Paper Clips Parable

[Thanks to Bill Moore for planting this seed in his weekly sermon!]

In 1958, Lloyd’s Bank of London undertook a study to find out what happens to a typical batch of paper clips as they are released throughout the workforce.

Out of their original batch of 100,000 paper clips, they found that:

·         3,916 were used to unplug tobacco pipes;

·         5,308 were used to clean under fingernails;

·         5,423 were used to pick teeth or scratch ears;

·         7,200 were used as hooks for belts, suspenders, or bras;

·         14,163 were snapped, broken, or otherwise twisted during phone conversations;

·         19,143 became mock card game chips;

·         approximately 25,000 became lost, swept up off the floor or thrown away.

Only 20,000 of the original batch of paper clips (20%) were actually used to clip papers together.

So-o-o … It turned out that only a minority of these paper clips, each one created for a specific function, was ever used for their intended design! The overwhelming majority were used to fulfill some ancillary purpose.  

The saddest fact is that more paper clips (25%) were swept away and left unaccounted for than were used for their originally designed purpose.

However, the “flip side” of this story is that such a simple device was found to have so many different – ancillary – uses.  And there was no way of tracking how many different uses EACH ONE of the paper clips was called upon to fulfill, or (since they are re-usable) how many different batches of paper any one of them was called upon to bind together! 

Here’s the parable:

The paperclip is of no use unless it is bent to the specifications of its designer.  It starts out as a straight piece of wire. 

 It must be FLEXIBLE/MALLEABLE (VULNERABLE) enough to be shaped into something useful, yet strong enough to retain its useful shape and perform under pressure. 

A “hardened” wire that refuses to be bent – as in “I’m just fine the way God made me!” or “You can’t hurt me!” – will remain much more limited in its usefulness and utility.

It remains an enigma how such “hardened” wires can become so twisted over time – so “bent out of shape” from internal intractability as to become even less useful:

 How like life that is!  Flexibility, malleability, and vulnerability … accompanied by core strength and resilience of character … are key hallmark elements needed for successful navigation of life.  With these elements in place, one can fill many different purposes in many different circumstances over time.  Strengthening our constitution, then submitting / subjecting ourselves to great purposes and allowing ourselves to become BENT to the specifications required for those purposes undergirds our greatest hope for a  future worth everything that’s in us.  Quartermaster

Mind Minding

 “ … findings … published in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion [by Anthony Fabio, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh] indicate that among people predisposed to hostility, watching more TV than their peers poses a greater risk for injuries requiring hospitalization – potentially because they are more susceptible to television’s influence on violence and risk-taking behaviors.”  [Micaela Corn, Pitt Magazine, Winter 2016, p. 26]

Aside from the obvious, several things caught my attention in this article. 

First was the conjecture that some people are “predisposed to hostility”.  How so?  Such a “predisposition” might, of course, arise from genetic imprints or from the environment or from both – TBD.  However, I’m inclined to think, no matter what the genetic imprint endows, reinforcement or de-inforcement from the environment can have a defining impact.  Thus, whether one does or does not have an inborn inclination to violence or hostility, a predominating exposure to violence and hostility will either reinforce or over-ride the original hardware.  In the latter case [i.e., with an originally “non-predisposed” blueprint], a predominating exposure will essentially REWIRE the workings to create a de facto “predisposition”. 

It turns out that the brain is an exquisitely malleable organ!  Thus, it can be “Post-Disposed” to whatever it is “fed” or challenged to tackle.  From Stanford University, we get this clip:  

“ … today we recognize that the brain continues to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. This phenomenon, called neuroplasticity, allows the neurons in the brain to compensate for injury and adjust their activity in response to new situations or changes in their environment.” http://web.stanford.edu/group/hopes/cgi-bin/hopes_test/neuroplasticity/

Second, the increased liabilities among this “hostility” group may not simply be a matter of watching more TV, but a matter of selectively watching more violent TV.  Thus, one can vicariously identify with superheroes unbounded by social norms.  Being, thus, vicariously “licensed” as a superior being with superior intellect, superior prowess and superior powers, it “naturally” follows that there are associated immunities which compel and indemnify higher risk-taking behavior.  “Untouchable” and “immortal” are associated inclinations predisposing one to hostility and increased risk-taking.   

