There are just some basic principles in life that are simply undeniable.  Life is not fair.  Some are born with a silver spoon while others are forced to get a tetanus shot upon birth to cope with all of the rust, erosion and decay they are born into.  The silver spoons fail in life and the oxidized find success.  Just as life is unfair, life has no guarantees; the fate of success in life lies solely in the hand of the believer.

Will of freedom

There comes a time in life when our will must overcome our desire.  It is good to desire more from life, but without the will power to bring such desires to fruition, they are mere daydreams, wants and covets that sour the taste of life itself.  This is an undeniable reality that takes courage to accept.  This reality has a very peculiar relationship with freedom.

Freedom is the right to fail.  It is the ability to try, persist and persevere until the individual opts to yield.   There is nothing in existence that formally forces the pursuit of happiness or success.  Only the choices and will of the individual provides shelter from the risk of pursuing more.  It is what makes America great, it is what America was built to embrace, it is what we are failing to uphold.

Demons and dreams

Lost in the translation of freedom is that the individual is charged with the responsibility of their own journey.  Because some fail, all must be propped up.  Because some find success, the law of the land insists that none shall be entitled to success.  It is maddening.  We grow up wanting more; with the desire to attain and the understanding that the ability to achieve lies within the will of the individual brave enough to dream it to be true.  As some fall short, they are viewed as the direct casualties of those who have succeeded despite that fact that all have started out with the same ambitions.  It has become a transition; from dreams to demons.  We want, yet we seek to punish through political demonizing for finding the success they have spent a lifetime striving for.  Life is unfair and some find success while others do not, but all are free strive for it, all want it, none want a life without it.

It is unfortunate what we are doing to success.  We make a fuss over the millions the outgoing Google CEO will receive, while never comparing it to the 2.6% of the value he brought to Google.  Never considering how hard he worked to achieve in life.  Never contemplating what he lives without because he opted to put work first.  We only see CEO and dollar signs as we are being politically manipulated into believing success is only bad when someone other than us attains it; that not all have found it.

Equal outcomes of the mediocre

It is not a matter of equal outcomes, it is as impossible to provide equal outcomes as it is impossible for all to be the coveted CEO.  This however, does not make success wrong.  Our current obsession with the other and the success they find only hinders our own individual journeys through life.  If the other is bad for finding it, we should not pursue it, we should instead bide our time to allow government to provide to us our fair share.  It is easier and it comes without the risk, without the hard work, without the sacrifice and without the social dysfunction that often accompanies true success.  Our dreams lessen to the mediocre which we have ill fatedly learned to celebrate.  Our desires fail to find the challenge of will power.  We become less as we learn to settle for what others feel is best for us out of their own perverse envious, obsession of the other.

1/25/2011 12:02:02 pm

From Psalm 37:

1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4 Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Another outstanding article. Thanks for sharing.

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Barbara Fennell
1/25/2011 12:31:35 pm

Paul, once again you've made a very good point. We all have the right to the persuit of happiness...but we all have to work for that happiness, not have it handed to us! If we all sit on around and do nothing, there isn't going to be any money for the government to give as handouts. Right now there are too many citizens not pulling their weight. Working for a better life gives a person self worth. We all need more of that!

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