Good Intentions

Good Intentions

Good intentions put no food on the table

Nor do they put money in the bank

Good intentions do no work

And good intentions save no lives

More often than not

Though many won’t admit

Good intentions lead to bad ends!

© 2012 Vic Jones

Lesson 54 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built. Abraham Lincoln

Let us paraphrase this for the modern era: Let not the poor man steal (whether with his own hand or by government action) from the rich but rather let him learn to become rich and build his own wealth thereby assuring that his wealth will be safe from the greed of other men.

Greed is without a doubt at the heart of wishing to have what you desire without work. But greed always leads to everyone having less goods and less security.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Lesson 53 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Human nature is universal, people are individual.

Self interest is a matter of human nature. In every society no matter how it is organized people will generally seek their own interests over everyone else. This is one of the generalities of human nature.

People are individual (this is also a generality of human nature) in that everyone will express some form of individuality even in the most conformist culture. Also even though everyone can be expected to seek his own interest it is never wise to expect that any one person will seek his own interest even when it may seem that he has an obvious interest.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Lesson 51 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Self interest is not evil. Taking away people's incentive to win is evil!

Self interest is often conflated to be greed which is then seen as evil. I find no difficulty in identifying greed as evil. What I do find difficult is to separate honest and reasonable self interest that is survival oriented for both the individual and society from greed which is not survival oriented.

Perhaps the best way to define greed is as a hunger that cannot be sated and that grows greater the more it is fed. In extreme cases this sort of hunger destroys not only the individual but the society of which he is a part.

Taking away a person’s incentive to win  is evil because this is an abrogation of his self interest which as I noted above is good not only for himself but for everyone around him.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Lesson 47 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

You have heard the teaching that if your neighbor slaps your cheek you should offer him the other one. Some people have interpreted to mean that you should accept violence without recourse. This is untrue. If your neighbor balls up his fist and punches your nose you are well advised to return the favor immediately.

You say to me that returning violence for violence just escalates violence. I say that the appearance of weakness encourages violence. Most times it is possible to accept an insult (though to some people even accepting an insult can will be viewed as weakness) without injury; however when insult escalates to assault it is generally no longer wise to accept it.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Lesson 24 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

When you set out to punish the rich the poor get hurt.
Whenever I see a short statement such as this the first question I ask is this: Is this true?

My answer for this one remains yes.

Therefore I think that I will try to explain what I have seen that makes me believe this to be true. As I examine the world the first thing I notice is that I have never worked for a poor man. The reason for this is simple; a poor man cannot pay me. Or at best he can only pay for a limited amount of my time. Therefore if I want steady work (and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t) I must either be ambitious enough to continually win small pieces of work from many poor people or find one rich person to work for continuously.

© 2010 Vic Jones

Colors

Colors


My skin,

Does it matter what color it is?

Why do you care so much?

About my skin,

Rather than what is within?

What is your answer?

Shall we another generation birth,

To hate one another,

And carry forth the ancient war?

Or will we really learn not to hate,

Just ’cause you’re black and I’m not?

© 2010 Vic Jones

Lesson 14 from The Hard Knocks School of life

Change is inevitable; how you react to change will either make you a success or a failure. The first and most important attitude that anyone must have in the face of change is that change represents opportunity.
Success is always a function of how well you deal with unexpected opportunities.

A good question to ask yourself is: How are you doing at dealing with the opportunities that life has handed you?

© 2010 Vic Jones

Lesson 13 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

If you want to change the world start with yourself; ask this simple question: how can I be a better person. When you learn the answer to that question implement it and you will have changed the world for the better.
It is often said but not acted upon that you are the only person whom you control completely. Therefore you are the only person you can be sure of improving.

© 2010 Vic Jones

Lesson 12 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Find someone who needs help and help them. Do this personally and you will improve yourself and the world!
If you feel bad about the way someone is treated or is living it is your responsibility to help them. If you try to browbeat someone else into doing what you think is helpful rather than doing it personally you are a tyrant.

© 2010 Vic Jones

Cooperation Vs Compulsion

One of the big issues we as humans have in life is the line between compulsion and cooperation. We almost know instinctively that we must cooperate or die. Yet when we try to compel someone to cooperate with us we get rebellion or something worse. Still it seems that in every generation there are those who will say that the only way to achieve cooperation is to compel people to cooperate! It seems to me that cooperation is the exact opposite of compulsion and that if one tries to obtain cooperation by force (which is the definition of compulsion) then cooperation disappears.


© 2010 Vic Jones

Lesson 6 from The Hard knocks School of Life

People are more important than things, concentrate on having good relationships and you will have a happier life.
It seems to me that the greatest difficulties and conflicts in human relationships are created when a greater emphasis is placed on possessions rather than upon caring for one another.

© 2010 Vic Jones

Lesson 5 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Life is hard. This is a fact; what you do about the fact that life is hard will make the difference in whether or not your life is successful. Money is not a good measure of success, happiness is a fair measure of success, how many people whom you have helped be better people is an excellent measure of success.
© 2010 Vic Jones

Lesson 2 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Sometimes the truth hurts; sometimes this is necessary, sometimes it is not, knowing the difference is tact. Trying to enforce a no pain caused standard is political correctness and encourages lying at best.

It has come to me that often the truth is offensive because it is like light is to cockroaches. When the light comes on cockroaches head for places to hide at full speed. When people who are doing evil hear the truth about what they are doing they react with violence and hatred against the person who has told the truth about their behavior

© 2010 Vic Jones

The Easy Life

Searching

Seeking….

              Always seeking

                            Looking for the easy way

Never wondering why

            Life is tasteless

                      When you don’t earn what you have

When everything is just there

              When you don’t work at all

                            When you always take the easy way

When you won’t accept a challenge

                ’Cause you want everything to be easy

And now what

              You are bored

                           Life is meaningless

© 2010 Vic Jones

Reasons for Singularity

AIDS

Chlamydia

Gonorrhea

Hepatitis

Herpes

HPV

Mononucleosis

NSU

Pregnancy

Syphilis

Warts!

Some I missed I’m sure!

© 2010 Vic Jones

What To Do

Livin’ in a haze,
Drugged through our daze,

Reds and yellows and blues,

Black beauties and whites too,

Blue diamonds make superman,

Hash, pot or weed,

Horse, opium or heroin,

Coke will make you high,

LSD will send you on a trip,

Or go on a magic mushroom ride…

Then one day we find,

Chains of sharp wire,

Binding us tight,

We are slaves,

And no drug will change,

That hard cold fact!

© 2010 Vic Jones

Anger

Anger


Are you angry?

What is the problem?

Don’t look at the anger,

Nor even what is in front of you now,

Will you look deeply,

And find,

Why you are angry?

Search out your hurt,

Search out your fear,

Face them,

Heal,

And beg forgiveness,

From those you have harmed.

© 2010 Vic Jones

Sanctuary

Sanctuary


Where is it you think of sanctuary?

Do you trust in your money?

What happens when the government prints more money?

Do you trust in your land?

What happens when the government seizes your land?

Do you trust the government?

What happens when evil men bear rule?

Everything on earth will either decay or be subject to theft,

Therefore trust in God.

© 2010 Vic Jones

Quiet as a Mouse

Quiet as a Mouse


If you sit in a corner,

Quiet as a mouse,

’Tis certain no one will notice you,

Yet if that is your desire,

I’ll not say you nay,

Still,

Don’t complain to me,

If you are unnoticed,

When you choose,

To sit quietly in a corner!

© 2010 Vic Jones