Impulse control in response to the environment is one of the defining challenges of a nascent and immature mind. 

Mental immersion or “trafficking” in the gratuitously sensual is a “Gateway” pursuit, predisposing one to multiple calamitous outcomes. 

With reinforcement of such immersion, increasingly permanent tracks are etched in the brain which cannot easily be “pruned”.  Unfortunately, trash tends to pile up! 

“Garbage in, garbage out!”

Information Technology Axiom

And when the Environmental Services trucks (self-editing, societal disapprobation or professional intervention) are deterred from clearing it away, it can become an intractable barrier to progress.

PTSD is a complex mental immersion construct that can rarely be completely undone.  But emerging neuroplasticity research, combined with new tools being developed in Virtual Reality, and combined with high intensity exercise regimens, may bring new promising possibilities.     

Mind-altering drugs modulate multiple levels of “neuroplasticity” – both chemical (via neurotransmitter mimicking or antagonism, including hypersensitization and desensitization/tachyphylaxis), and biological (carving out alternative neuronal “tracks”).  Provocative/violent movies, video games and TV can, similarly, be categorized as “virtual pharmacologics”.  Trafficking in child pornography on the internet is a massively expanding public health concern. 

Diet is one of the most diverse sources of brain-body interaction that can dramatically affect brain function.  While a highly selective “Blood-Brain Barrier” exists to protect – generally – against toxicities and inflammation, biologic mimetics and hyper-or hypo-physiologic signaling can cause major havoc, leading to degenerative changes, dependencies and addictions.   

Thus, “neuroplasticity” runs both ways:  Optimal conditions can enhance neuronal capacity and trafficking, whereas sub-optimal or toxic conditions (perhaps including stress?) can limit or diminish or derange capacity.  We’re still stuck with greater or lesser modulations in our fundamental biology.  (While some claim IQ can be affected to modest degrees, nobody has yet figured out how to make us all geniuses – I’m still anxiously waiting!) 

Finally, while all may not be lost in sub-lethal traumatic brain injury, the recovery of completely “normal” function in such cases – or following years of abuse or neglect – becomes less likely with time.  “Scarring”, both chemical, biological and psychological, can impose severe limitations on functional recovery/restoration.

Every moment we’re making judgment calls.   “This is OK.” “This is NOT OK.”  “Do THIS, not THAT.”  “I can do better.”  “Time is slipping away.”  “I can’t be bothered.”  “I HAVE TO be bothered!”  Better judgment calls come from experience in making better judgment calls. 

Summation:  Whatever we are predisposed – or become “post-disposed” – to be, do or pursue, we are built with an amazing capacity to survive.  Whether one is inclined to believe that capacity is bestowed by a creative Power of the universe or by “Survival of the Fittest” emergence from astronomical dust, the capacity is awesome.  However, that capacity can be compromised or violated in many different ways.  But it can also be expanded.  How we do our “Mind Minding” in the 21^st Century will become increasingly critical.  The top 350 million “fittest” out of a world population of 7 billion will be positioned not only to survive but to thrive.  The rest will increasingly and unnecessarily struggle – mostly because of neglected or abused “Mind Minding”.  Quartermaster  

“Binge-O-Meter” Point to Ponder

“After analyzing viewing habits for more than 100 serialized TV shows, Netflix found that some genres are fully consumed – a season watched from start to finish – faster than others.  Fast-paced, twisty thrillers and horror shows like Breaking Bad hook viewers for 2 ½ hours a day, on average.”  [TIME, June 27, 2016, p. 23]

Force the Issue

In describing the ERTIA UNLIMITED “Lifecourse Diagram”, one of the major points to be made is how important it is to make ourselves “helpable” … i.e., by showing some degree of initiative … by being a “Player” , with an inclination to advance and with some reasonable prospects and positive possibilities of making life happen.  Otherwise – with our innate inclination to defy the very “authorities” that are pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into our personal universes to help get us appropriately launched – those huge investments will dry up and leave us holding empty bags blowing in the wind. 

Unfortunately, we never see it coming!  We’re too busy seeing how much we can “get away with”! 

