“A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.”
I recently found this quote by Ezra Pound. “A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.:
Are most of us slaves to something, waiting and wishing for liberation. And some maybe even enjoying the servitude.
Quite a few modern slave masters came to mind. Some jobs, the government, medications, political propaganda, commercial propaganda, medical propaganda, keeping up appearances. How about our own tiny world of misconceptions? Or how about our own fears?
“May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.”
—John O’Donohue, A Morning Offering
The courage to live the life that I would love! To waste my heart on fear no more! What incredibly powerful words with which to start each day, or, as it happens, a new year.Many people in this country are pushing to become slaves and worse they want to take the rest of us with them! They want the government to provide for all their needs...
Yes, much better to be a slave to private enterprise. All those little cogs working for pittance so that their "betters" can live a life of luxury, Wearing rags so that the employers can wear a suit that costs a workers annual wages. Eating scraps so that the bos can spend more on one meal than a family gets to live on for w a week!
Alleluia, I've seen the light, I'm going to become a slave to the mighty dollar.Oh! You do sound so full of envy! Hey you don't have to work for anyone, you can work for yourself, buy a piece of land grow your own food and sell the excess. Anything is possible in America, until the socialist democrats change it that is...
Except if you grow your own food you end up paying any profit (or loss) in royalties for using their patent seed even if you haven't, if your seed has crossed with your neighbours!
And yes I am envious, I don't get to be bankrupted if I'm ill!
Every thing is possible for a few, when every thing is possible for every body then I might be envious.A genius is one who can see ten things where others can only see one....You are my kinda lady! Nice to see a real woman take up the fight for liberty. A passionate advocate for liberty and justice for all, especially for the silently silenced!! The courage to live the life you love.
Ah yes, a true fighter for the liberty to be exploited
Why the constant whining by the left? Who is exploiting you and how? If you are being exploite its your own fault. Maybe if you whined less and did more to improve you own life you have a better understanding of freedom!
Why is it whining when the left complains about the right but fair comment when the right complains about the left?
Who is exploiting me, easy, the right in the form of employers, insurance companies, the lawmakers, the capitalist system, etc..
Maybe if the left is destroying life as you know it, it's your fault. Oh no,I forgot, the right is the natural party of control isn't it?
I do have a good understanding of freedom, seemingly better than you who are a willing wage slave. For a start, unlike you I accept that not everybody wants what I want and that lack of want does not necessarily make them a lesser person, unlike you I don't demand that every body shares my way of life.You work you get paid and thats exploitation?
I guess you being dependent on the government to supply your needs isn't exploitation?It depends on how much I'm getting paid, if the person who is employing me is making more out of my labour than I am then yes that is exploitation, if the person employing me is using me without care for my health then yes that is exploitation.
I'm personally not dependent on the state but if I was that would no more be exploitation than you claiming to have your ingrown toenails sorted off your health insurance.Thats the most amazing thing I have ever read.
If the one who employs you didn't make a profit off your labor he wouldn't employ you.
Excuse me, I need to go bang my head on a wall.Sigh, so forget somebody making a fair profit of my labour I have to kow-tow to the guy who makes so much money off my labour he doesn't have to do anything else!
Note the "if the person who is employing me is making more money off my labour. . . nowhere do I condemn anybody covering the costs of employment.
Please do go and bang your head against a wall you might knock a bit of sense in to it, though I doubt it."Sigh, so forget somebody making a fair profit of my labour I have to kow-tow to the guy who makes so much money off my labour he doesn't have to do anything else!
So now its a fair profit? Who decides what is fair?
You? The government?
You don't have to Kow-tow, you can stand on the street corner with your hand out screaming about capitalism.
But the guy who gives you a dime is all for it.No I don't have to stand on the street corner because I'm not actually so dense that I have to submit to the system, I can earn much more working for myself part time than anybody would pay me working full time.
I often give hand outs and I'm not all for capitalism, so how do you sort that one out?So you make money in the capitalist way and denounce it at the same time.
I guess the only way to sort that out is to call you a hypocrite.
Hypocrite.No, I don't exploit anybody, if I can't afford to do something I'm not prepared to exploit somebody else.
