Message-ID: <9700158533.AA853351695@hudsmtphq.hud.gov> Date: Wed, 15 Jan 1997 08:38:11 EST From: mailto:Michael_O._Patterson@HUD.GOV> Subject: Enough! To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Everything being said is correct, if only from the viewpoint of the person making the statement.Capitalism creates wealth and misery, and then again so does socialism. The ecosystem is falling apart, despite the best intentions of all. I don't wonder why things are falling apart any more, I wonder what's holding them together.
I think it was Einstein who said that problems can't be solved at the level they were created at, that you have to go to a new level of order.
I'm on this listserver to get practical ideas I can apply. This debate is absolutely useless to me, and I bulk erase messages on it without reading them. To quote Sun Bear, "If your philosophy won't grow corn, we aren't interested". This debate is rather like the debates on how many angels could stand on the head of a pin. I don't pay a fortune for time, like some, but hey, let's work together to do what we can. There are people in Russia now who can remember 2 times in their lives when human flesh was the only food available, and if we don't turn the tide, many of us are heading down the path to that same destination. House thieves in Russia I'm told now leave the silver untouched, and empty refrigerators...
We will never solve the problems if we don't identify our common interests, and work together out of our different talents to get the job done. Can I suggest that each of you start your day with a statement of your purpose, like "My purpose is to get the maximum use of my time to accomplish my goal of getting good ideas together to help people solve their own problems..." and then ask how this debate is getting you closer to your goal?
The center of the community is respect. On this listserver community, can we please respect that every single statement is absolutely true from the viewpoint of the speaker? And that each person has value and talents? And that if we work together we can accomplish more than we can separately? That each person on this list is a potential ally?
I personally am hedging my bets. I'm investing more and more time in Stone Age Nomadics courses, because I can see the future, and I am quite sure that if we don't change what we've been doing, the woods and fields will be the only places groceries will be available, within the next 20 years. I don't think you will be successful- you aren't helping each other, you have absolutely no respect for each other. This is a recipe for disaster. This debate is really depressing, because it is wasting precious time. All we have time for is lopping small slices off the beast, and celebrating small victories. Anything else, including this debate, is gunning the engine in neutral, lots of noise, and it doesn't get us anywhere. If I didn't have a kid to support, I would leave this civilization of idiots, and go out and live by myself in the woods. Well, I did what little I could.
Enough! Focus on mission, or quit.