Two memorable quotes from this post by Col. B. Bunny
“There is not really any courage at all in attacking hoary or antiquated things, any more than in offering to fight one’s grandmother. The really courageous man is he who defies tyrannies young as the morning and superstitions fresh as the first flowers.”
G.K. Chesterton
and
“There is nothing decent, noble, rational, or true about socialism. It is founded on lies, envy, and theft and appeals to the infantile side of men who desire to be taken care of and to accomplish that by taking from their productive brothers…”
Col. Bunny
Update:
“Socialism is for men who want to be cared for as women and women who want to be cared for as women without caring for a man in return”.
Oswald Bastable.
Socialism is for men who want to be cared for as women and women who want to be cared for as women without caring for a man in return.- Oswald Bastable.
That’s perfect! What a way to wind up the year.
Off to a quiet riverside bach for three weeks to read books, drink, sleep, drink, look at the stars, drink, sleep…my eyes seem to relish the absence of a computer. All the best to KG, his supporters, commenters and any other grumpy old pricks like me!
Almost forgot: I am re-reading Carl Sagan these holidays. His scientific genius can bring tears to the eye!
I have just packed an ice-maker, a coffee machine, 5 40oz bottles of Canadian Club, 24 bottles of Sauv Blanc…if I could shake a decent cocktail I’d be Jimmy Buffet! (The Club isn’t my favourite but over rocks in the sun it massages my deep bits.) I’ll buy the beer on the road. I have a biography of a tragic figure who you may all be familiar with: Alan Turing. He was the “Enigma code” man and for his efforts to King and Country was prosecuted for being queer in the 1950s. Best wishes!
Finally: I can almost hear Maggie Thatcher giving voice to Oswald’s quote…it is just that good!
Have a damn fine Christmas, Cad. And thank you for your comments during the year.
This post is actually the work of Col. Bunny, KG.
Thank you. Now I’m suitably embarrassed.
I was thinking about this yesterday.There is a local organization that hires mentally retarded people and employs them in various tasks that they can manage in order to give them meaningful work and the chance to earn some money.One of the things they do is disassemble electronic components for various companies.Everyday they get up,get dressed and go to work enthusiastically and do a better job of it than many supposedly “normal” people.
If a mentally retarded person can see the value of self determination and hard work,what does that say about lefty socialists and who are the real retards?
I had an aunt who was severely disabled by Cerebral Palsy. She lived her entire life with my grandparents, and worked for decades in a workshop with similarly-afflicted people. I visited there many times as a child, and saw her and her colleagues (friends, really) performing the most menial of tasks – removing labels from jars to be recycled, counting and packing boxes of whatever was needed. They were among the happiest people I’ve ever seen in their work. The workshop was able to operate because many of its clients knew they could get services performed there for less money than the cost of automating.
From her work there, my aunt got a community, friendship, a sense of belonging and her own money. Of course, she could never have earned enough to support herself financially but that wasn’t the point.
My grandparents weren’t wealthy people. My grandfather was in the Royal New Zealand Navy for many years (he was an engineer on HMS Leander during WWII, and for many years after the war was responsible for looking after the apprentice engineers as they came through), and after he retired, was an engineer for NZ Industrial Gases. My grandmother had any number of jobs I can recall, perhaps the most fun (for me) was when she and my mother were programme-sellers at His Majesty’s Theatre (I loved it because I got to see all of the great stage-shows).
My point being, my grandparents weren’t wealthy, but they didn’t take the route most would have. They didn’t put my aunt into “care” (they fought the authorities on several occasions to keep her out of the system) in order to have an easier life for themselves. And from that, my aunt’s life was far more fulfilled than it would otherwise have been – largely because of her work at the sheltered workshop.
Human dignity and the full measure of life can be found through simple work,it’s a shame more people today don’t try it.
The thing I miss most from growing up is mowing hay.How many people stuck in an office job can look back at the end of the day and see anything they accomplished?
http://youtu.be/TWRDcSx8LXU
I loved that kind of work,ended most days tired,but satisfied.Now I’m just tired
Adding that seeing those people in that workshop, and the joy they got from work, makes me even more disgusted by those who can, but won’t.
Those are some wonderful stories. It’s a delight to read of what kindness people are capable. Simple kindness and a job well done. Period. The rest of the inequality, microagression, and structural racism ultra prevarication add precisely nothing to a happy life.
Thanks for the link, Keith.
And Merry Christmas to all friends Down Under.
As always, you’re most welcome Colonel B. Thank you for the material.
May you and yours too have a happy and peaceful Christmas.