(#52-1) November 22 2014. Do we understand the nature of the wars we keep on getting into? Do we understand what motivates our enemies? Do we care to find out? The evidence is that we do not.

IT IS FUTILE TO BATTLE IDEAS WITH FIREPOWER.

TO CONFRONT DANGEROUS IDEAS—LIKE THOSE OF ISIS—YOU NEED BETTER IDEAS (THOUGH YOU MAY NEED FIREPOWER TOO) 

DO WE HAVE THEM? AND IF WE DO—DO WE PRACTICE THEM—OR IS OUR STATED COMMITMENT TO FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY, AND THE FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM, SOMETHING OF A SHAM?

These are provocative questions, but it is hard not to admit that our representative democracy is in a very bad way. The Mid-Terms illustrated the point. They were entirely dominated by Big Money—largely donated by a very small number of people—and most Americans showed their disillusionment by staying away. Voter turnout was something like 36%—a near record low and a disgrace—worst in 70 years.

In effect, American voters said: “Our political system is a total, unmitigated, failure.” Congress is held in particularly low regard. In comparison, the President is downright popular. 

But the fact that our democracy is really a plutocracy is not the only issue—important though that is. We also have a grotesquely unequal society, are consumer driven and materialist to excess—and, abroad, spread death, destruction, and corruption wherever we meddle (and we are meddling in a distressingly large number of countries from the Yemen to Chad).

Look no further than Afghanistan and Iraq right now for chaos, societal failure, and massive corruption (after over a decade of U.S. occupation in each case)—but, if you are inclined to dig a little, you will find a veritable laundry list of counties where we have backed bad people, done truly terrible things—and continue to do them.

Yet Islamic extremism is stronger now—much stronger—than it was when 9/11 occurred. There is considerable evidence that a great deal that we are doing is counter-productive.

But you don’t have to look abroad. The Great Recession, just by itself, demonstrated the rottenness and malfeasance of our financial system—and it speaks volumes that after all this time the individuals and  institutions which caused such economic carnage have not only not been prosecuted, but have been supported massively by the Federal Reserve and the U.S. taxpayer.

Other Developed Nations—and many on the cusp of achieving that status—have evolved a series of mechanisms that lessen the stress of everyday living while still encouraging both entrepreneurship and creativity. Such mechanism include:

• Healthcare
• A comprehensive social safety net.
• A cooperative work environment.
• Job security and worker rights.
• Long vacations.
• Low cost housing.
• Superior infrastructure.
• Adequate pension systems.

The contrast with the current American Way of Life—as far as most of us are concerned—is self evident. We have evolved a high threat, unfair, decidedly insecure, high stress environment where roughly half the population lives paycheck to paycheck, where most incomes are in decline (when inflation is factored in), and where critical needs such as healthcare, housing, and education are rapidly becoming unaffordable.

Fear—above all of economic disaster—stemming from something as simple as the loss of a job or some medical issue—has become endemic to  how we live, and is leading to an ever increasing number of Americans becoming traumatized.

The American Way of Life is significantly shorter than that of our European friends. While we live, we are less healthy—and we die roughly three years sooner. The reasons for this shattering discrepancy are not hard to find—and are self-inflicted. They are self-inflicted not just in terms of lifestyle—which is certainly a factor—but, much more to the point, because we have let ourselves be manipulated to the extent we do.

Freedom, as they say, is not free. More to the point, it is something you have to fight for every day in numerous ways—or, as is the case here, greedy people will seize power. It is in the nature of such people to avail of every opportunity—and by our neglect of our hard won democracy, we handed them just that.

This country is now run, to an extent just short of total, by a very small group of exceptionally rich and greedy people supported by large numbers of people who serve them. They run things for their own benefit and our stressful lives are just one unfortunate consequence.

Let me quote from a piece by Lynn Stuart Parramore in Alternet.com:

I know that a serious illness could bankrupt me.

I am afraid I will never be able to afford to have a child.

My nightmare is to end up poor and abandoned in my golden years.

A 2012 study of hospital patients in Atlanta’s inner-city communities showed that rates of post-traumatic stress are now on par with those of veterans returning from war zones. At least 1 out of 3 surveyed said they had experienced stress responses like flashbacks, persistent fear, a sense of alienation, and aggressive behavior. All across the country, in Detroit, New Orleans, and in what historian Louis Ferleger describes as economic “dead zones” — places where people have simply given up and sunk into “involuntary idleness” — the pain is written on slumped bodies and faces that have become masks of despair.

