Brown sent me forward the other week, and I have actually given it some thought as I think it does ring a theme that I think is true in many ways....
A holy man was having a conversation with God one day and said, ' God , I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like..'
God led the holy man to two doors.
He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.
In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.
The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished.
They were holding spoons with very long handles, that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.
But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths
The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.
God said 'You have seen Hell.'
They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.
There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water.
The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, 'I don't understand.'
It is simple,' said God . 'It requires but one skill.
You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.'
Remember that I will always share my spoon with you.
So we can all be plump together)
But....
Here is what bothers me... Is it fair that those who were given a house when they obviously couldnt afford a house, and now are losing that house, are STILL given that house while those who worked for a house, bought the house they could afford, make the payments on their house, and are getting no aid are getting the shaft? Isnt this simply redistribution of wealth? Is it fair that I am getting taxed to give other people something they have not earned? Is it fair that if I call Citibank and ask to have my mortgage cut in half, they are going to look at me, see that i make my payments on time, have plenty o cash on hand and tell me that I am a person of means and havent had that "personal misfortune"?
All of this smacks of Obama and "the left" feeling that they can/will redistribute the wealth around. I just don't see how that is fair when a lot of people receiving this simply haven't earned it. Its one thing to have lost your job because if this mess and need assistance. Its another thing to have NEVER made an effort and feel you DESERVE a home and will be given one. If you have never worked for it, how do you deserve it? Can someone explain this to me?
8 comments:
The important thing to note about the above story is that each person is receiving as much as they are giving.
My issue is with people who make no effort to feed themselves, relying solely on the premise that they are owed something. You are not owed anything.
This sense of entitlement is just getting worse, as we're seeing in the classroom. This was a great article about college students:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/education/18college.html?em
They think they are owed a B just for attending class! If they actually study for two hours, they are owed a A.
I guess the logical extension of this insanity is that if you go to college for 4 years and sit through class, and sit at your desk all day at work, then you are owed a half-million dollar house.
i understand your frustration however when someone loses a house to foreclosure everyone loses b/c the property value for everyone around that house goes down.
i am also sick and tired of people blaming all this on people who got a house and couldn't afford it b/c while some did lie and go above their means to get into a house only to now be having trouble and needing help what about the banks / lenders who gave out loans and or refinanced to these people knowing they could not afford them. (which did happen a lot ref. the world bank spotlight on "60 minutes" a few weeks back - they gave a loan and refinanced a loan to a woman using her husbands tax returns - he'd been dead for years and they were still using his information)
are you saying that we just give them a pass?
i understand your frustration but you should blame everyone and not just the people. the banks are just as liable if not more so b/c it was their greed that helped create the "housing bubble" that burst and left everyone scratching their heads and wondering what the h&&* happened.
while i do agree that some people will consider this an entitlement b/c they are just lazy (and i'm seeing that more & more with this generation as well jessica) something had to be done. whether or not it was what you like is well irrelevant b/c what's done is done
-will
what I think is irrelevant? Um...OK... I gotcha. I'll just quit caring and just because I disagree, i should just shut up, right?
ok so the last line was a little harsh i'll admit and it came off wrong of course.
what i meant to say was the stimulus is signed and it can't be unsigned so we all should just make the most of it.
is the stimulus the right thing to do? we probably won't know that until months or years later but at least something was done to try and fix this mess that we are in. and for the record i don't like everything about the stimulus but the GOP mantra of tax cuts, we need tax cuts has gotten real old. tax cuts alone won't help us out of this.
i'm not saying since you disagree you should just shut up. i'm not that partisan, i'm just tired of people saying i played by the rules and other people didn't so why am i paying for them to get help and i can't get any help when they totally ignore the banking / lending sectors hand in all this. if you want to place blame it should be placed with everyone not just the people b/c some did play by the rules or so they thought and they were taken advantage of by the banks etc.
-will
Will, sorry I don't know you because my words will come across harsh too but I promise they are from the heart... you can choose to "make the most of it" and I see it as your absolute right to do so, but it is EXTREMELY patriotic for Jerome and I NOT to do so if we don't agree.
How can I say patriotic? Well, see, a few hundred years ago our founding forefathers were rebels, biting against the rule of their day, and participated in a revolution. And what were several key points that came from their willingness to fight and die to fight high taxation and suppression of their desire to have a voice in challenging government? FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND MANY LIMITS AIMED AT KEEPING GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT in citizen's lives minimal.
So Jerome and I are being QUITE patriotic voicing concerns that we believe government is getting too involved with controlling lives through stimulus efforts (versus letting free market capitalism run it's course). Could we be wrong, ABSOLUTELY, and could Obama's wealth redistribution socialist steps work? Possibly. But should we all blindly and silently just trust that government knows best? ABSOLUTELY not.
I did serve in such silence for eight years while in the United States Marine Corps, and saw it my duty as at that time I had pledged to follow Presidential orders and I did so to the best of my abilities. Having done my time and willingly risked my life for my country, I will never, and I mean NEVER willingly have my voice silenced just to go along with whatever party's platform of the day might be.
And you act as if we should just leave it to the future to see if the tax hikes/stimulus work... well, see that alone doesn't paint the picture that Jerome has tried explaining for days. I believe it fair to say at least one of his concerns is Obama is not keeping pre-election promises and folks rightfully should be challenging why? Why couldn't the American public have promised time to look at the stimulus package when it was rushed for signature only to sit for three days for an Obama vacation before being signed (and a wasteful JET flight for Pelosi to lie about her meeting with the Pope)? Why hope and promised immediate fixes before the election, and doom, gloom, and catastrophe after?
And one final thought, Will, the stock market is a forward looking instrument that analyzes DATA and votes with confidence or lack thereof for actions it sees being taken for the future. Thus far, the vote for ALL the stimulus actions has been a resounding vote no and if you've invested in the past you'll realize that the market isn't just going to wait and see how things go. Well, neither am I. And Obama needs to man-up and OWN the impact he's having, as has his own party's past efforts to force bad loans onto immigrants and the poor in order to buy their votes. Bush is ABSOLUTELY to blame for not having been more of a true financial conservative as he should have FOUGHT harder against the damage that was being done but this problem goes WAY back before his administration... and please do a little reading/history work before arguing against this point.
Sure my words have sounded harsh, but hope you'll respect they are heartfelt and within my patriotic right to express them.
John Kennedy
i choose to make the most of it b/c there is no reason to mope in the doom & gloom. should our leaders be held accountable? of course they should and i do not wish to silence good natured debate.
i am not blindly following our leaders i am just choosing to let them have their chance to try and fix the issues that we have in front of us.
and as i said in my last post, if you are going to lay blame for the mess we are in then lay blame on everyone that contributed to the mess not just a select few.
you can state your case all you want we will just agree to disagree.
by the way i never did not nor do i ever question anyone's patriotism.
-will
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