If I’m lucky, the phrase “Compassionate Capitalism” will be quickly outdated and make the Top Ten Most Hated Phrases list in the Oxford Dictionary, by the time I’m done with this writing.  To those who have no idea, the phrase has been coined in two books.  The first was in 1993 by Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, as a how-to inspirational guide for entrepreneurs on becoming successful yet also able to give back to the community, based on a 16-point credo with a Judeo-Christian slant.  The second, in 2004, was by Mark Benioff and Karen Southwick, as a study of how large and small companies have begun philantrophy programs, as a way of giving back to their respective communities.

They are nice feel-good press ops; unfortunately, they aren’t enough.  In both cases, the treatment of the “Compassionate Capitalism” is extremely limited.  One ventures to define it as a way to reconcile one’s faith and conscience to the sometimes-unpleasant arena of business.  The other strives to show proof that businesses can salve their collective conscience by almsgiving and hand-me-downs to the poor.  A third popular way is to “Go Green,” investing in items that are environmentally-friendly.  No less noble, still no dice.  While all this sounds pleasing to the ear, most businesses – especially large companies – are generally self-serving, naturally.  Worse, they have a winner-take-all and take-no-prisoners mentality that negates all those good works.

Small businesses, the mom-and-pop and family-owned varieties, have been typically straightforward, in the sense that those of us on the outside know that they’re trying to make a living as we are. Then with more competition come bloodbaths, acquisitions, and mergers.  Business closures. Small companies, if they don’t get handed down future generations, get bought out if they’re lucky. As companies and businesses grow, the customer services are forced, the products and the atmosphere impersonal. When once, there was just the door to a small store, with a smiling owner (typically) behind it, now looms a tall and menacing monolith. The corporation becomes a living, breathing, devouring monster of its own, feeding on its surroundings.  While some enlightened executives have tried in good faith to give back to the faithful, most of the cogs in the wheel, big and small, are content to simply partake in the everyday business of corporate rapine without a second thought, nullifying any conscientious effort to give back.  There, I’ve given you Capitalism in all of ten seconds.

Industries have risen and fallen by this premise.  While some have declined and died out with the changing face of the world, there have also been surprises from least likely candidates. When the banks and other financial giants fail, mortgage crisis develops as a result of gross foreclosures, and the auto industry in America is breathing its last, one can conclude that Capitalism as a model, is starting to fail us.  I offer an alternative: Capitalism, in its present incarnation and morality, is fundamentally flawed. Here is where the “Compassionate” part comes in.  As defined by DeVos, Benioff and Southwick, this was certainly practiced by most of these failing companies.  However, they were superficial press ops, designed more to boost their flawed images and justify their existence and their greed.  Meanwhile, the rampage continued.

All of this went to a head when in late 2008, there was nothing more to collect.  Worse yet, the money they thought they could collect from failing homeowners began to literally vanish. Greed and anticipation turned to dismay. Then fear. Then electronic assets fast became liabilities (how quickly these people panic), and before anyone guessed, Federal Handouts.  As the government was generous enough to bail these people out, these same companies, Bank of America, Citigroup, et. al., began to cut their philantrophic projects, while begrudgingly doing the same for their luxurious amenities.  Early this year, the public got to see American auto CEO’s at their worst, when they didn’t have the good sense to realize that an angry Congress were short of telling them to quit their jobs and give up their million-dollar severance packages.

The problem is, most businesses haven’t developed a sense of compassion while IN business. Most of the “Compassion” one hears about is anything on the outside.  In Medicine, there is the Hippocratic Oath, which prescribes that all doctors (but unfortunately, not insurance companies) should give care to patients, regardless of origin or leaning. In sports, there is the implicit Universal Sportsmanlike conduct, which regulates fairness. There are regulations for just about everything.  So why can’t businesses regulate themselves, and develop an internal, self-policing code of ethics, without waiting for the government to intervene?