“Man is a curious creature:

He can’t read the handwriting on the wall

until his back is up against it.”

Adlai Stevenson

And why should we?  Life just continues to get better … doesn’t it?

We start out life completely hapless and helpless but, over time, we become independent forces to be reckoned with.  By age 1, we’re beginning to walk and talk.  By age 2, we learn the word “NO!” and begin asserting our own will and determining our own Destiny.  (Look out world, here we come!)  By age 5, we’re in kindergarten and beginning to read (we don’t “know any better”!).  Each August, we start a higher grade in school and make new friends (and start believing we “Know it ALL”).  At age 16, we get a driver’s license; age 18, we graduate and get to vote in real elections and drink real alcohol; age 21, we get to declare ourselves completely independent; we get a job, get married, have children, buy a house, get promoted, buy a boat, go on cruises, etc., etc., etc, and eventually retire to Florida.  Ain’t life GRAND! 

Besides all that, even the “losers” on TV sitcoms seem to be doing OK and they’re not even half as “Special” as we are!

Facts are hard, and hard facts are sobering.

We are, in fact, NOT going to “make it” – at least in the manner to which we would like to become accustomed – without substantial investment on our own part, taking on increasingly challenging tasks and responsibilities under increasingly demanding supervision with increasingly global expectations without help from substantially significant others. 

·         Donald Trump wasn’t launched in life at a minimum wage job in a sweat factory.

·         All major professional sports figures have “Agents” who look after their wellbeing

·         Professional Mentors and “References” are extremely helpful in advancing professionally.

And if you can’t bring something other than “Joker” cards to add to the deck, you’re not going to be a viable “Player” at the table. 

Point to Ponder

The “Unconditional Love” of our earliest years becomes more “Conditional” with time.

I marvel at what I call the GREAT DISCONNECT of Country-Western Songs:

[Ref.  http://lifemasterymusings.blogspot.com/search?q=San+Francisco]

“San Francisco Bay Blues” [by Jesse Fuller]

“I got those Blues where my baby left me down by the ‘Frisco Bay.

An ocean liner came and took her away.

I didn’t mean to treat her so bad;

She was the best girl I ever had.

She said ‘Goodbye’; she made me cry;

She made me wanna lay down my head and die.

I ain’t got a nickel an’ I ain’t got a lousy dime.

If she don’t come back, I think I’m gonna lose my mind.

If she ever comes back to stay, it’s gonna be another brand new day …

Walkin’ with my baby by the San Francisco Bay ..

Walkin’ with my baby by the San Francisco Bay.”

OK, how about let’s get real?  With background revelations like “treating her so bad” and “I ain’t got a nickel an’ I ain’t got a lousy dime”, one has to ask:

What in the world could one rightfully expect

“the best girl I ever had” to do?

C’mon, man, let’s own up here! 

How much personal equity are you putting into this relationship?

And what kind of a “Catch” are you, anyway?

Then there’s

“I can’t give you anything but love, baby. 

That’s the one and only thing I’ve plenty of, baby.”

Jimmy Mc Hugh & Dorothy Fields

In the words of Charles Barkley:  “Is that all you got!?!”

Empty pockets, poor prospects and pandering promises won’t fly very high, very far, for very long.  

One of the most iconic fables of both the 20^th and 21^st centuries – so far – was Star Wars, along with it’s sequelae and prequelae.  Its indelible tag line was: “May the Force be with you!” 

What was left unsaid was:

“The Force” can’t – and WON’T – positively influence INERT GOODS!

The “Force” referred to in this narrative is the impact of significant others.  It’s what got Wilma Rudolph multiple Gold, Bronze and Silver medals in the Olympics and Pan American Games; it’s what got Barack Obama – and every other President – elected to the Presidency of the United States of America; and it’s what got this writer both a Ph.D. degree and every major career move. 