Modern communications are such that our enemies are intimately familiar with what is happening here—and they are using it to advantage, and with considerable sophistication and success.. They don’t do it fairly—and they ignore the deep-rooted strengths of our society (which we seem unable or unwilling to deploy)—but the end result is that Islamic Extremism is made to seem as superior in many ways, and a cause worth fighting and dying for.

Our massive failure to live up to our own professed beliefs has become a serious vulnerability—and a matter of National Security. It constitutes an existential threat—a threat to our very existence—in the very real sense of the term.

Who else is better qualified to destroy this Great Nation than Americans?

We have made an impressive start at such destruction.

VOR words 963

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(#51-1) November 21 2014. Death is certain—which makes life a meanwhile activity. ‘Meanwhile’ is one of my favorite words.

THOUGHTS ON WHAT WE DO—AND WHY WE DO IT

IT STRIKES ME THAT WE CONSUME TOO MUCH—AND OBSERVE, THINK, AND DO, TOO LITTLE.—A SAD THING IN SUCH AN INTERESTING WORLD.

FROM A YOUNG AGE, I CRAVED ADVENTURE—AND FOUND IT AGAIN AND AGAIN. ADVENTURE, LET ME TELL YOU, IS NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED—THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT—BUT IT IS FASCINATING.

LET ME SUM UP 70 YEARS (NOT ALL WITHIN MY CONTROL—HARD TO BE A COMMAND PRESENCE WHILE STILL A TODDLER IN DIAPERS).

I HAVE LIVED AN UNCONVENTIONAL LIFE —AND GIVE THANKS EVERY DAY THAT I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO. IT HAS NOT BEEN EASY. IT HAS MADE ME NEITHER RICH (IN A MONETARY SENSE) NOR FAMOUS (EXCEPT OCCASIONALLY). BUT IT HAS BEEN A GREAT JOURNEY WHICH LEAVES ME REMARKABLY CONTENT. 

I SO LOVE TO WRITE. IT HAS BROUGHT ME SATISFACTION AND JOY BEYOND IMAGINATION—AND IS, IN TRUTH, THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE.

MY JOURNEY DOESN’T SEEM TO BE QUITE OVER. I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT THE BALANCE WILL BE AS DIFFICULT—AND AS REWARDING.

I’M AS WISE ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE AS I WAS WHEN I ARRIVED ON THE SCENE.

I guess my first epiphany was when I decided that a great deal of what I was told by authority figures was wrong. Often they lied (though they said it was wrong to lie), but sometimes they just didn’t know themselves. I was about nine at the time.

That finding led me to think a great deal about education. I was privileged to be attending an  expensive and highly regarded private school in Yorkshire, England (such schools are confusingly called ‘public’ schools over there—as in being trained for public service—as in running the British Empire).

Did what we learn there make any sense—or was it largely arbitrary. They said we were being trained to be ‘leaders of men.’ Women, now I think about it, were never mentioned.  Well, my teachers were mostly monks sworn to celibacy. Still, ignoring half the human race seemed somewhat drastic to me.

I soon came to the conclusion that much of what we were taught was arbitrary. I evolved a particular dislike of Ancient Greek. I appreciate the basics like being able to read, write, and do arithmetic—but I was largely unconvinced about much else (though I enjoyed Latin and History). It seemed to me to be mostly make-work—and at no time did we try to get to grips with the social issues which existed around us. We seemed to be missing functional expertise. We learned to kill people through military training, but we learned very little else that was of practical use (I was never taught First Aid, or how to drive while there, for example).  There were clear problems and clear solutions, but few seem to be interested in relating the two. We were being educated to be a certain type of person rather than to do anything. When you are a ‘leader of men’ the idea is that you say what needs to be done—and others handle the doing. I haven’t found that life has worked out that way (And it certainly hasn’t where writing is concerned. Just as well. The doing is the fun part).

It took me some time to appreciate the power of vested interests and class assumptions—together with the fact they that they didn’t want social problems to be resolved. The status quo suited them fine. By definition you couldn’t feel upper class and superior if there were no lower classes.

