Rich

The state of mind of having more than someone else leads a person to feel rich. If anybody asks if you are rich, and they are talking about money, the answer is nearly always, No. That is because there is always someone that you know who has more than you do, sometimes much more. If a person has an envious nature, they tend to be pleased when someone who has more money loses some - you then become more equal to them. If hatred is involved there is a desire that the person would lose much more so that they will have less than you - not be as rich. There are some people who desire all to be equal, they are called communists. A realist recognises that we cannot all be equal and accepts that there are many gradations of rich people. Indeed, some people who may consider themselves rich are not when they are judged by someone who is very rich. The poor people in a third world country look upon poor people here in this country as being very rich. They look upon the car, TV, telephone, diet and living conditions of our poor and long to also have it all. That is why so many people want to come to this country. We have a political class that wants to tax the rich, take some away from them so that it can be distributed to others. This is acceptable to many people who do not understand that this is a communist principle: take from those who have and give it to those that don't have. Are we becoming more communistic is this country? Is capitalism doomed? Do we want respect for property rights or not?

Respect

The word "respect" now is confusing to me. The definition I knew was: "to show esteem, or, to honor" and this meant that one had to do something to deserve that esteem or honor. The "honor" of a doploma is bestowed on those who earned it through a series of consistant studies and work, consequently we respect those who have earned a diploma. Recently, in black culture, we hear of those who are harmed because they did not show due respect to an assailant. The term, "He dissed me" was all it took to resort to violence. The need for respect in this manner is troubling. Does the requested respect come from the realization that you might be slashed or shot? Where is there honor in that? A similar confusion came when Ryan, my Grandson, told me he quit his job as a bagger at a supermarket because he did not get respect from the people for whom he bagged groceries. Doing that work is a service job and people expect the service for which they pay. If you become one of the best baggers in the store the management might honor you with an increase in pay, or a badge saying "Best Bagger In The World" That increse in pay is the respect you get for doing a good job. But customers have no role in this. One more source of confusion, Sean recently complained because the workers in his school cafeteria did not show respect for the people they served. We all expect to be served when buying something and we expect a certain decorum in the manner of being served. As consumers, we have done nothing but offer money for this service which has nothing to do with esteem or honor in our affluent society. In my view, the President of our Country deserves our respect because of the position he holds. It is one of honor and he did accomplish much to attain that position. Also, his responsibility to all citizens to work for, their good, their security and their prosperity is so demanding that he deserves all the honor we can bestow, and I respect him for that. Has the word "respect" changed in our popular culture in some way that I have missed?

One Square

Cheryl Crowe has stated we all should use only one square, an interesting concept. Even Rosie chimed in with: "Does she know the size of my ass?" Apparently Rosie has not considered exactly what she was talking about. Consider a golf course, it has many fairways that are of various lengths and widths, yet, the cup at the end of each of the fairways is the same size. If it can be done for one it can be done for all. But how to do it is the question. So far Crowe has not offered to demonstrate. I am willing to watch and be instructed. One square would be a problem for some of my grandchildren who ball up a large wad and wipe with that. When they were told that it is not necessary to use so much paper, the answer was, I might get some poop on my hand. Of course, if that happens it is possible to wash in the sink nearby. At one time, no squares were used when corncobs were available in the outhouse. I remember using an outhouse in which there was an option, corncobs or Sears Roebuck Catalog, I used the catalog. In those days, of the three holes available, I sat on the smaller hole.