So here’s the “Charge” and the “Challenge”: FORCE THE ISSUE!  Become ERT material!  Make an imprint.  “Lean In”.  Make something Good happen.  Make something GREAT happen!  Be a “Player”.  Put all the assets you’ve got to work.  Light up SOMETHING on the scoreboard!  Become “investible” material and get connected to someone or something that’s going somewhere.  Without an external force like the wind, a kite won’t fly.  Favorable forces are “out there” waiting for ERT Material to materialize.  I can’t wait to see where your ERT is going to take you!!  Quartermaster

Triplets

“Triplets” are things I "trip over" in the course of trying to get IMPORTANT stuff done … mostly in the morning … trying to get my day off the launch pad.  They include:

• ·         Making the bed
• ·         Feeding the cat
• ·         Retrieving the paper
• ·         Making breakfast
• ·         Eating breakfast
• ·         Emptying the dish washer
• ·         Taking out the trash
• ·         Taking my vitamins
• ·         Cleaning the litter box
• ·         Getting the cat’s medications “loaded”
• ·         Delivering the medications
• ·         Getting the cat “settled” in her favorite places
• ·         Brushing & flossing teeth
• ·         Shaving & showering
• ·         Brushing the cat (Damned cat!)
• ·         Watering the garden
• ·         Doing my stretches and exercises
• ·         Getting stuff organized
• ·         Etc.

 When you’re retired, Triplets can take half-a-day … and then it’s time for lunch and a nap! 

How do I reconcile dealing with “Triplets” while trying to perform effective TIME MANAGEMENT / LIFE MANAGEMENT?

[… trimming the mustache here … ]

One of he most annoying things about Triplets is that, once the brain waves start rolling, there’s a certain “FLOW” that begins to take shape, building up steam for things I really want and need to get done – OTHER than “Triplets” … problems that need to be solved, opportunities to be pursued, strokes of genius to be recorded (don’t I wish!), etc. – and the Triplets seriously interrupt that flow! 

[ … arm and shoulder stretches and exercises here … ]

In TIME MANAGEMENT sessions, we are admonished to start each day getting at least one BIG agenda item in the jar as early in the course of events as possible.  BIG stuff need to percolate … it needs LEAD TIME … it needs a longer RUNWAY for lift-off … it needs VISIONING … it needs PLANNING … it needs more TLC … it often needs REVISIONING …

Two very helpful things to facilitate dealing with Triplets are NOTE-TAKING and LIST MAKING.

First, during the course of Triplet Trekking, one can practice “Masterful MindLESSness” (auto-piloting or habit or routine processing) while engaging the wheels of BIG AGENDA item MINDFULNESS, making notes to the desk pad in between Triplets.

[ … arm, shoulder and leg exercises here … ]

This suggests that we can use a “Double-Sandwiching” technique in dealing with Triplets versus BIG STUFF:

When Triplets need tending, we can be thinking about, planning for, etc., the BIG STUFF, and when the BIG STUFF gets “Flowing”, we can mindlessly “sandwich-in” a few Triplets.

Truth being told, I find it very difficult to sustain heavy-lifting focus on BIG projects (sometimes even light-lifting focus on small projects!) for long periods of time.  In addition, my “gray matter” can only process and deliver a limited bolus of useful insight in any given time-frame.  So my productive engagement only comes in limited spurts.

[ … I’m going out to water the garden now … ]

[ … and then to Reed Valley Farm for blueberry pancakes … ]

[ … followed by an afternoon “detailing” the domicile landscape … ]

[ … it’s SATURDAY, for crying out loud … !]

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Triplets are not all bad.  Triplets make the world go ‘round.  Without Triplets, the BIG STUFF won’t fare so well.  In fact, it’s important to get some Triplets out of the way early so we don’t trip over them more obtrusively and intrusively later.  (At least get some nutrition in your system so you can put up a valiant fight when the going gets tough, and make yourself “presentable” to head off self-conscious “trifling”.)  However, parceling Triplets out to serve as fire-breaks and wind-breaks in “Double-Sandwiching” scenarios allows them to serve dual functions.   

Revolving Door Channeling is another effective way to deal with Triplets.  Go ahead and tackle the high-intensity, big-boulder stuff with short bursts of absolute focus, but occasionally knock off a Triplet or two as you encounter or create “transition points” in the course of BIG STUFF processing. 