I was in my early twenties, in a good job with an excellent company, when I came to the conclusion that commuting to work and back every day was unacceptable. The thought of doing this for 40 more years before retiring, playing golf, and dying struck me as being a truly hideous fate. The sentence that came to mind at the time stays with me still: Is this all there is?

It couldn’t be. It isn’t.

But what did I want? I craved adventures—without having any idea of what kind of adventures—but, above all, I wanted time to think and to live life on my own terms and at my own pace. Perhaps as a consequence of how our time was managed in boarding school (where I was sent at five—way too young) I loathed having my time filled by others—and particularly by compulsory games. I wanted time to do whatever I wished at my own pace, and on my own terms. I wasn’t against working—I was a hard worker even then. But I couldn’t stand being micro-managed. I wanted a high degree of freedom—and I wanted to create, and change, things. I didn’t know what for a time—and I certainly didn’t know how—but the urge to break new ground was ferociously strong.

I wasn’t inherently anti-social—I like most people I meet and, generally speaking, get on well with them, However, it soon struck me that many social obligations and organizations were better at reinforcing social prejudice, and killing time, than anything else. A club’s success was hugely dependent on who you kept out. Many clubs specialized in keeping out women. I thought they were nuts. I wanted women in—as accessible as possible.

I still do. Women, generally speaking, are smarter than men, and better at coping with life—and I, personally, find them much sexier. And their communication skills are superior (in all sorts of ways). They have a feeling for intimacy which males so often lack. But each to his, or her, own.

If I had to kill time—and I was far from convinced I would ever need to—I preferred to do it in my own way by reading, walking, and observing. I wanted to soak up life and then improve it. Armed with a good brain—as I am—I thought I probably could.

In some ways I already have. 

I had scant interest in fame, fortune, or even security. Somehow, I had faith I would land on my feet—and if I didn’t—the downside would still be better than a secure job and daily commuting.

I have made many mistakes in my life, but I have never felt regrets about the overall direction I have chosen—unstructured though it has been. Avoiding the confines of structure has been precisely the point. I feel lucky that I had the chance. Actually, the imperative to become a writer was so strong, it less an option, than a command.

As I have said, I am not overly fond of orders, but I obeyed this one with alacrity.

The best decision of my life.

Someday, I’ll tell you why I am so attached to the word ‘meanwhile.’ It has to do with women (God love you all—subject to a few exceptions ).

VOR words 1,128.

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(#51-2) November 21 2014.The unnecessary friction of life that is now so common in the U.S. We should be ashamed of ourselves. We are creating quite unnecessary misery.

THOUGHTS ON A RIGGED ECONOMY

THE PERVERSION OF OUR LEGAL SYSTEM TO ADVANCE SPECIAL INTERESTS BY CONGRESS. THIS KIND OF STUFF CROPS UP ALL OVER THE PLACE.

IT’S UNFAIR AND UNJUST, OF COURSE—BUT IT IS ALSO JUST PLAN NASTY. IS THIS THE KIND OF AMERICA WE WANT?

It gets much worse You can, in fact, lose your professional license and your job in some states.

How many people defaulted last year? About seven million.

It is beyond depressing.

This country has bounteous resources—and many Americans possess great strengths and are thoroughly decent people—but sometimes I wonder whether our innate decency isn’t being ground out of us by our adherence to an American Business Model that is not what it purports to be.

VOR words c.125.

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(#50-1) November 20 2014. Though writing novels is my primary business, I tend to think of myself—insofar as I do—as a thinker and writer. ‘Novelist’ sounds much cooler.

WHAT ATTRIBUTES DOES A NOVELIST REQUIRE?

TALENT, FOCUS, AND ENDURANCE—ACCORDING TO HARUKI MURAKAMI

This is a decidedly derivative blog because I’m both inspired by, and quoting, Chris Robley, who is quoting from Openculture.com, which is quoting Murakami himself. I guess there is a ‘who’ behind the ‘which’ where the latter is concerned, but I don’t know who the ‘which’ is.

If you get my drift! Such a lineage is almost creative in itself.

Chris Robley, by the way, writes a consistently ‘on-message’ blog (if you are a writer) for Bookbaby.com Good guy!

I’m glad I’ve got that off my chest. Sometimes, this business can get quite convoluted. Of course it’s derivative. We largely learn to write by reading other people’s books. Then we mix everything up, throw in some real life, add a bit of this and that—and call ourselves Shakespeare, (which we can’t even spell consistently) and “produce original works of literary genius.”

