Fall of an Empire - Conclusion
Pandora’s box has again been opened and along with pain, suffering, and sickness we have also released unabridged greed, which has touched all living things much to their detriment. The root motivation that has lead to the destruction of our environment can be traced to a single driving force…Greed. Greed leads the way to all of our societal shortcomings. We live in a Wal-Mart economy. An economy in which, cheap prices, 24-hour service, and convenience are valued at all cost. We need to ask ourselves if the luxury of a Wal-Mart on every corner is worth the cost of having millions of workers that have no health insurance due to low wages so that Wal-Mart can operate as the least cost provider. The Wal-Martization of the world’s economy will remove the few suppliers left from the market place that cares about its customers and the people they employ. The suppliers that have left the world supply chain are often ones that employed the hard working well-informed people we could count on when making purchasing choices. In the current economic trend the level of technical sophistication for the consumer must rise daily. Purchasers are expected to be well-informed buyers. The amount of information needed to make an informed purchase decision is becoming insurmountable. The quality of employees in the sales force has fallen to such a low level that they lack the mental capacity to understand the products they sell well enough to be of any assistance in the purchase decision. Our youth must be expected to be self-reliant. We cannot continue as a successful society in the current mode of operation. Many think that all answers can be bought or that we can rely on others to solve all our problems right down to the ones associated with the routine tasks of daily life.
The success of our society requires that: we all become better informed; we raise our own children and require trust and loyalty of others with severe consequences for those who violate it. We must stop listening to the fear mongers who’s only motive is to keep us glued to the television so they can sell us more junk that will not work and we do not need. While I may sound like someone who proclaims a Dooms-Day scenario we must remember history. The history of the world shows that all of the great societies fell while they were resting on their laurels. This country regardless of how mighty too shall fall if its citizens do not collectively pull together to re-establish trust, loyalty and morality.
Fall of an Empire Part V
Corporate executives rob companies and its employees of profits; these acts appear to be committed with no regard for the consequences of self or others. Our current societal practices will tell me that it is not my fault or responsibility that I have shortcomings. I do not have to save myself let alone others, and I will be vindicated when I find who is to blame. A major pillar in the foundation of a successful society is trust. The quantity of people we can count on to be trusted is diminishing. The societal trend is moving towards openly expressing that disloyalty is to be expected and those revelations come without remorse. While it is people not companies that dump hazardous waste illegally and knowingly put toxins into our environment these people hide behind the curtain of the corporation. Corporations can be viewed as a sort of family unit as they have a similar hierarchy of leaders and followers. The major difference is the motivations between them. Families exist in (simplest terms) for continuation of the species. Corporations exist for continuation of business, even in the absence of its founder. What they have become is much more. Much of what big business has done is what has made our society what it is today. Business is where the funds come from to build the structure that supports our society. We are not islands and we cannot each be self-sustaining in today’s world. Corporate trust just as family trust must also be restored if our society is to continue to be successful.
Fall of an Empire Part IV
We have lost the family as a cohesive group. Family members in some instances are more inclined to act more severely against one another than a stranger. While risking paranoia, I believe we can no longer trust, those who are responsible for setting the example of trust. Members of our family and peers engage in confessions of disloyalty and theft of each other, of strangers, and employers without remorse. We engage in feuds on the playing fields of our children. Fighting over how a soccer game should or was played. Parents and spectators have been forced to either act responsibly or their family member will be removed from play. What does this say about our society when adults cannot let children play as children and solve on their own even the most trivial of conflicts. We must set the standard and show our youth what battles to fight and how to appropriately engage disputes. My dad beating your dad to death on the playing field is not the answer. Our clergy who many feel are an extension of the family can no longer be expected to set the bar of morality. Where are we to turn when churches have proven a safe haven for molesters and pedophiles? Some use the name of the church as an opportunity for profiting at the expense of those in their weakest moments while seeking help in end of life crisis and troubled personal times. The answer to family issues is not simple. We must find new ways to safeguard the family from degradation by negative outside influence such as television video games and violence. Children coming home to empty houses and single parent homes have taken huge toll on society. Too many children spend too much time without the supervision of their own parents. It is not the responsibility of the schools or daycare providers to raise our offsprin
The Fall of an Empire Part III
Through the course of our lives most of us have indulged in episodes of (in the purest sense) “A” moral behavior. Those who felt immediate and substantial consequences would probably think long before again, if ever returning to similar behavior. Those consequences help to remind us how we should live. However, today we will not or cannot impose harsh penalties on individuals that indulge in “A” moral behavior without fear of legal action. Children who are spanked can go to school officials claiming abuse for the sole purpose of retaliation against a correcting parent or guardian. Schools are now very limited in how discipline can be carried out for fear of legal action brought on by the offending child, carried out by the our legal system on behalf of the parents. Consequently we have propagated a society of irresponsible, blameless, instantly satisfied, helpless, lazy, greedy, and needy people.
The Fall of an Empire Part II
Change is not only inevitable but also necessary. When these changes of method and culture occur we must always be vigilant of possible negative outcome. We currently are in the pendulum swing of good times and prosperity. This is evident in the way our current society is spending like never before. It is easy to get caught up in the feelings of “I want what I want when I want it” and “it is new I have got to have it now.” Through our actions as a society we are saying that the next generation should have better than we did. This is sometimes true, but limits must established to prevent abuse of this paradigm. Items we need to be successful include: clothing, food, shelter, the best free education available and equal opportunities. There is yet another class of items society is saying they have a right to: new designer clothes, new expensive cars, new computers, cell phones, to dress however they like and most of all the right to expect someone else to pay for it. This society has an alarming number of twenty plus year olds that believe they should not have to work if they do not want to work. Further to that end they think those around them are obligated to provide all their wants and needs with no obligation. Where are these lost souls to end up 40 to 50 years from now when they have only their own kind to rely upon? The expiring generation has no other obligation to the previous one other than to leave the world as they found it. The current mature generations will leave as a legacy a society that will soon be morally bankrupt and unprepared for survival.
The Fall of an Empire
The Fall of an Empire
While in the midst of good times we often forget that good times are not forever. Trials are always just around the corner and we will not have feast without famine. While I do not want to be aligned with “Dooms Day” predictors who proclaim the end of the world is near. I will proclaim that with each passing day the world, as we know it, has come to an end. Some will claim this is not all bad, but have a look around things may not be as rosy as we think.