NOTE:  RDC is not “multi-tasking” in strictest terms, and should not be attempted as such.  However, true multi-tasking is an excellent way to knock off Triplets: Paying bills or doing exercise while watching news on TV; preparing meals and listening to news on the radio; listening to books-on-tape while brushing the cat …

Effective “Transitioning” is really important.  The innate tendency we have when a wind-break/fire-break occurs or is needed is to head for the coffee pot, munch on high-octane snacks, check out social media, and/or tap into the office gossip hot-line and temporarily “Veg-Out”.  Having a list at your fingertips is extremely helpful ... or having piles of notes & stuff strewn on the floor that you have to walk over or around until they’re taken off the grid can help.   

[Where did the weekend go?]

[It’s Monday, already!]

[OK, I did the bike ride, watered and weeded the garden.  Now I gotta get cat meds loaded.]

Finally, UP the Triplets!  Squeeze in some “Research and Visioning” explorations for personal and professional advancement/enrichment and include some “Recharge” activity.  I’d have to say there’s nothing like exercise to settle the old “squash” down, aerate the psyche, realign priorities, strategize, solve problems, renew the spirit, re-energize, recalibrate the compass and get a new “bead” on the project(s) at hand. 

Whatever you do, and how ever you do it, start early!  Triplets are part of the “Cost of Living” and are a LARGE part of “Living Well”.  SUCK IT UP!  Instead of tripping over Triplets and getting bent out of shape by all the “triflings” of life, save the righteous indignation for fighting injustice, prejudice, willful neglect, mediocrity, unfounded assumptions, unrealistic expectations, unwarranted entitlements, untruthfulness and fabrications.  Both you and the world you live in will be enormously better for it!  Quartermaster 

“I’m going out to clean the pasture spring;

…

I shan’t be gone long.  – You come too.”

Robert Frost

“The Pasture”

Buck Stops Here

Buck Stops Here

The wife was cleaning out the refrigerator shelves but couldn’t figure out how to remove a retaining rack, so she called Super-Hurango for help!  [OK, it was probably a ploy to make retired SH feel useful!]  A 22-second assessment, including two “trial” but failed approaches, finally ended in a successful rack removal venture.  [She then wanted help reinstalling the rack!] 

The socio-psychic (psychosocial?) dynamics here are important.  What if SH had been MIA (like out riding his bike, working in the garden, mowing the lawn, at the library … or out to “Green Pastures”)?  There would have been no BACK-UP … no FALL-BACK … no HAND-OFF … Removal of the refrigerator rack would have had to have become a DIY project, which she would have had to figure out for herself. 

OK.  So she has a predisposed inclination to think every mechanical challenge requires macho brawn, and she simply reached out to the nearest facsimile.  However, this particular activity was not overly taxing.  A few moments reflection would have shown that she could have used a kitchen knife to facilitate the rack removal, if necessary.  All else failing, she could also have visited the store where we bought the refrigerator and had the salesman demonstrate rack removal and replacement.  But SH happened to be close enough by – in the “office” doing nothing of obvious intrinsic or extrinsic value – to haul into action.   

The first point here is that, given choices of any ilk, we will default to the easiest choice.  That’s probably as it should be: If you have an easy choice, why make a project more difficult?  Duh!

However, the greater point here is that, where there are NO choices, we can often figure things out for ourselves.  (I’m a “Slow Processor”, so sometimes I have to “sleep on it”!)  And “figuring things out” both increases problem-solving skills and enhances GETTING STUFF DONE. 

When I was involved in mainstream program development of a newly emerging center, many novel issues surfaced that required the undivided attention of the Center Director.  Lower level “novelties” and more routine stuff, which also begged the Director’s attention, tended to pile up – on MY desk!  As an organizational “sentinel” and presumptive “expediter”, I began to research, problem-solve and process increasing numbers of needs and requests, preparing them for the Director’s edit, final approval and sign-off – but often simply finishing them off to keep them from bothering him.  Operationally, the more “Bucks” I could stop before they hit the Director’s desk, the more effective he could be, overall.  It turned out to be an excellent Teamwork approach.  Best of all, the increasingly routine practice of “Stopping the Buck” at my desk led to promotions I didn’t even ask for.  Being proactively useful works wonders!  