Call me a hypocrite if you want, pity you don't seem to understand what it means.Let me see if I have this right.
You are self employed?
You are making money from being self employed?
You are making money as a capitalist.
But you hate capitalism.
No, I think hypocrite is exactly the word.Unfortunately the right have such a strangle hold on us that it is not possible to live out with the capitalist system in the UK.
It is however possible to do so with the minimal impact.If you want to be involved in capitalism and have a minimal effect then charge a lot less for your labor.
Thats a good place to start.
Betcha won't.How will that help those in the US working for the minimum wage of two dollars, work for one and decrease the amount they are exploited!
You're barking!
The "right" isn't exploiting you... you're a victim of your own inadequacy, or perhaps your own attitude. You have decided that since you can't achieve all that you wish that it must be through no fault of your own, that someone else is the reason for your failures... you chose to blame the right, but it wouldn't matter if the right didn't exist, you'd still be a failure and you'd still look to blame someone else.
That's just whining... we conservatives don't look to blame others for our fate, we believe one makes their own destiny by taking personal responsibility for it our self. We don't need nor want the government to help us nor do we want government to be an impediment, we simply want government to make sure we are kept free to achieve all that we can. If we complain about the left, it's because the left wants exactly the opposite! They want us to succeed collectively, they want those that work the hardest and achieve the greatest results to be responsible to the lazy do nothings that sit around all day whining about why they can't be rich without having to make any effort what so ever. Yes, that's the Utopian society of the left from each according to their ability to each according to their need. Why should anyone even try under such a system? Why when doing nothing provides an equal reward as the hard working over achiever? Why compete in any contest when everyone gets a prize?
I'll never understand the left!Oh gosh, I've been judged inadequate because I don't subscribe to the "system". What has become of my freedom? You haven't just taken it like every thing else have you?
Repeat, why the left whining and the right complaining?
I think it really sad if you view life as a competition with winners and losers. I'll never understand the right!"Oh gosh, I've been judged inadequate because I don't subscribe to the "system"."
Its really hard to follow, you just said you DO subscribe to the system even though you are against it.Take that up with LL,she who made the allegation.
Odd, you have now taken to responding to yourself.
Unfortunately life is a competition, that's the reality, countries compete business competes and individuals compete, until we start preparing our children here in the USA for a competition, we will continue to see decline, which is exactly what the left wants, it's their opportunity to rule over the sheep and take their "just" rewards!
Countries may compete,businesses may compete, individuals may compete at skills or abilities, but compete for the right to live!
Ugh, why I dislike the right, I wonder,if you where struck down one day,would you happily take the final solution or demand your "right" to life however much the competition may beat you?This has been fun but now I have to go and be exploited for another 8 hours.
Damn capitalists.Enjoy your work Jim (be a slob,get a job,be a jerk,go to work
)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MJ-NeXRcEk
Take a look at this video. This kid lost both arms in an accident, I think he was flying a kite that touched electric lines. If anyone should sit around whining about how they should be taken care of, this kid would be it! But what did he do? He rose above his misfortune and did something with his life. I have no doubt that he'll make a better living than someone like you who is constantly grousing about being exploited by the rich!Why do you have to turn every disagreement into a personal attack?
You who complains about the whining left but cannot miss an opportunity for a low blow?I'm sorry... I wasn't trying to make it personal... it's just an observation I made that is typical of all those on the left, it's not just you. I mean really, what is wrong with independence, individuality, personal responsibility, and self reliance? How can anyone attack such concepts?
Don't apologize for that, it wasn't a personal attack.
It was a description.Regardless, I hurt his feelings and I didn't want to do that. It's not personal, it isn't!
Oi you butt out, who are you to tell me when I can and can't be offended and who are you to tell LL that she shouldn't apologise, even though she has explained that it wasn't personal.
Thanks LL for the apology, and for the heads up that you didn't actually mean it to be as personal as I took it, I'll try and remember that in future.
Nothing wrong at all, why do you attack them?
I am individual, independent, I take personal responsibility and am self reliant.
