We frequently hear about how so few have so much while so many have so little. These concerns over social inequalities refer to wealth in terms of money and possessions. Fortunately, alternative measures for assessing the extent of individual wealth are available and worthy of our consideration.
I thought about this last night as I lay awake dwelling on all the turmoil in our country and throughout the world. I skipped writing a January Blog because I couldn’t bring myself to say something nice and upbeat. When I was a kid, my mother always told me, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”
It’s February now and I’m still struggling to feel upbeat about the future, but I realized there is still much to give us solace if we simply recognize the good. February is the month of love, and that's good, right? Valentine’s Day occurs this week and so does my daughter’s birthday. Paula and I celebrated our 33rd anniversary two weeks ago. My life is blessed with love - the true measure of prosperity and well-being. I count my family and friends as the fundamental source of my greatest wealth.
I also draw cheer and strength from the good people in my community. I’ve witnessed them coming together during hard times to help each other. If you look past the daily reports of disasters, turmoil, and corruption, you’ll discover there are tens of thousands of heartwarming stories about individuals and groups engaged in acts of love and caring. Some of these examples of love are monumental, but most are simple acts of support and encouragement.
When I was young, my family moved to Albuquerque and we lived in a house on a street named Love. My mother was fond of saying, “You can’t live on love alone.” My mother had a saying for everything. Many people have a wealth of love but struggle financially. Some people have more money than God but are unhappy. Not all poor people are bums, and not all rich people are scrooges. Life isn’t so easily stuffed into convenient categories that we can criticize or ignore.
If you feel there’s nothing but bad news these days, you should join a Rotary Club. Every week at our club meetings, we hear from amazing people serving our community in more ways than I previously thought possible. People are helping the blind, the deaf, the crippled, the hungry, the homeless, the recovering, and on and on. The good news is: you can find good news right there in your backyard.
Perhaps thinking of progress as a topic of love and good news is a bit obscure, maybe even a bit of a stretch. When I think of how innovative appliances are routinely used, I wonder how many people realize how recently all this convenience became available. I use the word convenience, but in fact, many of these gadgets are considered absolute necessities to most people.
Can you imagine life without your smartphone? What would life be like without ATMs, debit cards, and shopping on the Internet for products delivered to your door? Artificial Intelligence is quickly becoming an everyday influence in all our lives. You can hop in your car (which contains way more computer capability than the Lunar Lander spacecraft), select an address, and get your GPS tracking application to talk you through the directions to your destination. Your smart TV, YouTube, and social media apps can provide you with infinite choices for your brain-rotting entertainment. There are smart clocks, smart refrigerators, smart washing machines, and smart just about everything. I even have a smart scale in my bathroom that tells me if I’m getting too fat. I keep getting messages from my HVAC system telling me it wants to communicate. It's kind of scary.
Driverless automobiles are already on the road and drones deliver online purchases from Walmart to your house. You can wear a wristwatch that will not only give you the time but also monitor your bodily functions. Given the incredible advances in robotics, I’m sure that every home will soon have a robot.
I’ve written about these things in the past, but I thought the subject was worth bringing up in the context of being good news that innovation just keeps coming. I do wonder though. Perhaps these things are yet another yardstick of wealth. The fact that so many of us have access to all these wonders might allow more of us to feel an inflated degree of affluence.
Personally, I’m a little leery of so much dependence on automation and computerized devices. It seems inevitable that all the infrastructure required to keep this innovation going will fall victim to some nefarious interruption. It’s probably a good idea to remember how things used to work. There won’t be access to a YouTube video to tell you how to do all those things you forgot - like reading books, writing letters, using road maps, etc. Of course, if you're younger than me, you probably never knew how things worked in the past.
In the past, I’ve studiously avoided commenting on the politics of our time. I am a moderate, non-affiliated patriot who chooses to keep faith in the strength of the democratic principles on which our country was founded. The politically motivated events of the past few weeks, however, are cause for alarm, compelling me to speak up about these unprecedented incidents.
Whether you are politically right or left, or somewhere in between, I'm certain that you love this country. If you think a significant change in our government is necessary, you may fervently believe that those changes should take one course or another depending on your political persuasion. Change is an essential and critical aspect of democracy, but what I see happening currently is disturbing. Even if you support our current president, I have to believe that you know the wholesale dismantling of our government, the reckless and irresponsible manner in which it is taking place, isn’t right.
Looking for the good news helps us navigate the rough roads of life, but we cannot ignore or avoid the bad news. Change is not inherently good or bad, but in this country change by fiat and hostile takeover is decidedly bad. If you are not outraged by the tactics currently being applied to implement changes, I urge you to take a closer look. Many examples in history provide us with a vivid record of the disastrous results of tyranny. Once unleashed, it's difficult to control.