Genius? Yes. Original? Ho and hum! The truth is that writing is even more derivative than banking (we’re much nicer people).

I’m in a strange business.

The guy who wrote the first book has a lot to answer for (and he was probably a girl).

TALENT

Murakami frames talent as an attribute that can’t be taught or bought. For the writer, talent is “more of a prerequisite than a necessary quality […] No matter how much enthusiasm and effort you put into writing, if you totally lack literary talent you can forget about being a novelist.” One feels this should go without saying, but for whatever reason, it seems that more people entertain the idea of becoming a writer longer in life than that of becoming, say, a musician or a painter.

FOCUS

With 27 marathons and more than a dozen novels behind him, Murakami has clearly demonstrated focus. Focus, according to the author, is “the ability to concentrate all your limited talents on whatever’s critical at the moment. Without that you can’t accomplish anything of value.”

So how does Murakami focus on his writing? Simple: he makes a habit of concentrating on his work for three or fours hours each morning. “I sit at my desk and focus totally on what I’m writing. I don’t see anything else, I don’t think about anything else.”

ENDURANCE

As OpenCulture.com says, if you consider yourself more of a sprinter then maybe you should stick to short stories. You need endurance to finish a novel. Murakami says, “if you concentrate on writing three or four hours a day and feel tired after a week of this, you’re not going to be able to write a long work. What’s needed of the writer of fiction—at least one who hopes to write a novel—is the energy to focus every day for half a year, or a year, or two years. Fortunately, these two disciplines—focus and endurance—are different from talent, since they can be acquired and sharpened through training.”

In other words, sit down and do it every day regardless of the quality of your daily work. Eventually your writing muscles will get into tip-top shape.

What other qualities does a novelist require? Well, talent covers such a multitude that it is scarcely necessary to add anything else. Still, it is scarcely specific, so let me add several qualities—perhaps under the talent label—that strike me as making no small contribution.

• AN ORIGINAL CAST OF MIND
• EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE OF LIFE
• A ROBUST SENSE OF HUMOR (REGARDLESS OF CIRCUMSTANCES)
• KEEN POWERS OF OBSERVATION LINKED TO EMPATHY.
• COURAGE
• CHARACTER (good is preferable)

It helps if you can spell.

Hmm! Contemplating this list—made up of both Murakami’s and mine—makes me appreciate, yet again, that being a writer is no small thing.

VOR words c.150

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(#49-1) November 19 2014. Technologies of death. How does a working thriller-writer keep up?

WEAPONS, WEAPONS, & MORE WEAPONS

LASER WEAPONS HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED. LOOK NO FURTHER THAN THE USS PONCE NOW ON STATION IN THE PERSIAN GULF

THE WEAPON CAN WARN, DAZZLE OR FRY—AT $1 A SHOT. WHO SAID THE AMERICAN BUSINESS MODEL DOESN’T OFFER BOTH CHOICE AND VALUE!

Let me quote from the Bloomberg story of November 14 2014. .

The U.S. Navy has deployed on a command ship in the Persian Gulf its first laser weapon capable of destroying a target.

The amphibious transport ship USS Ponce has been patrolling with a prototype 30-kilowatt-class Laser Weapon System since late August, according to officials. The laser is mounted facing the bow, and can be fired in several modes -- from a dazzling warning flash to a destructive beam -- and can set a drone or small boat on fire.

Naval Sea Systems Command technicians developed the prototype over seven years at a cost of about $40 million. The Ponce crew was authorized to deploy the weapon after it passed a series of at-sea tests, including lasing static surface targets, the 5th Fleet spokesman Commander Kevin Stephens said in an e-mail statement.

The prototype focuses the light from six solid-state commercial welding lasers on a single spot, according to a July 31 Congressional Research Service report. It “can effectively counter surface and airborne threats, to include small boats” and drones, Miller said, and firing it costs about a dollar a shot, according to the Navy.

New York-based L-3 Communications Holdings LLC (LLL) and Pennsylvania State University’s Electro Optics Center have provided components and engineering support.

The lessons from the one-year Ponce deployment will feed Navy laser development by industry teams led by BAE Systems Plc (BAESY), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) and Raytheon Co. (RTN), to field a more powerful weapon, possibly by 2021.

