Pongo - 07 May 2008 08:33 PM
Source: http://tinyurl.com/5sombm
1. Go out and make a bunch of money!
Here we are living in the world’s most prosperous country, surrounded by all the comforts, conveniences and security that money can provide. Yet no American political, intellectual or cultural leader ever says to young people, “Go out and make a bunch of money.” Instead, they tell you that money can’t buy happiness. Maybe, but money can rent it.
It can’t buy happiness. But it is the standard against which too many are measured in a post-Catholic, ‘modernist’ world. Money becomes the measure of a man, unless events force one to look more closely at their character, for good or ill.
If money places no obstacle between confession that the maid is the same child of God as the master, and that the fast food or office clerk is equal in the eyes of God as the billionaire, suite exec, or public servant in the state or nation’s capitol, if the rich man is not put off by the poor, and the poor not presumptuous or dismissive of the wealthy, and so on, then money is still an obstacle to salvation, but less so, perhaps. It has to be remembered that diabolism is inversion. The truth of the matter remains, simply - it is difficult for a rich man. The eye of a needle is very, very small. It’s a very narrow road. Nicodemus was wealthy and of standing on the Sanhedrin. Other Catholics have been, as well. In antiquity, King David had wealth comparable to any Saudi family, today. But Our Lord is clear about the obstacle that wealth can bring.
Pongo - 07 May 2008 08:33 PM
2. Don’t be an idealist!
Don’t chain yourself to a redwood tree. Instead, be a corporate lawyer and make $500,000 a year.
Sin and sin some more, in other words. It is virtually impossible in the business world to remain pure. Even those who take great effort to accurately represent their product or service, and then to stand behind it, face ‘difficult’ and unreasonable customers. It is a spiritual chain around ones neck. To furthermore then recommend a course steering toward avarice and thievery is not good advice. One may serve in that capacity. One may not try to justify it. All work is flawed. All business models fail at points. It is how it’s always been. It’s not to be defended as just.
Pongo - 07 May 2008 08:33 PM
3. Get politically uninvolved!
All politics stink. Even democracy stinks. Imagine if our clothes were selected by the majority of shoppers, which would be teenage girls.
Then, PJ, raise your daughters right. Democracy is a term we apply to Republican government. Electors are chosen. Representatives conduct public business. Individuals are very often alienated in that way. But so would they be by direct democracy.
Pongo - 07 May 2008 08:33 PM
Imagine deciding the dinner menu by family secret ballot. I’ve got three kids and three dogs in my family. We’d be eating Froot Loops and rotten meat.
If one gave the household pets the right to vote, perhaps. And who would serve as their proxy? Raise the kids right. Trust them to make mistakes. And then deal with those, honestly. Not every meal would be pizza and beer. Having tasted home cooking, it almost certainly would not be pizza and beer - except sometimes.
Pongo - 07 May 2008 08:33 PM
4. Forget about fairness!
Well, I am here to advocate for unfairness. I’ve got a 10-year-old at home. She’s always saying, “That’s not fair.” When she says this, I say, “Honey, you’re cute. That’s not fair. Your family is pretty well off. That’s not fair. You were born in America. That’s not fair. Darling, you had better pray to God that things don’t start getting fair for you.” What we need is more income, even if it means a bigger income disparity gap.
He does have the humorous point, here, I agree. What she means to say is that such and such is unjust in the eyes of God. That’s - fairness. Does it or does it not conform to the irreformable dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church? That’s always the standard, even in a time when ‘Popes’ and clergy have themselves apostacized. The standard remains. And they are judged by it all the same.
Pongo - 07 May 2008 08:33 PM
5. Be a religious extremist!
. . . read the Bible for political advice—even if you’re a Buddhist, atheist or whatever. The Bible is very clear about one thing: Using politics to create fairness is a sin. Observe the Tenth Commandment. . . . If you want a mule, if you want a pot roast, if you want a cleaning lady, don’t whine about what the people across the street have. Get rich and get your own.
The Decalogue does not command that we sin in order to achieve wealth - which is often fleeting. It says that we ought not desire that which is not ours, and can never be. We ought not steal to get it. We ought not murder to get it. It also says nothing about elections nor public grievances, and certainly does not proscribe participation in the political process. Perhaps PJ is continuing to make the same ‘joke’. But a joke must be based in truth.
Pongo - 07 May 2008 08:33 PM
6. Don’t listen to your elders!
How can one not? Founders in any field are the elders, and much respected and admired. One never knows who the elder is, who is a stranger. One does not know their life story, their lessons learned, the effect they have had on lives, and all humanity. You just don’t know. If they are alive but too far gone with illness, one may never know, except second-hand.
If your elders are not faithful to God and His Church, and have bad advice intentionally or unintentionally designed to rob one of a chance of eternal salvation, then in that - sure - ignore them. Even try to correct them if they’d listen. Otherwise.
