Are You Successful?

Success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose:

 

Creating dependency is how power works. Although our ancestors had a much more difficult life than do we, I would bet that in many ways they lived a more satisfying life. The fact that so many people are incapable of doing much of anything anymore is not such a great thing.

Btw, this isn't about you, so don't take it that way. Are you not aware of the general population's aptitude/knowledge levels these days? When close to 40% of the population is near obese, that's a serious problem on many levels.

 

You are overplaying the "Americans are fat, lazy and dependent on handouts" line.

I guess a natural born pessimists just can't help themselves.

Are you another Russian poster here venting out his/her envy?

 

If you see someone in sandals, sitting under a tree at midday, obviously unemployed, its either a bum or a Democrat that studied Liberal Arts in college.

 

Liberal arts like computer science or economics?

Your made-up 'arguments' always make so much sense. /sarcasm

 

Success is a continuum as defined by Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Very few of us achieve self actualization.

 

At one point in time the liberal arts education was designed for those born into the ruling class, i.e., to teach them how to think rather than being job training. Now higher education is for the most part considered job training, not teaching people how to think. In other words, there is value in a traditional liberal arts education, but this value is largely lost in today's society.

 

Reverse evolution. We still have the random mutations but natural selection is eliminated.

 

Liberal arts generally produces nothing. Sitting under a tree contemplating your navel and your "Women's Studies" degree does nothing for humanity. But a solid Engineering Degree gives us tools like Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Physics and other subjects that help us travel the world, heat our homes, communicate with sophisticated electronics, get advanced medical care and more.

 

You got me. You just can fool the really sharp ones.

Have a good day, comrade.

 

Of course the classic liberal arts degree had classes in literature, Greek and Roman civilizations, philosophy, logic, and so forth. Not things like women's studies. As I said, designed to teach the ruling class how to think. The sort of education men like Thomas Jefferson received.

 

The idea that you can get by without doing anything is a social pathology.

Fear not, the elite have a perfect solution...open the borders and allow millions of illegals into the country. They will be more than happy to take the place of those who [for whatever the reasons] have given-up. Finally, get the middle classes to pay for all the upkeep and maintenance on the increasing numbers of people who just are not "into it" anymore.

 

Going against Nature is 1M times worse than going against the FED. You lose EVERY time.

 

Great post. Our ancestors grew their own food, communicated face to face, chopped wood to stay warm and all that. They were too busy to get angry. Today we all have supermarkets, iPhones, central heat/air... and there's all sorts of anger.

Another point is that we're creating a "knowledge class". Everyone has an iPhone but very few people can tell you exactly how those magic pictures fly through the air and get displayed on your phone. It almost feels like the Middle Ages when all science resided in the minds of monks in monasteries. The people only knew about magic. We're doing that again, only now we call them "engineers".

 

Philosophy can't get you home, literature can't heat your house, old Greeks and Romans can't even help you drive your car... they do, however, help you sit under a tree and contemplate your navel while strumming a guitar.
Ever been to Jefferson's home at Monticello? He had all kinds of THINGS that he BUILT... like a serving system which allowed service without serving people in the room and a book holder that allowed ease of reading. Latin, Greek and philosophy didn't help him with those.

 

Yup... Democrats want the freebies to flow like water.

 

I see specialization as a particular problem. In my profession [medicine], specialization has caused most physicians to forget that there is an entire body connected to whatever part they are particularly interested in. This has led to all kinds of issues [especially because providers no longer [in most settings] have the time to properly communicate. I have seen patients who are seeing upwards of ten different physicians and have no clue what is going on. Often these same patients are taking 10 to 20 different medications. You could spend most of the day simply trying to figure out who's on first, but most times, nobody does anything because it would take all day.

Hopefully, we will begin to see a trend back to generalization in many fields. I believe that being able to see the entire picture is many times much more valuable than zooming in one facet alone.

 

An interesting comment in this day and age where we are knee deep in "Information Specialists" supposedly connecting us all instantly with digital communications.

We're an old couple and see doctors a lot, spending lots of time in various waiting rooms. I would say the majority waiting with us (including us) sit there with big zip lock bags filled with our medications, to be inventoried by a nurse before we get to see a doctor.

 

Laziness is such a subjective measure. I have spoken to many people that throw around the term very loosely because they use it as a measure against their own accomplishment. I had a conversation with a colleague once. She was recently promoted into a VP position and we were having a celebration lunch. She was commenting about how she could not understand how people are so lazy not obtain an education and do better for themselves. Why work in menial labor jobs for 30 or 40K when if they applied themselves and did better in school they could be making hundreds of thousands. We debated this for the entire lunch but later I realized that in some ways I think the same way. When we raised our kids we stressed the importance of getting good grades and working hard in school in order to get into a good school and have a successful career so although I may have disagreed with her I re-enforce her ideals. Although I still think there are many other factors that influence a persons level of education I must admit proper motivation is one major factor.

Also in the case of the 24 year old not being able to put air in his tire, you need to consider all the things he may know how to do that you may not. He may be able to do things with his phone or laptop you cannot begin to imagine. He may laugh at your inability to use social media or recent technologies just as you did his inability to fill a tire. To be honest if he does not drive a car filling a tire is probably a very low priority item compared to the other things I mentioned. You should not judge someone laziness against your own abilities.

 

I'll tell you what I've told my patients since the 90's when corporate control really began to have profound effects on patient care [and this is not to suggest that there aren't wonderful providers doing great things out there]. You must educate yourself and assume that your physician is not able to have all the information necessary to make the most prudent decisions all the time. Many health care institutions are now encouraging all their providers to provide [essentially] the same care to all patients [in order to make it easier to administrate]. It's all about administration [and has been for a long time].

Empower yourself by asking lots of questions and remind the staff of the medications you are taking [and if you are having any potential side effects]. Remember that nobody cares as much about your health as do you!

 

I agree about education and career.

But the tire deal is different. Its not okay to be able to perform surgery but be able to clean your butt after defecating. It is not acceptable to be able to write a computer program but not be able to eat with utensils. It is not acceptable to be able to write a dissertation but not be able to use a handkerchief. And its not acceptable to be able to win a Senatorial race but not be able to fill a tire.

 

I speak with a lot of Gen Z and a surprising number of them do not drive cars. They use public transit, car services or car sharing services. The need to know how to fill a tire may not be necessary in their lives. My entire point is this is not a measure of laziness because it only takes 5 minutes to learn how to fill a tire. It also only takes 5 minutes to learn how to side load an app instead of using an app store like google play. Just because someone does not know how to do simple things is not a measure of laziness it is more a measure of how important that task is in their lives.

 

Valid points but I suspect he actually knew how but was too lazy. He does drive, anyone that drives should be able to put air in a tire .... I did charge him the 3$ grown man fee

 

Boy! Is THAT an inner-city view of the world! I never met anyone that didn't drive as soon as they were old enough, except for a few people in my native Bronx.

 

I hate to say it but if you want to work in world leading business and technology that is where they are. Goldman Sachs in not out in some rural town with 300-400 people. City centers are where pretty much all major business are headquartered.