of all new vehicles effective midnight. Significantly subsidize inputs to producers of food and others generating forex. Aggressive adoption of alternative energy systems and energy efficient vehicles (waive duties). Scholarships to Barbadians in areas of learning that mesh with national strategic objectives. Agree to a period of five years to suspend the Constitution and install a government of consensus. Create an audit of skills in the diaspora and encourage them to participate in a think tank, reward them with 30 year bonds conditional on goals achieved. Etc

Robert Morris replied:

David King Barrow: champagne taste and mauby pockets? You did put your suggestions, my readers are free to comment.

The blogmaster did not expect comments from Robert Morris’ Facebook ‘friends’. As our good friend who Pacha introduced to the blog Krishnamurti opines- the politicians wont listen, the poor man wont listen, the deeply dogmatic persons wont listen. We are all conditioned to fiercely defend what we know, what we have been conditioned to internalize as our reality. The result is an activity humans have become synonymous, divisive behaviour.

The exchange reminded the blogmaster about the predicament the ongoing pandemic has forced on us. It is approaching two years since the novel coronavirus was reported. There was a rush to supermarkets in order to stockpile food and other essential AND non essential items, governments ordered lockdowns…etc. To stay afloat businesses created opportunities to do business by implementing ‘makeshift’ online ordering systems, curbside pickup or delivery.

There is the saying one should never let a good crisis go to waste. As soon as there was a decline in coronavirus infections many local businesses reverted to the traditional face to face model of doing business. Several years ago the government encouraged senior citizens to receive pension by direct debit, there was the usual push back to change. How many of them had to suffer because of Covid 19 induced delays when cheques could not be delivered and financial institutions closed or experienced long wait times attending customers? The point: government and private sector two years later should have implemented state of the art electronic ‘store fronts’ to facilitate purchase of goods and services,

The environment continues to demand we change behaviour; how we do business. Why are our leaders in civil society stoking discord to satisfy selfish interest? It is a zero sum game after all, you win the country loses. Then again, why are we surprised, the politicians convince themselves and the people that they have the answers but history shows they know not.

A Test of Character for Humankind

Submitted by islandgal

humankind1With all the distraction coming from the White House it is all about distraction. Look at what has been going on in Russia.  The head of the cyber security has been arrested as well as one of the specialists for treason.  They have discovered the mole who leaked the Trump dossier to the West.  Trump is making a lot of noise about crow size while Russia is rounding up suspected moles. I hope the CIA FBI are investigating the moles in their organization and those in the White House. What amazes me is that those people working as advisors for Trump haven’t had a nervous breakdown as yet. They are ordered to go out and lie to the American people about everything Don the Con says.  They are pissing on the American public heads and telling them it is raining.

America is a highly medicated society and Big Pharma has it like that so they can make huge profits. In the heartland many white women and men are dying early many in their 30’s and 40’s all due to opiate addiction.  You go to a doctor and tell them that you are feeling down and sad and you have a prescription for antidepressants. You have a pain  and they prescribe Oxycontin, Percoset  or a similar drug. There are pain clinics set up around the corner to treat these people with more of these types of drugs all made by Big Pharma.  It is like most people who park in disable parking, physically they look able BUT they will tell you that they have a mental disability you can’t see. Now wonder many in the heartland voted for Trump because they are mentally impaired. Teenagers and young people are addicted to meth or heroin become dependent on the state for their survival due to unemployment or are unemployable.

In the black community many are being killed by black on black crime. Many are suffering from drug dependency and like the white heartland folks are unemployed. Their education system is below the national level so they are at a disadvantage.

A technological revolution had taken place in America and many people refused to retool. Many of the older generation who worked in factories felt that they can’t retool because they lack the education or the ability to do so.  The coal miners who suffer with job related diseases such as black lung, still feel that there is a future in coal mining.  Hillary Clinton offered them an opportunity to help develop cleaner energy but all they know is coal so they rejected her. Trump meanwhile who is also of the old school who has not recognized that the tech revolution had taken place and manufacturing has become more and more  robotized so fewer humans will be needed. Most of the GOP are old codgers who are still clinging to the old ways to “Make America Great Again”.

Trump speaks about when he was younger that America was winning wars I asked when did America ever win a war?  The only war I know of they won if you want to call it a war was Grenada. The man is delusional with very thin skin who is more concerned about crowd sizes and losing the popular vote than governing.  He has signed a number  of executive orders but they can only become a reality if they have the support of the congress. If the GOP prefer to have this mentally ill person lead the country then it tells you all about humankind.

As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron.

H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920
Henry Louis Mencken was an American journalist, satirist and cultural critic – 1880-1956