Sage Thyme
After eight decades of business and entertainment Weaver woke up one day in early 2014 compelled to share the fun and knowledge gained by wide-ranging travel, experience and employment. Radio and television mixed with real estate and banking have provided a rich source of information on myriad subjects. As a consistent libertarian thinker, he lacks the caustic screeds of polemics. The long time jazz fan, trained U.S. military cryptographer and occasional motion picture actor has returned to family roots in Indiana after enjoying life in many places from Santa Barbara, California to Fontainebleau, France. No more buttoned down presentation, he now writes through the life and thoughts of Sage Thyme and asks that you Think About It on his busy blog at http://thinkaboutit.guru. Your comments are always welcome there or directly to
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A pastor’s son, I got the impression somewhere that I was not supposed to fight. This obedient child often took a punch from some of the other boys. Meanwhile I learned the language and lived for the day that would be important to my success. As I matured and found that words could be used to control my environment, my mystic sister, claiming to quote eastern philosophy said, “Don’t draw swords with unequals”. Apparently I had become the bully I feared when younger. She meant I think, that sane people don’t pick fights with stronger opponents and only bullies pick fights with those having less physical prowess.As we assess our relative success in executing (Is that the word?) the affairs of 2015 and calculate the possibilities for living the new year, we may want to try some new strategies. For whatever reason we‘ve chosen to improve life for ourselves and others, it seems logical that we invest some thought.
One of our most insightful and critical readers, Ohioan Shirley Nook recently forwarded a link to an article by Mark Ford, founder of The Palm Beach Research Group. Here’s advice from a friendly family man who says he has won some and lost some in his financial travels, now choosing to live a well-paced if busy life as a still young (60ish) multi-multi-millionaire. Seems to me when he talks, listening might be a wise investment. According to Mark, These Are the Three Skills You Need to Be Successful in Life. Without meaning to plagiarize, I’d like to add some thoughts on the subject.
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Looking at the top stories in the news ought to be good. TULSA RACE RIOTS, IMMIGRATION REFORM IMPERATIVE, DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE FAVORS CHINA, FIVE POWER TREATY OUTLAWS POISON GAS, INCOME INEQUALITY WORST EVER. It must be true that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.The headlines could just as well be “ripped out of today’s newspaper”. But no. It’s 1921, and on the brighter side Van and Schenck have a new hit song in the Ziegfeld Follies. Presumably wealthy flappers were dancing while those struggling masses were singing, “Men the grocer and butcher sent, Men who call for the rent, But within, a happy chappy.”
One would wonder why some people have a positive attitude as they plan for a brighter future while others wail as they wait. Worse yet, there are the pious pundits who call for income equality and higher taxes in the progressive fashion.
That really means the Progressive way, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Someone should write a story about a merry bunch in a forest, bows and arrows at the ready, wresting the money bags from the hands of carriage riders to redistribute among impoverished peasants. Let’s call the liberal leader Robin Hood.”Bill collectors gather, ‘Round and rather, Haunt the cottage next door, And his bride of only a year, Seem to be so cheerful.”
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Even if you saw The Music Man you may have missed a line in the rapid fire recitative performed by Robert Preston. Speaking about the youth of the community he sang…They're tryin' out Bevo, tryin' out cubebs,
Tryin' out Tailor Mades like Cigarette Feends!
And braggin' all about
How they're gonna cover up a tell-tale breath with Sen-Sen.
My mother's name was Grace Irene Sneathern. By her own admission, she just couldn't follow all the rules. A pastor's wife in a small Michigan town, she drank coffee, purchased her cubebs at Niendorf's Drug Store and vowed she was not going to "grow old gracefully". As far as I know she didn't drink Bevo near-beer from Anheuser-Busch, but she did favor Sen-Sen while claiming cubebs were not a Sin-Sin. She may have been correct since it was approved by Teddy Roosevelt's Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Meanwhile nobody had investigated the coca content of the tasty cola concoction served at the counter.
She was in fact psychic. Not a psychic for money which she said would destroy the gift. Having no phone for communication, it was necessary to walk up the hill to neighbors for verification that, in fact out-of-town friends' home had gone up in flames during the night as she had told us when she awakened. This fairly common experience caused the church ladies to make her feel less than welcome.
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Perhaps the cost of a Tibetan shepherding dog from the Himalayas hasn't been on the top of your list of concerns. Maybe that should change. Consider the consequences.As you know, communism's philosophy is that everyone is equal. However in all the governments of the kind that I have studied, some citizen's seem to be more equal than others. There's always a way for the rich to get richer and the poor to get children. Yes I stole that from the 1920's song Ain't We Got Fun. Not long ago with a government fueled financial flame, fortunes of some were increasing at a rapid pace. The new elite had to find symbols with which to illustrate their new position in life and also to be sure they were identified as more special than the other newly rich. Or should I say nouveau riche ?
In the meantime the Chinese powers-that-be deigned to help fuel the United States government's desire to visit faraway places with our young men bearing weapons and our older ones bearing gifts of money for people we barely know who care little about our welfare. Take a deep breath. While we alternately build and burned nations, our debt instruments were being purchased by foreign governments not necessarily sympathetic to our way of life.
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No curious question mark needed. It’s simply a fact. We may not always like our circumstances or the way the world works. Goodness knows life is not fair, and thanks for that. It’s complaining that the odds are stacked against you that get’s tiresome. Your employer certainly doesn’t pay you what you’re worth. Some folks who make money by using their money seem not to “work” at all. Television commentators are very liberal in their tirades about that. Some would argue whether the talking heads really work, or just rant for a living. There’s talk that some of them even feel underpaid for their campaign promoting the minimum wage. Let’s take the time to convince our government representatives that that these well-meaning personalities start receiving the minimum wage. That ought to help “level the playing field”. While we’re at it, let’s arrange for all of our legislators to get the minimum wage, too. They have certainly earned it.
One of the best radio broadcasters I’ve ever heard is also a disc-jockey of extraordinary musical knowledge. His encyclopedic store of the singers and songs gives him a real edge over those less prepared. His timing, mastery of digital storage and ability to manipulate the delicate and complicated electronics of the business put him ahead of the pack. Add to that a quick wit and ability to placekick a pun for a comedy score while conversation is in full flight.
For summer fun, he goes waterskiing with his family including two children of that especially active age. You can bet they respect his acute awareness of their actions even though dad can’t see them when they get out of line. An accident of birth made him blind. Complain? Oh, maybe a wish of two for all the senses usually supplied. But, with the help of nurturing parents (His dad insisted that he water-ski among other things.) this active, successful man chose the path of his passion, overcoming what many would describe as a handicap.
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Laws regarding the sale and use of alcohol vary widely around the world. Much of the nonsense appears in your state. For ten or so years in the early part of the 20th century, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution banned the manufacture and distribution of “beer, wine, or other intoxicating malt or vinous liquors”, but curiously ignored possession for personal use while giving no advice on where not to find the banned substances. People like Al Capone became rich and famous offering the magic words “Joe sent me.” to facilitate easy access to the “speakeasies” serving the coveted consumables.
Happily, church attendance and doctor visits increased, since Sacramental and Medicinal uses were not outlawed.
More odious results included the infamous gun battles among the illicit suppliers, increase in alcoholism, loss of tax revenue from formerly legal transactions, and of course the criminalization of otherwise law-abiding citizens who enjoyed an occasional drink. Oh, and don’t forget, NASCAR came about as a result of a need for speed to escape the “revenuers” when transporting moonshine.
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