Contrary to what any economist or sociologist will say, capitalism does NOT have to be rationalized away as amoral.  While competition may be a good way to stimulate creativity and progress, it does not have to be bloody. That’s what war is for.  Neither does it always have to follow “The Bottom Line.” On that note, “The Bottom Line” isn’t and shouldn’t always be about money. The major sin that all these financial companies committed was Greed. Instead of thinking, “Hey, let’s try to house these people the right way,” the common thought was, “Hey, let’s make money by housing as many people as we can.”  When the Credit-Default Swaps originated, this line of thinking changed to, “Oh well, so much for the homeowners. Hey, let’s see how much the insurers can give us for all that.” Then AIG and other insurers started to go bust.  Whoops.

Independent of your God and your public-image concerns, all you CEO’s of big companies should start changing how you think. Must we remind you of who is supporting you, as you sit atop that precarious financial pyramid? I dare you to answer that in two seconds. If not, Joe the Plumber and Manny the Mechanic will meet you downstairs at the garage; they’ll help you figure that out soon enough.  If we get lost in the false idols of numbers and number-crunching, then we have lost touch with the basics. Man (abbreviated to include Man or Woman) needs food, shelter and clothing. Business provides, at reasonable cost. Man needs to be amused, needs bright, shiny objects. Business also provides, at still-reasonable cost. Don’t forget that.

As for business-to-business relations: Business needs to provide product, gain reasonable profit. Business must be good to employees, since employees = Man. Other business needs to provide improve product, gain reasonable profit and improve on old product. Cycle of competition develops, until one blinks or gets tired. Business develops new, tangible, practical products, which will truly help improve Man’s condition over the long run, make Man happy. Hint: Bright, shiny objects do not provide lasting happiness. Hint: Homes, cars and other products that will be obsolete within ten years, or make life miserable to Man, BAD.  Being unemployed: BAD. Being in debt for houses, cars, and products, for eternity:  REALLY BAD!

Have I made myself clear?

Again, to reiterate: Compassionate Capitalism should be about being moral and considerate in business dealings, not just philantrophy or penance. All businesses, especially large corporations, must reevalute whether they are really helping customers when they house them; or if they are screwing them ten times over, by handing them a loan that they have no business handling. As a secondary goal, businesses contribute best to its community, when it provides jobs and/or livelihood, not hand-me-downs. Recall that whole “Teach a man to fish” proverb. People who are down on their luck will appreciate the boost of self-respect they will get, more than the money (although they’ll take that, too). Compassionate Capitalism should be about realizing what is good for Man overall, not what should be good, because
they project it onto them.

Much as politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, have to listen to people, to know what to offer them, Businesses must do the same: They must listen to their customers and employees, and give them what they need, not necessarily what they want. Sales staffs need to take a chill and get the *#!@ out of the way, for once; instead of pushing unwanted products, try pushing things that are truly beneficial. Anything that makes life easier (again, a Hint: anything that’s NOT expensive), satisfies hunger and want. To a higher degree, makes Man happy. Giving back to the community is nice, but that’s extra. Giving to your God is great, but if you’re doing it to rationalize the bad things you do, you are no better than the indulgence-buyers that Martin Luther bashed on in the Reformation.  If you do business, do it with conscience. Truly serve your customers, in good faith, with no intention to profit illegally, nor take more than what is needed. If you need a manifesto, I can provide you one, for starters:

As a Compassionate Capitalist, I promise to:

1. Provide to my customers what they need, and provide the best products or services possible, at reasonable cost, with no disadvantageous strings attached.

2. Strive to do good business always, with my customers and competitors alike. I will treat any and all with decency (as I expect the same), with respect, and without any subterfuge and dishonesty. I will never engage in usury or needless profiteering.

3. Appreciate my employees, as well as my customers. To a certain extent, they are my partners in my business, and they are also representative of the community I serve. I will be fair in my dealings with them, at all times and never enrich myself unnecessarily at their expense.

