"In our desire to make the pain of the economic contraction go away, we have forgotten that freedom involves risk. If government is obligated to cure all hardships, then no one is really free in the first place. TAKE AWAY THE FREEDOM TO FAIL AND YOU HAVE OBLITERATED THE FREEDOM TO SUCCEED."
(The bold is my emphasis, not the author's.)
Wow, wow, wow! This is what is wrong with our country, among other things. People are so scared of failing that they don't even want to try. You have all these ridiculous "everyone is a winner" games. If someone loses their job, give them food, rent, and money to help them. For as long as they need. Encourage people to take handouts, rather than try and fail. It's OK to fail. Really, it is. If you try something, and it doesn't work, hopefully, it turns into a learning lesson. Seriously. I can't tell you how many learning lessons I have had in my life. I've been trying to make a dishwasher detergent that actually gets all my dishes clean. I've tried a bunch of different recipes, and so far, what works on dishes doesn't work on glasses or pots. As a result, I've been learning so much about the actual ingredients. This one cuts grease, this one softens water, etc. But you see, if I didn't fail (and I am still at the fail point right now), then I wouldn't be learning this neat stuff. This past summer, I made the dresses the girls wore to my son's wedding. We are talking about professional gowns. I spent hours and hours on them. Literally, from early morning until almost early morning 5 days a way, for three weeks on each gown. I had to get the pattern just right. It involved pining and sewing and ripping out and redoing and asking questions and getting frustrated and kicking myself as to why I was so stupid as to think I could make them. In the end, after blood (oh yeah, how many times do you stupidly poke yourself in the finger with a pin?), sweat, and tears, my girls ended up with the most gorgeous dresses.
Yes, I am tooting my own horn, but then again, this was not a failure. You wanna know how many UFOs (UnFinished Objects) I have finally had to toss because they are beyond repair. I had several great ideas for fantastic businesses. I invested a lot of money into them, and they did not take off. (Seems like when the economy takes a hit, people don't want to buy fancy decorated pillow cases or designer outfits for their little kids. Oh well.) The fact is, each and every failure is a lesson on what NOT to do. If you don't walk away from every experience in life with a lesson learned, then IMHO, you are wasting your time here.
Next up, this fear of failure and this "game" called Knock Out. First of all, I refuse to call it a game. Monopoly is a game (albeit an incredibly boring one to me). Farmville is a game. Punching defenseless people is NOT a game. It's a cowardly and criminal act. It is blowing my mind that just because some low-life has decided to call it a game, the media is going along with the hype. What is wrong with us? Why isn't any editor out there saying to themselves, OH MY GOSH! This is not a game, and I won't refer to it as such? Why??? Why is You Tube not taking these videos down? Why are the cops not running after this? What is it going to take to wake people up? Maybe we should start playing "Knock Out the Politicians" and then we can get somewhere. Oh but wait. They are the "elite". Not like us lowly citizens deemed unworthy of special protection. Let them surround themselves with armed guards. All animals are equal, but some are more equal. No folks, that isn't true. Either we are all equal and at risk to fail, or we are under tyranny. Toss away your rights, and this is what you get. You get animals running around punching out defenseless people (there is a victim in NY who is a Yale researcher). You get government running around thinking that they know better how to spend our money and how much money we actually deserve to make. (Remember, if you are stupidly making more than $250,000, then you are greedy. You need to give some of it to some other poor loser who prefers to sit in their underwear, popping back beers while watching Jerry Springer.) You get government telling you which doctor you are allowed to see and if you are past a certain age, well, adios folks, you have lived past your usefulness. No, this is not dire predictions. It is so sad to see people sooo quick and so ready to toss away freedom for absolutely nothing. Look at all the people willing to stand in line at the airport, take off their shoes, submit to a search, all for the right to fly on a plane. I'm sorry, but no where in our Constitution do I see that buying an airplane ticket the right to search a person. Hence, rather than give away my right, I am giving away my liberty to travel by plane.
Something has to give. We can't keep going down this path. At some point, we are going to have to decide what is more important to ourselves. Do we want to get back to our old way of life, which includes the possibility that we may fail? Not a small failure like sewing the sew upside down. I am talking about making the wrong decision and losing your company big time. I am talking about failure to pay your mortgage and losing your house. Actions have consequences. If we take away the consequences, than actions have no meaning. Which is how animals are now able to run around punching out people and our media calls it a game.
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