Every time we “Buck UP”, both our navigation capacity and our negotiability within the universe increase.  See how far UP the ladder you can go to extract “pending” stuff and keep as many things as possible from “Bucking the System”.  Then look surprised when the dividends accrue!  Quartermaster 

Purpose

["Ask Marilyn", Parade Magazine, May 29, 2016, p. 10]

Question:

“I’m in Mensa, where I’ve been discussing this question with other members for years: What is the reason we are here?”

Marilyn’s Response:

“I think it depends on your spiritual beliefs.  If you have a religion, it provides the answer.  But if you don’t believe in a god, the question contradicts your thinking.   Having a reason implies having a purpose, which indicates an intelligent being for cognitive power with intent.  That’s what people call a god.  So if you don’t believe a god exists, you can’t believe a reason exists.  You must settle for assuming we got here through some natural process, and that’s that.” 

The answer seemed a little brief.  I thought we might expand the discussion a bit.

Considering a non-deified “Purpose” would depend on exactly where we find ourselves in the universe, where we have been, and what tools we carry. 

The “Naturalists” among us might say our Purpose is defined by our DNA.  In fact, some would say we are merely “carriers” of a blueprint for the next generation … simply a means for propagating genetic hardware.  Played out to its logical or illogical conclusion, this would mean our expanded Purpose would be to do everything possible to assure the propagation of DNA was sustainable.  That might include such things as giving due attention to health and wellbeing; taking care of the earth and its associated resources for future generations; becoming economically viable and not going mercilessly into debt; etc. 

Another component of a non-deified Purpose might be to figure out as much as possible about the universe we inhabit while we’re here ... and, since we ARE here, figure out ways to make “BEING HERE” the best it can be. 

These beginnings suggest that – at least in circumstances where an external Purpose is not otherwise imposed – we get to decide for ourselves what our overarching PURPOSE will be.  Happy Day!  But it does carry an implied understanding that we will responsibly execute the fulfillment of that Purpose.  Again, sustainability is a key element in whatever Purpose we choose to decree or adopt. 

Whether one chooses a non-deified or a deified pretext/context, the outcomes are often astounding:  

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart … was a prolific and influential composer … [who] showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart

Persons thus blessed, either way, with incredible talent are “locked in” to a defining Purpose from their earliest beginnings. 

My purpose within the next two hours is to get the lawn mowed, water the garden and clean up a desk unapologetically littered with remnants of diggings about the universe. 

So [now that THAT’S done], what about the rest of us (who are not “Mozarts”)?  

Place and circumstance matter.  A person in North Korea is primarily “Purposed” [by the “Supreme Leader”] to serve the dictates of the Supreme Leader … i.e., relegated to being a small cog in a big wheel.  A person in the US, finding himself or herself in a much more openly engaged but competitive civilization, must individually UP their game to distinguish themselves as either a unique cog or a unique wheel. 

In the least restrictive case, the DNA metaphor remains compelling.  No matter how or “why” our DNA has been bestowed – whether by Natural, Unnatural or Supernatural forces – what we’re “made of” should equip us at least to be USEFUL if not overtly PURPOSEFUL. 

Philosophies have evolved to provide some reflective context.  Hedonism, of course, abounds.  And asceticism – perhaps as an antidote to hedonism – has had its day.  And multitudes of philosophies fall in between – take your pick!

Perhaps our Purpose is covertly buried in “Who we are”, and if we find out “Who that is”, our Purpose will become self-evident?

Early in life, we’re “Joe’s son” or “Geraldine’s Daughter”.  Then we may become a “plumber”, “electrician”, “teacher”, “chef”, “administrator” … or, perhaps, even “President”!  Just as we grow into bigger “WHOS”, we increase in “WHYSdom”. 

If we take Maslow’s Pyramid to heart, our Purpose should evolve: from satisfying fundamental physiological needs … to assuring our safety … to developing effective and affirmative relationships with others … to building a portfolio of accomplishment and respect … to a pinnacle of meaningful self-actualization.

Finally, our overall Purpose may simply be to become ONE with the Cosmos.  From dust to dust and all the rest, we’re a part of what IS, so we might as well make the best run at it that we can.  It may be all the Purpose we’ll ever need! 

