Dear Reader,
Very often these days I see people operating in what I call “subtraction mode”: “For me to have more, you need to have less.”
The “more” to be had is whatever more you may imagine (money, freedom, rights, you name it).
The “you” is typically directed at a group of people disliked by the “me” (immigrants, people of the opposing political current, young citizens, old citizens, the European Community, reptilians, pick one).
That behaviour is more typical in people inclined to judge others before themselves, to whine instead of acting and to feel somehow “better” than other human beings. What’s wrong with this reasoning, other than the general attitude that serves as its fertile soil? Apparently, it is correct: if I take from you, I have more is pure mathematics.
If I can make up some argument to justify my behaviour, that’s even better! You are not of my race! You have been living here for too little! You are not working so you don’t contribute! You are too young and will have your time later! Once more, these comparisons are based on entitlement and not any real logic or facts.
However, if you consider the whole picture, the summation of the richness (for lack of a better term) of everyone stays, at best, the same, but I’m pretty sure that in every less-for-you-more-for-me bargain a bit of value gets destroyed, bringing the whole sum to a slightly lesser amount. It becomes a race to the bottom; dog eats dog. And in a race to the bottom, if you win you lose.
There is a different way of thinking that you can put into work. It is straightforward: disregard what other people say, think and do (within the limits of the law and decency, of course) and just try to add value.
I hear the whiners: “Adding value for whom?”. For everybody.
Let me stress that: try to add value for everybody,
You will become a better human being. No one will ever say that you did something just for yourself. You will feel better. And in the process, you will have added richness to the total world pool.
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