Peach Justice

I bit into a peach today and was delighted that it was both sweet and juicy. Of course, we have all experienced the bad peach. Therefore, I suggest we might all agree on one thing: not all peaches are created equal.

If a farmer tends to his crop and follows every good practice practicable, this farmer has a greater likelihood of reaping a good harvest. Should government intervene and declare that all farmers must be equally compensated and set the price of a peach, then the good farmer has little incentive to take so much care to produce the perfect peach. Still, no matter how careful she is, the farmer may befall all manner of calamities that will devalue her crop. She may also find that a risky innovation produces a faulty peach. But risking is what we do every day to produce value in an unknown future.

Why does my peach analogy matter?

Socialism proclaims that the value of all peaches are equal and that it is in fact our moral imperative to accept this premise. Socialism requires that you become "morally and intellectually enlightened" and treat all peaches equally. If you do not, you are a peach snob. To believe in the better peach, you are morally repulsive.

Perhaps you have been told the poor peach's story and are willing to pay equally for the grainy peach as if it were a fair peach. Your heart weeps for the poor and battered peach. And we will call this peach justice. Alas, you now find that you have a cause - to ensure that all peaches are valued equally.

But some in your household disagree. What then? You must find ways to ensure that no one speaks the truth about the imperfect peaches, lest this lead to pitching peaches. Coercion may even be necessary in the end. In order to achieve our peach justice, we must stop the practice of judging the true value of individual peaches entirely. Only this will enable the rise of all peaches. Every peach gets a pass for simply being a peach. Farmers that believe in the better peach are ridiculed and told that believing they are superior and can produce the better peach is egotistical, self-aggrandizing and they are narcissistic, greedy and perhaps even evil.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that one variety of peaches is superior, but rather that not all peaches in the basket are equal. In the end, what we have done is treat all peaches unequally. We must value the lesser more highly in order for it to reach the same value. And, the fair peach is ignored, forbidden perhaps and its value destroyed. When really, we could have used the less fair peach to more fruitful purposes such as a peach cobbler or even a fruit smoothie.

I say, here here to judging a peach by its fruitiness and letting the free market demand perfect peaches, and with this we will truly bring about peach justice.

Center Island

As I was driving home with a decadent piece of cheesecake in my car after a good workout at the gym, a sign along the roadway gave me pause: Center Island Ahead. 

With the Presidential elections once again engulfing us, sometimes I feel stranded on a similar sort of Center Island. It isn't safe to cross to the left and it isn't safe to cross to the right. At different points in my life I have stood firmly on one side or the other of the political spectrum. So, I thought I would tackle the top contenders and share my thoughts having seen things from both sides now. 

Even if Bernie Sanders hasn't come out and said it recently, he is still a self-described socialist. Most people can't tell you what socialism really means beyond some bumper sticker slogan that cites the rise of the working class and an end to economic insecurity with the "people" owning the means of production. Americans have had the luxury of a free society for so long that they cannot foresee how the idea of socialism could be anything but utopian. "Fighting for a better world" as they say -this all sounds pretty neat. 

And then, we have The Donald. There could not be two people on the planet with more opposing ideas and yet it is amusing to note how both have hit a chord with the American people. Trump is someone who has worked hard for what he has, believes in the free market and in private property. He believes and encourages people to use and develop their talents - no matter what they may be, all so that they can better themselves and their world. He uses his knowledge and skills to create wealth, not only for himself, but for thousands of people who work for him (over 22,000 in fact). Trump is wealthy and pretty damn proud of it.

Now back to Bernie. Socialism at its worst encourages NOT working while still expecting to get your "fair share" (i.e., entitlement). This cannot be more evident in our lifetime than it is today. Once you think that others are getting "their's" and not having to work, it is hard to feel good about working more for less with the government continuing to take more and more. 

No one handed me my success in life. I stuck with so many icky jobs that I try not to remember them. Just recently I worked around the clock over the weekend, including consecutive 20 hour days, just to get a project completed. I didn't do this because I expected a bonus or even because I was forced into it. I did this because it needed to be done and it felt good that I could do it. I know that one way or another, I will be rewarded - if not with a bonus or higher salary, then with a better resume and more job security. 

But under socialism, there is no reward for working hard. Your reward is the same as someone who merely shows up (or for that matter, even someone who does not). Because, they tell you, who can fault the other person who either cannot or simply does not work as hard. Maybe they just don't have it "in them" to excel like you. So, you need to work hard so that the fruit of your labor can be distributed equally among others. 

But, I believe that everyone has it in them to excel at something. And everyone has the right to what they earn. America is one of the most generous nations in the world and is capable of great compassion in taking care of those who need a helping hand. That is what makes America great. Giving when it is my choice is far more bountiful than when it is no longer a choice. 

So, I think we should all start somewhere, work hard and earn our little slice of cheesecake before the government decides that even this is too unhealthy and is ultimately a burden on the system. After all, once the government foots the bill for my healthcare, there is nothing that can keep their hands off my cheesecake. 

Feeling Fado

At the click of a button I can have any sort of music piped into my earbuds, whether it be rock, jazz, or even a classical symphony. Or better yet, I can choose Fado. Fado is the soulful and passionate music sung by Portuguese vibrato singers in cafes and taverns in Lisbon. The meaning of the word Fado comes from the Latin word fatum, or fate, which is "the inexorable destiny that is stopped by nothing" as several writers on the internet seem to quote when explaining Fado.

The attraction of this melancholy music for me isn't the lyrics, especially since it is sung in Portuguese, a language I do not understand. Yet, when listening to fadistas it is clear they sing of lost love, misfortune or despair. It is this yearning and desire in the music that requires no translation to stir my soul. As is explained in a Portuguese saying, "Fado can't be seen or heard; it simply happens." 

So when my day is filled with analytical left-brain thinking, with seemingly endless discussions about technology, servers and data - things that apparently have such urgency that they set off cell phone alerts in the middle of the night - well, it is a welcome break to just sit back and let the elusive and haunting beauty of Fado find my soul again. So for a time I am transported to a different world, one where love, life and beauty remind me of what it is to simply "be" once again. 

Enjoy: