To: George S. Montgomery who wrote (25080 ) 9/28/1998 7:46:00 PM From: Jacques Chitte Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Ow. My head hurts. You made me think . being ? Maybe. But just being , unless you have a stomach for abject poverty on par with a mendicant Buddhist, is a pretty lousy place to be. Imho. And when you die, all that's left is a patch of slightly greener daisies.successful Welfare State wherein the correlation between hard work and a full stomach is entirely erased, I think there is an underlying theme of reward for achievement. It is necessarily not compassionate. There will be pain. But I do believe that the human animal is most amazingly motivated by avoiding pain. In our world (ignoring boundary conditions like marrying or inheriting money) the most direct way to gain some security is to earn more than you need - and spend less than you earn. My emphasis on facts, recall and all the other measures of performance serves as a reminder. Let's never forget - these are the surest ways to secure continuity of existence. Once I'm reassured my children have grasped that work (and more specifically, achievement. What is more heartbreaking than effort which does not achieve?) is the mainspring of security - I will indulge their aesthetic quests.