4. Never, ever, push unwanted or undesired products that can potentially harm a customers’ relationship with his/her God and/or family; or his finances and general well-being. I will not supplant the things that matter the most, with short-term joy.

5. Above all else, to do what is right for Humanity, and not the business. For my business is still dependent on the general welfare of my main customer, all of Humanity. Along with that, I will not preach and be overzealous in my pursuit to do right, and I will temper my successes and failures with business with humility. As Quoheleth would have saith, nothing under the Sun lasts forever…

Even if you are no Trekkie, Live Long and Prosper.  Strive to do good, always.

Here are two other links to like-minded albeit more verbose essays on Compassionate Capitalism. The third one is a grassroots example of how businesses should be:

Compassionate Capitalism

Urban Development in the Economic Crisis

When a Customer is More than a Customer

Copyright Anabasius 2009

DON’T GO TO COLLEGE.

Yes, you read that right. That’s a loaded statement, of course so read on. DO go to college, if you’re serious and know what you want to pursue. Don’t just do it because you have no idea what you want to do with your life. You’ll figure it out soon enough, with or without college. Join the Army or the Navy in the meantime. Take up sports. Be a cop or a paramedic. Do something productive. Don’t waste your best years in college. But most of all, don’t waste your money doing so. Especially if you don’t have it.

Why do I say this? I spent nearly ten goddamned years pursuing a degree. Because it was the right thing to do, said my parents, and my parents’ parents before them. They were Depression-Era people; what the heck better did they know? It meant improvement, a chance to rise above mediocrity and minimum-wage.

Then there were these dirty nasty thing called financial companies, who wanted to make money out of nothing (see: mortgage crisis). So they sold the idea that, look, as students you need money to survive, right? Unless you live with mommy and daddy, you can’t pay for all those things you need, right? Rent, food, gas or transportation money, the bright, shiny laptop you’ll need to write papers and play on Facebook with… anyway, you’ll need it, trust us. You can always repay this, and they’re low on interest. Oh, what sweet lies did they lull us with.

They didn’t say that it would be a rough economy, and one out of three would be unemployed or under-employed. They didn’t say the economy would suck in three to five years. And worse yet, they never said they would wait, in the eventuality that you couldn’t find steady work. So after several years of futile labor, trying to make ends meet and pay past obligations, the heavy roof of debt finally caved in, and I found I could no longer make reasonable payment obligations, without some sort of disadvantageous arrangement. Forget about getting that nice house (heard about the mortgage crisis?). Forget about having children now (heard of child cruelty?). In fact, student loan agencies have done one thing that not all of the bullies in all of school could do: Deprive men and women of their lives and souls. This is tyranny of the highest accord.

The blame isn’t solely on financial aid organizations, like EdFund (Number One on my Shit List), Sallie Mae, et. al. The biggest other Judas in this conspiracy are the colleges, who deceived most students by misrepresenting the facts: It’s realistically not possible to live on a budget while paying for school. It’s okay to pay for school as you go along, without having to incur serious debt.

No. Instead of taking care of the students in their charge, instead they milked them for several thousand dollars they could indenture them to. They ensnared these people in the dire straits of Scylla and Charbydis, and without a proper raft, damned them to sink in the whirlpool of debt. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Unfortunately, it seems too late for the likes of me and several hundreds of thousands of others who have fallen into that trap and defaulted. So in case you’re curious, we are now being hunted down as financial fugitives, seeing our meager livelihoods garnished, in arrears. For the simple reason that we couldn’t repay our loans, because our economy had failed us. So much for “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who are indebted to us.”

Remembering a line in The Shawshank Redemption: “The funny thing is – on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.” What do they want us to do, prove that we’re dying so that they don’t chase us? Die? Rob banks?

It’s not too late, however, for the several thousands, and millions, who are in college, or about to go to college. I am being exclusive in this address. If you can afford the money, if mommy and daddy will cover the cost, or if you’re paying as you go, then go in there, and seize your education. But don’t let these goddamned colleges decide your financial future.

