If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.
Busy people don’t have time to care about other shit. As important as it may be to protect your country from apathy, from corruption, from fascism, it’s not something that’s directly in front of you so it’s not something you have time to worry about.
The propaganda about working hard (to keep single people busy), about getting married and having kids, about having a good work ethic, against work-life balance, all designed to keep you as busy as possible. Companies abuse childless people because “oh, well he has kids so he has to leave early… we need this done today”.
The government keeps you busy with paying taxes, renewing drivers licenses, passports, license plates, car inspections, code violations that you have to get fixed, tiny minimum wages that force you to take 2-3 jobs.
People with spare time have time to look at what’s going on around them… they have time to organize and fight for what they want. They have time to start their own businesses instead of being wage slaves for the rich. They have time to fight big issues when they come up. This is undesirable behavior. A big uprising, which is probably coming anyway, is the last thing the elite want.
So they keep you busy, and in control. They look at history and see all of the times when this failed but they think “Yeah, but people in the past were stupid… we can make it work this time”. And they push more and more and more, until everyone gets pushed too far. But first comes being busy.
Tag: life lessons with dad
A Little Empathy
It’s good to take a refresher course in empathy, from time to time. I may need it more often than most.
When someone appears to be having a moment, start by asking:
Do you want to be helped, heard, or hugged?
Follow their decision and go on from there.
For the source of the quote, and for a deeper discussion, see When Someone You Love Is Upset, Ask This One Question.
MFA
Being an adult means that you have the power to eat dessert for dinner, but the wisdom and self-control not to.
Life, in brief
Life is the hardest teacher. It gives you the test, and then gives you the lesson.