A Teacher's Lesson

When my dad was younger he was misbehaving in school, as young boys often do, and was approached by a teacher who asked my dad the sort of questions that make you think differently about the situation. 

Without knowing it, that teacher changed my dad's life and ultimately shaped his parenting style. I vividly recall his questions/speeches that would make me think differently about the misbehaving situation I had gotten myself into. 

It helped shaped the sort of person I've ultimately become. I've always felt like I had an above average critical thinking skills and I have my dad to thank for this and his teacher.

Some of Socrates Thoughts on Democracy

“Why do we let just anyone vote? You wouldn’t choose a ship’s captain by popular vote, but by expertise.”

-Interpretation of Socrates/Plato

The issue with Democracy is that we chose leaders based on popularity rather than qualification. Additionally, the intelligent man has the same voting power as the idiot. When given the opportunity, we tend to not want to do effort and since being intelligent requires effort it means that, if (again) given the opportunity, we would rather not become intelligent. A parent that doesn't value education likely won't have kids that values it. Over time a threshold is reached where a political leader only needs to appeal to the idiot in order to gain power.

“The crowd rewards charm, not wisdom.”

-Interpretation of Socrates/Plato

A Democracy can only be maintained if we remain vigilant about who we choose. Socrates believed that it's not possible for the masses to make an informed decision about whom they pick. How else would a Democracy work? If voting is only reserved for the few then would the rest of the population accept the vote?

The Bigger The Decision The Bigger The Learning

“I have often marveled at the thin line which separates success from failure.”

-Ernest Shackleton

The decisions business owners have to make usually carry more weight than those of an employee and therefor they learn the most from them. Employees don't typically make major decisions, and the mistakes that may come from them, which hinders their ability for growth.

Generally speaking, business owners are better with their finances, for example, than employees because they better understand the impact money has - they've learned from the mistakes that they've made at work. Employees aren't generally given the opportunity to make such mistakes.

Since employees aren't learning much from the work itself, they need to find other ways for growth and that's usually through self-improvement on their own time - not doing so limits their potential over their lifetime.

Some subjects that are important to learn about about are Finance, Relationships, Communication, Leadership, Health... Pick a subject and go!

We Need To Connect More

Socializing is one the most natural thing that we can do yet today's society seems to have created a generation of individuals unable to effectively communicate with each other. In order for a society to work properly the individuals within it needs a sense of belonging and that can only be felt through the connection that we make.

"In the age of distraction, focus is a superpower."

-Cal Newport

Screens are partly to blame. Instead of spending our formative years socializing face to face we're now behind a screen and some of us will stay there for the rest of our lives. "Brain rot", a term referencing the act of consuming short term content, isn't helping here as it destroys our ability to focus - something necessary when communicating face to face.

Some things we need to do more of:

• Limit our screentime.
• Join a group/activity for the purpose of making connections.
• Read, sleep, exercise, proper diet.
• Travel somewhere we've never been without a GPS.

We need to put an end to this disconnect because if we don't build relationships with our peers then we may not care about them as much and do things to the detriment of them (ex: A.I. Surveillance). Each of us have a responsibility to care for each other. 

Where are the Successful Marriages?

Almost 15 years ago, I had attended a leadership seminar pertaining to "success in marriage". The couple speaking appeared genuine and I've always considered them to be the template for relationships.

After decades of marriage, the 2 of them have split and my view on marriage got shattered with it.

While I've seen long term marriages, I have never encountered a marriage that was, what I would consider to be, a successful one. There's no intimacy, no happiness - just strangers sharing a house. This is made worse with the rise of personal devices and people preferring to numb themselves rather than face problems with their partners.