Those efforts are separate from military laser designators to guide precision munitions, non-lethal crowd control devices or discontinued instruments intended to blind enemy electro-optical sensors.

Words  328

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(#48-2) November 18 2014. Just about every benefit the U.S. Middle Class gained—normally because of the unions—is now being lost. The Rich have won—and they are glorying it. We, who have the numbers, do nothing. If this is democracy in action, it has the speed of a sloth on a rest-break.

THE LONG, SLOW, COUP BY THE RICH, AND THOSE WHO SERVE THEM

THE EARNING POWER OF MOST AMERICANS IS BEING STEADILY DEGRADED—AND YET THERE IS NO WAVE OF POPULAR INDIGNATION.

WE SEEM TO ACCEPT BEING ECONOMICALLY RAPED WITH SULLEN FATALISM. WE EVEN VOTE FOR OUR RAPERS. THIS IS NOT THE U.S. I WAS TAUGHT TO BELIEVE IN.

Let me quote Nick Hanauer (a Seattle based billionaire):

In the absence of a law requiring me to pay you overtime if you earn under a certain amount, you end up working harder—and the harder you work, the fewer employees I need. The fewer employees I need, the higher the unemployment rate. The higher the unemployment rate, the more leverage I have to “encourage” you to “do what it takes” to keep your job. And so you work even more hours, pushing unemployment up and wages down. And that, my friends, is one of the little tricks that keeps you poor and me rich.

The U.S. economy—as matters stand—does not work in the interests of most Americans. Just about everywhere I look, we are losing ground. We have a lousy savings rate. We have the least worker rights in the developed world—and the shortest vacations (where we have them at all). We have appalling social mobility. We have virtually no job security. Wage theft is rampant. Wages, themselves, are being squeezed—and, in real terms, are declining—and, as you can see from the above, overtime—in defiance of the law—is being stolen. It’s a miserable story.

And we die about three years sooner than the citizens of other developed nations (though our healthcare costs us nearly twice as much).

Could it be the American Way of Life needs fine-tuning?

VOR words c. 150.

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(#48-1) November 18 2014. The art of appreciating more by appreciating less; of doing more by doing less; of understanding a great deal more—by just meditating.

THOUGHTS ON LIFESTYLE

AND WHY GHENGIS KHAN SHOULD BE YOUR ROLE MODEL (ESPECIALLY IF YOUR ARE A WRITER).  THE MAN HAD A WAY WITH WORDS.

Lest you wonder—and I doubt you do—I don’t meditate (at least not in any formal sense). Indeed, I don’t set aside any formal time to think. I try and do that all the time.

I bump into things when I don’t.

Exercising one’s cerebral qualities with vigor  is a necessary prerequisite of writing—certainly where I am concerned. I try not to write on auto-pilot, but to build focused thought into the process—questioning in particular. I study a great deal to find answers, but primarily that seems to tell me how little I know. Very strange. But, I enjoy it greatly.

A caveat: I do find answers to most practical problems. In fact, I’m truly amazed at how few practical issues we would be left to wrestle with if we bothered to do our homework. The answers are out there—and are mostly proven. Primarily, we fail on the political side. Typically, we refuse to do what is necessary because of prejudice, greed—or both. Vested interests tend to be the main obstacles. We talk a great deal about lack of resources, but it is rarely true.

Look at Quantitative Easing (if your threshold of boredom can survive it). The Federal Reserve didn’t have several trillion dollars tucked away for a rainy day. They simply made an entry in their books saying “We have it,” and spent it on government bonds labeled “We’re the government—we’re good for it” and something like $4 trillion appeared as if by magic. Back in the good old days when we called a spade something close to what it was (such days never existed, by the way) we would have called QE “printing money.” Unfortunately, it didn’t benefit the Real Economy much, but the Big Banks made a fortune by borrowing dirt cheap money and speculating with it. Sometimes they borrowed at no real cost off the Fed, and bought government bonds (which pay higher interest). Is this a wonderful country, or what?

Meanwhile, the quality of our infrastructure declined still further—and real unemployment remained disturbingly high. In addition, millions of people with full time jobs with corporations like Wal-Mart didn’t earn enough to support themselves on their pay—and needed Food Stamps.

