Sunday, October 30, 2011

Parting Shot "What I Think" (Not "What I Know" As That's Presumptuous Given There Are No Certitudes)



For this final post (see previous entry) I was going to title it "what I know" but as one gets older one realises the futility of such a statement as, apart from one or two certainties, what one knows (speaking for myself anyway) at  any one time, often turns out to be utterly wrong in due course.


So here are the two "what I know" items which are always right and unchanging.


"Love is all you need". And love sustains,gives peace and is one of the few things that the more you give/get there is no point of satiety.


Christ is the fountain of pure love as is the Holy Spirit. Years ago I remember Malcolm Muggeridge stating, at the height of the Mao Little red Book craze which swept China and liberal bastions world-wide "Nothing is more certain that in due course Mao will go from being adulated to being reviled. That is the fate of all such "leaders" throughout history. And, throughout history Jesus's truth continues on." 


Being an unreconstructed liberal at the time I thought that those were the words of a doddery old fool but, he was of course quite correct (one could add Saddam/Gaddafi/Pol Pot etc etc to a seemingly endless list.) 


Einstein said, I believe, that whatever one could say about Napoleon there could be no argument that the world "would have been better off if he had never been born" words which, surely, no one could apply to Jesus.


Political blogging, unless one is possessed of a special moral fiber, is detrimental to one's spirit. I find the comments by partisans on sites they don't agree with seem to be getting more vile, fanatical, one-eyed, and distasteful. This is especially so where Sarah Palin is concerned. 


Why people should be so horrendous in their words about this person is beyond my understanding. She holds no power or office and if she says anything the most incredible rants follow. there are numbers of blogs totally dedicated to destroying her, and her family in the most crude and vicious and preposterous language imaginable.


Clearly there is a sickness is society and I am at a loss to understand it or see any remedy except for people undergoing an inner change by adhering to the only one who can bring such a change about. But that takes the free will we have been given by grace and one wonders whether the desire to exercise it exists in so many.


This aspect of blogging is one reason why I am taking a hiatus as I struggle to keep myself apart from such intense partisanship and it would be easy to succumb.


In the realm of "I believe" rather than "I know" I will put that in general private enterprise does better than government in picking winners and if private enterprise gets it wrong then it was not taxpayers money that was lost  just risk money. 


In a caring society there is a role for government in assuring the basics of life e.g. a safety net, security in old age, and provision for basic services (water etc), environmental protection without going to absurd lengths, education and the protection of children. I know that life commences at fertilization and that it is sacred.


There is no such thing as a free lunch is the only financial statement that transcends all the gobbledygook that issues from the myriad of financial commentators. If governments spend more than they take in then there will be inflation. If the reserve bank lowers interest rates then there will be speculation and inflation. 


Time and time again we have seen that the "cure" is worse than the disease" and the pain of letting market forces do their job within the business cycle is the correct one. 


The public is partly at fault of course when there is economic dislocation, as they are addicted to the quick fix, but perhaps this latest recession, which followed on from the loosening of credit by the RB will have made the lesson clear.


And finally, family is the core of society and individual well being. Everything that can be done to nurture it is of transcending value.



God bless all
Michael Joseph.










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