The difference between us is that I accept some people aren't capable of all those things 100% of the time, heck, I'm not 100% of the time, I don't think that everybody who can't keep up should be thrown on the scrap heap.
You keep personalising my message, assuming that if I think something is wrong, it is wrong because I'm suffering.
You seem unable to grasp that I care for my fellow man and that isn't just other lefties, that includes you and Jim and anybody else who is screwed by the system, everybody, unlike you who seems to wish ill on anybody who doesn't share your view.The truth is you keep attacking me but I seem to have a thicker skin.I like you think we should help others I just think we should cut out the middle man to do it.
Er, I'm sorry if you think that I keep attacking you, if I do it's in response to a perceived attack!
The trouble with cutting out the middleman is balance,or a lack of it. Some would do very well and some would do very badly out of it.
Remember Dickens deserving poor and undeserving poor?
The other problem is charity and the great reluctance of those in need of it to accept it.
It would be ideal if we lived in the sort of society that venerated its elderly and treated them properly. Unfortunately we live in a fractured society where we no longer care for our fellow men rather we are suspicious and begrudging of them.
Think how ready we are to condemn as scroungers absolute strangers. We assume that because we have the power and the ability to work our way out of a situation everybody else s and if they don't the only reason is sloth.
Thanks for your reply. It was late last night, when I posted my thoughts. Glad to see you could make sense of my ramblings. we must be on the same wave length. We can begin today to live the life we love!
- Erik S.posted 14 years ago
0That is pretty thought provoking.
After twenty years of being an Atheist, I recently found God, which for me, definitely broke the shackles, but at the same time I understand that some may just see religion as another form of shackles. Either way, I never expected it. I would be the last person that anyone would ever think of to start going to church, so I guess what I'm trying to say is even if you don't think it'll ever happen, that someone coming to free you could be on their way already. May I suggest you read Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison? It's an excellent book that touches on the ideas of freedom vs slavery through several characters. 1 character lives his life as a slave to his fathers memory, while another goes in search of monetary gain only to find freedom. Another character was born free - symbolically & literally - yet another chose to be a slave to a certain ideal.
The book is an excellent example of Dramatic Irony, in that the characters are all descendants of former slaves but also have white/Indian ancestry - and they are oblivious to that fact.
So, my response to you post - A slave is someone who doesn't live according to their own will.Many are slaves to God because they wait for him to free them instead of doing for themselves what they can. Why would any God prevent people from learning how to be free by constantly intervening for us?
- Erik S.posted 14 years ago0
Haha, see what I mean?
I don't want to get into it here, but we do in fact do for ourselves what we can. He does for us what we can't.
Does the family of an addict not intervene when they want to see their loved one freed from their shackles of addiction?Intervention is only effective IF the person for whom it's done is willing to make that act effective. Otherwise, it's wasted. A family who intervenes for an addict member wastes their energy if that person is unwilling to make their help and intervention effective. We must first free ourselves, then and only then can any intervention be effective.
There is nothing wrong with helping others. But enabling is different than empowering and help. That's the part that we often confuse ourselves about. If there is a God, it seems that this premise would be a basis for a lot of things.
Incidentally, I'm not an atheist. After 5 decades of being a devout believer, I have determined that if there is a God, that God is nothing as any religion professes him to be.
- Erik S.posted 14 years ago0
If someone would rather live day to day searching for their fix, then that is their choice, I can't argue with that, although I don't see how someone could find God against their own will. His "intervention" is very welcomed in my life. As a Christian, I'm sad to hear that you've lost the faith, but like I said, that is their choice.
Not to worry, I've never felt better about my life and my spiritual connection. Making adjustments is not about disposing of "faith." It's about discovering the truth, and not becoming a slave to anything.
As for the responsibility issue, it is what it is. Each must learn to free themselves according to the path in life they choose. Everything is as it should be. We go and do and be what we need to.
If we need to be a slave to something, we become the slave. When we are done with it, we move on. When all you can think about is not being a slave, being free, you finally give yourself permission to be free, and things start to change for your freedom. The same is true with inner peace, and many other things.
The technique of infamy, is to invent two lies and to get the people arguing heatedly over which one of them is True.
Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematical plan of reducing us to slavery.
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