Such Food Stamp payments to employees constitute a massive subsidy for corporations (one of many, from tax breaks to development grants)—who don’t need it—and are a further indictment of the current American Business Model. We don’t have a free market economy disciplined by competition (the essential ingredient). In fact, in many cases there is no competition. We practice Rigged Corporate Commercial Cronyism (R-Triple C to coin a phrase) where the government is largely subservient to business interests. We talk Free Market Capitalism but that is not what we do.

Meditation, of course, is about not thinking—at least in any conscious way. I have tried to it on a number of occasions, but always without success. I regret that because it really does seem to have a positive effect. I suspect I need a teacher. One can do many things oneself, but many skills are best taught.

Great teachers—comparatively rare beasts—are probably the people we should admire the most. I have no idea how they do what they do—but I do know they light the flame. They are pyromaniacs! After that, the fire of intellectual curiosity takes over and does most of the work. It just needs to kept focused—no small task in itself. Great teaching is magic.

If you are a writer—and have a great mentor in your life—you are a fortunate human being. I had no one to mentor me in writing as such—prior to being published—so I probably made every mistake I could have. But I endured—and that counts for a great deal. I still don’t have a writing mentor, though I have support in other ways. Great friends are a singular blessing.

As I have written previously, I made a conscious decision a long time ago not to try and seek the meaning of life. It seems to me to be a question without an attainable answer—so pointless to spend time on. Whereas that may not be true—given that the quest itself is often the whole point of the exercise—it is an answer that I am content with. I guess I don’t have the kind of mind that finds itself at home in the abstract.

I think a great deal about how one should live. Life reminds me greatly of my old boarding school—in that it is heavily controlled with those in power seeking to keep us so busy or distracted, that we will lack the time, energy, and inclination, to question the status quo.

True, we didn’t have democracy at school—but then we don’t really have democracy here. We have a plutocracy—rule by the ultra-rich for the benefit of the ultra-rich—lavishly equipped with carrots and sticks, and the very latest tools of propaganda..

I don’t expect that to change that in the balance of my life—though I would change it if I could—but I think it is important to know the reality.

Meanwhile I will remain a guerilla.

Check the spelling, dude! I don’t mean the hairy kind (gorilla). I mean an opponent of the status quo who hides in plain sight and seeks change. In my case, ideas expressed through words are my only weapons (and I have no violent intentions)—but what else achieves real change? Successful conquests and revolutions based upon physical force almost always are underpinned by ideas and words.

Did Ghengis Khan, one of the most violent—and successful—conquerors in history have a philosophy, a cause—that drove him and his troops?

Actually he did. He thought his could rule better than most—and, in some ways, he demonstrated just that. He also had a way with words—not something you typically associate with such a destructive human being. Let me give some examples:

On Managing Your Fears

If you are afraid—don’t do it. If you’re doing it, don’t be afraid.

Serve a Greater Good Than Yourself

“[A leader] can never be happy until his people are happy.”

Have a Vision

“Without the vision of a goal, a man cannot manage his own life, much less the lives of others…The ancients had a saying: ‘Unity of purpose is a fortune in affliction.’”

Be Self-Reliant

“No friend is better than your own wise heart! Although there are many things you can rely on, no one is more reliable than yourself. Although many people can be your helper, no one should be closer to you than your own consciousness. Although there are many things you should cherish, no one is more valuable than your own life.”

Be Humble

“The mastery of pride, which was something more difficult, he explained, to subdue than a wild lion. He warned them that, ‘If you can’t swallow your pride, you can’t lead.’”

Be Moderate

“I hate luxury. I exercise moderation…It will be easy to forget your vision and purpose one you have fine clothes, fast horses and beautiful women. [In which case], you will be no better than a slave, and you will surely lose everything.”

Ghengis Khan wasn’t a moderate when it came to his territorial ambitions—he was clearly a member of the 0.01 percent, and wanted all the marbles—but he was in terms of his personal lifestyle. Here, I have to say that he was on the right track.

Moderation is, in fact, one of life’s great secrets. It’s a luxury disguised as a burden. After all, who wants to be told to ease up when you are having a great time.

Am I moderate in my lifestyle? In material terms—absolutely. In other ways, lets just say that I’m a late developer.

But it is the key to so many other aspects of life that I’m surprised they haven’t banned it. Consumerism—the religion R-Triple C espouses—discourages it.

It is all of a piece.

VOR words c.1, 343

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