Every day I am thankful that Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams share their wisdom with us regularly. Both are courageous spokesmen for common sense and sound reason.
along with this article i also sent a copy of harrison bergeron. 🙂
I’m a bit ashamed to say that at a rather late point in my life I realized that the very purpose of our life is to discover and then build those talents and abilities we are born with. Though our abilities vary widely, if each of us works to discover what we are good at and then nurture that ability or talent as far as we can take it, the world is a better place for it.
The janitor in my high school was a man who discovered his talent for taking care of builldings. He learned his job well and he performed that job to the best of his ability. The school was always sparkling clean. He cheerfully went about his business of sweeping, polishing, scrubbing, and dusting with a happy enthusiasm that was noteworthy. He was a beloved by faculty and students alike. Here was a man who did his best at what he was capable of doing and the world was a better place for it. When I had my epiphany about life’s purpose many years later, his example was one of the first I thought of.
Few of us are destined to have world class talent, but all of us can develop the talent we have to our utmost ability. When someone is a better lawyer, engineer, inventor, athlete, pilot, janitor, or..?? it raises the standards for everyone. When you play tennis against someone who is better than you are, it raises your game, it stretches your skills. Even though you may lose the match, you have raised the level of your game. And so it is, whenever we push ourselves to improve the skills or talent we have, the whole world is better for it. Thank goodness Thomas Sowell discovered his talent for economics and pushed himself to be so good at it.
All of this is what the liberals don’t understand about life. Equality of outcomes does not improve the lot of humans. Using our God-given talents to the utmost does.
My husband and I are both reading “Basic Economics” right now-I must say it’s been fascinating and quite easy to read. (I was nervous!) I think your writing is wonderful as well, please keep up the good work!
AndreaM,
Yes, I have that book too. Interesting.
Dr. Sowell has written so many books, articles, etc. it is darn near impossible to keep up with him.
Bill Whittle wrote an excellent essay along these same lines some time ago.
Even used Michael J. in his example too. But he compared MJ to Michael Moore in a very funny way. He said something along the lines of: “You would have to put MJ in a steel suit and drug him up to reduce his performance before Moore would have any chance of beating him. But then who would want to watch that game?”
Will the liberals ever learn that you can’t build up the poor/weak by tearing down the rich/strong?
But I guess they want their egalitarian utopia. Hey, we will all be dirt poor, but EQUALLY poor! Yay!
and the trees were kept equal… by hatchet, ax, and saw.
Though our abilities vary widely, if each of us works to discover what we are good at and then nurture that ability or talent as far as we can take it, the world is a better place for it.
really?
i have found that all that does is make you a target of everyone else who cant accept that you did that and they didnt.
oh… and you become more of a target if you actually have confidence in those abilities and do not hide them.
see casandra syndrome, and tall poppy syndrom
what you are mentioning is a meritocracy
and there is no equality in a meritocracy, except before the courts.
thats all gone now.
There is no doubt that when you “level the playing field” you take “excellence” off the table.
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Every day I am thankful that Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams share their wisdom with us regularly. Both are courageous spokesmen for common sense and sound reason.
along with this article i also sent a copy of harrison bergeron. 🙂
I’m a bit ashamed to say that at a rather late point in my life I realized that the very purpose of our life is to discover and then build those talents and abilities we are born with. Though our abilities vary widely, if each of us works to discover what we are good at and then nurture that ability or talent as far as we can take it, the world is a better place for it.
The janitor in my high school was a man who discovered his talent for taking care of builldings. He learned his job well and he performed that job to the best of his ability. The school was always sparkling clean. He cheerfully went about his business of sweeping, polishing, scrubbing, and dusting with a happy enthusiasm that was noteworthy. He was a beloved by faculty and students alike. Here was a man who did his best at what he was capable of doing and the world was a better place for it. When I had my epiphany about life’s purpose many years later, his example was one of the first I thought of.
Few of us are destined to have world class talent, but all of us can develop the talent we have to our utmost ability. When someone is a better lawyer, engineer, inventor, athlete, pilot, janitor, or..?? it raises the standards for everyone. When you play tennis against someone who is better than you are, it raises your game, it stretches your skills. Even though you may lose the match, you have raised the level of your game. And so it is, whenever we push ourselves to improve the skills or talent we have, the whole world is better for it. Thank goodness Thomas Sowell discovered his talent for economics and pushed himself to be so good at it.
All of this is what the liberals don’t understand about life. Equality of outcomes does not improve the lot of humans. Using our God-given talents to the utmost does.
My husband and I are both reading “Basic Economics” right now-I must say it’s been fascinating and quite easy to read. (I was nervous!) I think your writing is wonderful as well, please keep up the good work!
AndreaM,
Yes, I have that book too. Interesting.
Dr. Sowell has written so many books, articles, etc. it is darn near impossible to keep up with him.
Bill Whittle wrote an excellent essay along these same lines some time ago.
Even used Michael J. in his example too. But he compared MJ to Michael Moore in a very funny way. He said something along the lines of: “You would have to put MJ in a steel suit and drug him up to reduce his performance before Moore would have any chance of beating him. But then who would want to watch that game?”
Will the liberals ever learn that you can’t build up the poor/weak by tearing down the rich/strong?
But I guess they want their egalitarian utopia. Hey, we will all be dirt poor, but EQUALLY poor! Yay!
and the trees were kept equal… by hatchet, ax, and saw.
Though our abilities vary widely, if each of us works to discover what we are good at and then nurture that ability or talent as far as we can take it, the world is a better place for it.
really?
i have found that all that does is make you a target of everyone else who cant accept that you did that and they didnt.
oh… and you become more of a target if you actually have confidence in those abilities and do not hide them.
see casandra syndrome, and tall poppy syndrom
what you are mentioning is a meritocracy
and there is no equality in a meritocracy, except before the courts.
thats all gone now.
There is no doubt that when you “level the playing field” you take “excellence” off the table.