Hubris

Most of the greatest evils that man
has inflicted upon man have come through people
feeling quite certain about things that were in fact false
--Bertrand Russell
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Today Ranger went to Capital Eurocars in Tallahassee to look at Porsche Boxters with the idea of buying a little relief from a mid-life/old man syndrome (or as it's more pointedly known, crisis.)

Mike L. -- client-advisor -- was a likable enough young guy, up to a point, which was when asked, "What is the gas mileage?" Note the question did not pertain to price, only fuel efficiency.

Client-advisor Mike promptly replied, as if on cue, "If you have to ask, then you can't afford this vehicle." Ranger is a grown man, and that is not the sort of patronizing answer which floats his boat. It is not an answer at all, it is an obnoxious judgment.

I pay cash for everything -- land, houses or cars. Wasn't I the guy without a debt and free to do as I choose, and Mike the guy hustling for his commission? I was looking at a car, not looking to join some arrogant imaginary club which excluded the hoi polloi who actually are concerned about depleting resources.

Anyway, Mike was right. I can't afford the car. Though the price is within grasp, the bullshit and snobbiness is not in my budget. That's not a club Ranger needs to belong to.

I'll stick with my Mini. It is paid for, and the salesmen were more than happy to talk fuel economy, because they know that just because you can afford to squander resources does not mean you should.

Man on the Moon

--You don't know the real me.
--There isn't a real you.
--Oh yeah, I forgot
--Man on the Moon (1999)
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The Man on the Moon was a leadership/team-building exercise which challenged participants to, well, survive on the moon.

It entailed identifying crucial items for and prioritizing actions to facilitate survival in such an inhospitable environment. An exercise.

It seems to me that life in modern America mirrors that exercise. The challenge for each of us is to survive in an increasingly hostile environment. To do this, we must ascertain the essentials to supporting life. The nice-to-have items are irrelevant, as they are in all survival situations. The players in the simulation did not have unlimited resources, as it is in our society.

If we are to survive, we must address issues so complex that even our leaders are perplexed as to the solutions. We have epic-level unemployment and concurrent financial and economic burdens, and expect our Congress and President to solve them. However, many of these would-be Solomons never had a real so-called life.

Their only job has been in the rarefied strata of policymaking and governing. Being an attorney, a professor or a community organizer is not exactly meat on the labor bone.

Our society is deeply riven over our core values, yet we still insist upon enervating, free-floating wars and unlimited military spending. We have universal health care issues offset by security concerns. Meanwhile, our population is aging, implying a raft of social care concerns which are still in the ether.

Yet ... we still believe we can have it all, and more for me.

Even though the rules of the exercise clearly indicate otherwise.