JJ's World Views

Tag: learning

  • Changes

    Changes

    It has been a while since I have posted anything here.  Many things have changed in my life in that period.  I graduated from Normandale Community College and now have my first degree.  My brakes went out on my car and I had to struggle to get the money together to fix it.  I am thankful for my brother in law and his friend for helping me with the repairs.  I have started a new job this week as a educational paraprofessional substitute.   I am working to pay off a student loan before I can go for my B.A. in Teaching Social Studies.  So, I am currently not in school for the time being.  I hope to have that all paid off before June, that way I can get back to work on my degree.

    The next few months are going to be tight but I believe I will be able to make it through.  If I do not make my deadline of June I will head back to school by next spring.  It is good to have goals but they should not I believe, so rigid to the point that if you do not make it with in a time frame it kills your motivation.  This is what does happen to me a lot.  I sometimes push myself, to the point where I start to question my own worth and get down on myself.  Then I let everything go and just give up.  I have to make sure I have a secondary plan of action, because shit happens.

    Things happen in our lives that change us for better or worse.  The thing is when we are in a down spin we have to gain our composer and level ourselves off and change direction accordingly.  There is not just one way to get where you want to go in life there are many.  Some are short and sweet, and others may take a bit longer but you will still get there in the end.

  • What Type of Society Would You Like to Live in?

    What type of society would you like to live in?  Collectivist or Individualistic?  This is a question we were asked in Pillars of Leadership program at school this week.  This is a very hard questions to be asked and takes a lot of thought as to not give people the wrong idea.  If you say you want to live in a collectivist society people in the states think China or the former USSR.  If you say Individualistic people think of America and the corporate plutocracy that runs it.  I would chose a combination of both a more socially individualistic and economically collectivistic society.

    In America we have been traditionally a socially collectivist and economically individualistic society.  This means socially if you were different from the group you were labeled the outcast, different, freak, ect…  If you are are not white, Christian, hetrosexual you were the other and have historically been segregated against in one form or another.  Yet, if you raised have money, and power you were held in high regard even worshipped to some extent.  This paradigm has been hard for me to live in because I do not think the way I was taught to think.  I do not view wealth or power as a success factor.  I also see people as individuals and judge them on there actions not race, gender, sexual orientation, ect…  I view happiness and empathy as how successful a society is in the grand scheme of things.

    I do not think that it is up to the government or corporation should  decide what you do as a career or job.  I feel we help people to reach their potential in the field they enjoy and are good at.  Yes, this is would not be a nice and ordered society but it plays to people’s strengths and move society in a more positive direction.  This allows people to find out who they are and what they are passionate about.  This also breeds a much happier society and less conflict.  I feel that when a society reaches a certain level of development that the government can not only help it’s people militarily but making sure that the basic necessities are taken care of like food, clothing, housing, ect… They would not get to chose these thing for them, but, helps people to afford these items making sure no one is left behind or falls through the cracks.  This way the economic schizm does not grow so great that a few people control the rest of the society against their will.

    People will ask, “But, if we don’t have money to use as an incentive how can we motivate people to do the work?”  To them I answer ” There are many ways to motivate people like their passions. some people like helping others, some like to create things like art, science, or music..  Think of all the artists that have died in poverty, like Van Gogh, yet, after their deaths the pieces would have made them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.  Think of people in the scientific realm like Nicola Tesla who died in poverty not to be respected till well after his death.”  How many minds have we wasted because of the greed of our society?  How many more will not have the opportunity because others think that because they are wealthy they are the best?  How many ideas will be stolen because of greed and pride?  These are questions I asked myself when people ask me “What type of society I want to live in?”

    I feel we need a combination of both in our societies and no pure system will ever work in a world full of differences.

    Peace and Love To all who read this and even those who don’t.

  • Economics, Government and Bruce Lee

    Some people may think this strange but when I think about big issues like economics and government, one philosophy I think we should take comes from an unlikely source, Bruce Lee’s Philosophy on Martial arts.  To me Bruce was one a person who understood America better than most American did or do.  His Philosophy in the martial arts was to take what he took the most useful parts of other martial arts and add it to his own style Jeet Kune Do, the way of the intercepting fist.  This meant that the art was ever evolving.  This same philosophy can and should be when it comes to the economy and government.

    We should see what policies are working in other countries and start testing and adopting them over in the United States.   This way we can start building a better country.  The U.S. is set up like a large social lab.  Testing different policies and adjust them to accommodate the citizens of the country.

    For we are each part of a bigger organism called society.  We are all trying to find a place where we belong.  We are all atoms trying to stabilize.  With global warming happening we are being warmed up and ever volatile.  Running around bouncing into each other. Sometimes we stay attached for a while, other times we split or touch for a second and never see each other again.  During these periods we must learn from one another.   To make each other better people.   Look at what we are doing with marijuana legislation.  Each state is learning from the other to which ones work best.

    With all the changing in the economy we must do this.  Otherwise society will fall.  To much of it in one area or another will destroy the economy.  It is like a water balloon, you fill it up in a single area it will burst.  There has to be a balance to it.  the rules for the economy should be set out nice and clear so most people will understand them. There should be a cap on how much a single person or family can make.  We are always talking about a maximum amount earned.  This way we no one or few persons have too much power.  That is how we get to the economic problems that we currently have in our societies. Those at the top have to remember money is a resource not speech.  Do the tax what come out of your mouth.  No that is absurd.   Speech is pretty much unlimited.  Money is not.  The more we print the higher the prices go and stay.  Not giving society a chance to keep up if the top 1 percent has too much.

    Some of the rich say that it is class warfare and we the citizens are the aggressors.  When it is the obscenely rich have been doing class warfare on the poor for most of civilization’s existence.  This time they have an entire world to plunder and not just a country anymore.  For this reason from time to time we will need a redistribution of wealth from time to time, in order that no few people have too much power.  everything in nature has limits why should currency be any different.

     

    Peace be with you all.