Whatever Purpose you choose, or whatever Purpose may have been thrust upon you … or whatever Purpose you can grow into, as you journey, may the most positive Cosmic Force(s) be with you!  Quartermaster

Prosperity

It only recently became clear to me that the riddle I’ve been chasing for 40+ years is this:

Why …

… in a country with as much wealth as the United States of America

 -- the envy of the world in its offerings of opportunity and prosperity --

 are so many so far from realizing bona fide prosperity?

DISCLAIMER

This is NOT about redistributing wealth from the 1% to the 99%.

And I am definitely NOT running for political office!

Past focus has been narrower, asking:

Why are so many high school students not “Job-Ready” or “College-Ready”?

and

Why are so many college students not “Career-Ready”?

But also … 

Why, in such an advanced civilization,

are not more folks “LIFE-READY”?

Some of the answers may be the same.  But the concept of “Prosperity” seemed to be a more unifying theme with more degrees of freedom for exploration. 

First, what do we mean by “Prosperity”? 

I’m going to define “Prosperity” NOT in terms of accumulated wealth – although it could be a significant component of prosperity in many cases – but in terms of having a sense of CONTROL. 

“… the most successful marines were those with a strong ‘internal locus of control’ – a belief they could influence their destiny through the choices they made.”  Charles C. Krulak quoted in Smarter, Faster, Better, by Charles Duhigg, Random House, NY, 2016, p. 23

A person who has an intrinsic sense of control over his/her individual circumstances and over the major forces impacting those circumstances should, by all rights, feel a justifiable sense of prosperity. 

Donald Trump – who owns at least 1% of America (by his personal account) – has both an extrinsic and an intrinsic sense of CONTROL and prosperity.   (Some of it may be justified and some of it not!)  Mother Theresa owned very little and worked in deplorable circumstances.  But her immersion in her Mission to serve a Greater Good gave her a sense of “manageability” akin to a sense of CONTROL. 

Perhaps a sense of MISSION is at least as good as a sense of control, and may be even better in many circumstances where great numbers of things are essentially uncontrollable. 

A sense of control for most of the rest of us remains elusive much of the time. 

It’s tempting to limit … and even keep decreasing … our sphere of engagement until we have absolute control of everything within our grasp … except, of course, for everything and anything outside that sphere of engagement on which everything ELSE often depends! 

Gaining the upper hand in manipulating video games can give one a euphoric feeling of control – even of superiority – that carries absolutely no water in the grand scheme of things. 

Perhaps the most utilitarian way to define base-line PROSPERITY is this:

Wanting only what you need,

            needing only what is “Good for you”,

                        and having a more-than-reasonable chance of attaining it.

In that sense, one probably CAN “Have it all!” 

An obligatory component of prosperity is sustainability; one can hardly feel genuinely “prosperous” without a reasonable sense of continuing … perhaps even increasing … favorable circumstances.  HOPE for a bright(er) future is an integral part of a legitimate feeling of prosperity.

A sense of VALUE – of being valued – is important. 

BELONGING is important.  If you are part of a “going enterprise” … be it family, church, business, school, club, profession, etc. … you’ve got access to a breadth and depth of resources that can add and continue to grow in value.   

Finally, having the capacity and inclination to CONTRIBUTE to the wellbeing of others, including time, energy, finances, goods and services, is a measure of prosperity.  Wealth of any kind without generosity is a hollow and unfulfilling condition!  Maybe that’s why MISSION is so important. 

So, we’ve defined PROSPERITY and established the importance of CONTROL, but we haven’t yet answered the riddle: Why is PROSPERITY / CONTROL so elusive? 

Unfortunately, we can’t blame all of the shortfall on our parents, “The Government”, teachers, coaches, the education system, the economy, the “Devil”, or some far-fetched conspiracy theory.  

We’ll explore the underlying factors further in future blogs.  In the interim, let’s look for – and work like Ninjas on bringing to fruition – everything we CAN control, and it will be amazing how much else becomes so much more manageable … not to mention how eminently prosperous we can legitimately feel about it!  If all else fails, take a moment out of your stress-filled life and count your Blessings!  More “countables” are definitely on the way for the Ninja in you!! Quartermaster