The Uneducated Scholar

Life is a pilgrimage.

We all travel different paths, and yet many of these roads are similar enough that we can help others with our experience. If we can survive the trials, I believe we can help those who have suffered, or are suffering trials much like our own.

There is a connection between people who have gone through experiences that are somewhat alike. Relatability begets effective empathy that no university can teach.

The paths of our lives are designed to improve ourselves and to help others. We are not here to get more things. We are not here to rise above our fellow man, but to reach out and even down to lift him up.

We allow possessions and consumerism to control our lives. This will not suffice.

Imagine a world where people did not push political agendas.

Imagine a world where people did not hate.

Imagine a world where people thought less about how other people “are taking advantage” and focused on what they would be compelled to do if they walked in shoes that are not their own.

We must decide what we are going to do when life punches us in the face. We must decide if we are going to get up, take that trial and use it to help others, or will we become bitter and simply stay down.

Let us allow are weaknesses to become our strengths.

We are all on a pilgrimage.

We are supposed to be the most enlightened creatures on earth. We are the supreme beings. If this is reality, then why do we do what we do? Why are we fueled by greed? Why are we driven by status or power? Why do we align ourselves with cultural and political ideals that polarize us?

When in the annals of human history did it say we should be ruled by a clock or schedule our lives around consumerism and self-interest?

I spent many years working for myself with my own business; without exception the most generous clients I had the privilege of serving were the poorest. A poor man will give you the very shirt from his back. The rich man will often take that shirt or find a way to claim you are undeserving to wear it.

I reject all American political parties. We are not a nation for the people; we are an Oligarchy for the few.

When I speak of “rich” I don’t simply mean the very wealthy; I mean those that make $100,000.00 a year or more. If you do not feel well-off with this, then you are living a life that will only reap rewards her and now—and only for yourself; then you may need to change your paradigm.

“Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it.”—G.K. Chesterton

The official poverty rate is 13.5 percent, based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 estimates. That year, an estimated 43.1 million Americans lived in poverty according to the official measure.—Source: Center for Poverty Research, University of California Davis.

Poverty rates according to the U.S. Government (https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-FPL/)

$12,060 for individuals
$16,240 for a family of 2
$20,420 for a family of 3
$24,600 for a family of 4
$28,780 for a family of 5
$32,960 for a family of 6
$37,140 for a family of 7
$41,320 for a family of 8

On average nationwide, working families with two parents and two children require an income of $48,778 to meet the family budget. In major urban areas, expenses for this four-person family range from $42,106 in Oklahoma City to $71,913 in Nassau/Suffolk, N.Y.; families in small towns and rural areas start from a low of $35,733 in Marshall County, Miss. to $73,345 in Nantucket and Dukes Counties, Mass.—Source: (http://www.epi.org/publication/bp224/)

When in the annals of human history did it say we should be ruled by a clock or schedule our lives around consumerism and self-interest?

I reject all American political parties. We are not a nation for the people; we are an Oligarchy for the few.

Poverty rates according to the U.S. Government (https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-FPL/)

• $12,060 for individuals

• $16,240 for a family of 2

• $20,420 for a family of 3

• $24,600 for a family of 4

• $28,780 for a family of 5

• $32,960 for a family of 6

• $37,140 for a family of 7

• $41,320 for a family of 8

These facts do not mention the income in other nations. More people worldwide live in poverty than do not. This is unacceptable.

The change could come with a change in personal ideology. It could happen if people changed their entire way of thinking …and living.

Here is my myth: Corporations become benevolent, insurance companies become fair, politicians seek out the people’s needs, not the agenda of voting constituents or the narrow view of their party(s), medical professionals cease to charge so far outside the realm of the common mans’ wallet, healthcare becomes universal (as in every other democratic country on earth), a university education is free to all who desire one.

There are so many more specifics that would change the world that the list would be nearly endless. However, it all comes down to a thing that humans have never had and never will: a desire to selflessly help their fellow man equal to their own desires.

I am rational enough to know these things are not in our deepest intrinsic nature. As the lion kills, we desire power and riches.

So it is…so it always will be. The only thing we can do, is the very few who are willing and are uninfluenced by centuries of cultural brainwashing and possibly even an innate instinct , is to make a difference by example and one person at a time.

I guess this must suffice.