Don’t let these bastards get a cent more from you. Above all, don’t fall in love with your school. Don’t let them seduce you into thinking that you belong to them. They should belong to you, and kiss you hand and foot. It’s your education. (Whatever you do, don’t take your frustrations out on the professors; but do give college administrators a hard time when you’re able to.) Do NOT give them a red cent more, not for frivolous building projects that are meaningless to you, not useless alumni organizations which waste your time. Your college, your university, must dedicate their resources to YOU. Not a grantor or a donor.

YOU and YOU alone.

However, if you’re poor, and if you’re in no position to even start… then STAY OUT OF COLLEGE! I am pleading for you to do this, I’m saying this, because I care. Because YOU need to save your hard-earned dough, and put it to good use, when the time is right. PAY AS YOU GO. Don’t belive the Lie of Loans. Don’t ever, EVER let these scum-sucking student loan agencies dupe you into believing that loans are the only way to go. Get grants, BUT NO LOANS. This vitriol is spewed, not just because I want my fellow Americans to save their hard-fought wages from the wolves. I also want to deny these Bastards their livelihood. And for each American student who says a resounding NO to loans, they lose several thousand more. Several thousand more, multiplied by a few thousand, or a few million, begets a billion that these people will lose. When you attack your enemy, you do not just go through politics. You do not just fight your battle; you see the whole picture and see the war. Make them pay, and pay in spades. Make them bankrupt, and they will be forced to beg, as they should, as they made use beg. Do not rely on your politicians to fight for you, but learn to do it yourselves. Alone, we are powerless, but if we all take a stand and refuse to take any more student loans – then they will feel that pain. And THAT is how you do it. You twist that garrote until they start to feel pain. Pay them back, as they paid you; if they aren’t willing to forgive your debts, then make them bleed. Let these — and the schools they whore — that education isn’t so important that you have to sign away your life and livelihood and live indentured. This is Your choice, and you can achieve your dreams without being swindled and without their chicanery. For those of us who have already been fleeced, we have a long battle still, and some of us may perish. But for those of you who haven’t gone that road — choose, and choose wisely, My Friends. That is all I implore, and keep up the fight.

Here is a great article about one Man fighting this battle, and his site:

Inside the Student Loan Scam

Student Loan Justice

Copyright Anabasius 2009

Way back when, I grew up in a Man’s World in the Philippines.  Men were surly, smoked up to three packs of Marlboros each day, imbibed large quantities of San Miguel and typically swore obscenities about each others’ mothers in conversation.  In those days, Boxing was King.  By the time I had some semblance of intelligence, I’d already missed “The Thrilla in Manila” of Muhammad Ali & Joe Frazier.  I was lucky to be in the tail end of the last Golden Age of Boxing, with greats like Sugar Ray Leonard, “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns. Until recently, the last great fight I had seen was the first Leonard-Hearns fight in 1981.

In the Philippines, my generation had Rolando Navarrete who had the WBC super-featherweight belt for all of a year. Before that, the most prominent figure in Filipino boxing was Flash Elorde, who was the champ from 1960-1967. In popular culture, there were the Kambal na Kamao (Twin Fists) on the daily cartoons, which I read faithfully. Boxing was, and still is, one of the few avenues in which Filipinos have been propelled to the international spotlight.

Not to say that one can’t be anything else without hard work and dedication, but recall that this is not the US or Europe. There aren’t too many opportunities for smart or talented people to succeed in economically-depressed Third World countries like the Philippines.  Boxing is a glaring exception. There’s no prerequisite to being a good boxer. Your school, your training, will be the School of Hard Knocks, of countless fist fights, in rough public schools, in the barrios, in the slums. For working-class kids like myself, a common way to settle differences and blow off steam was by fighting and I’d seen my fair share of varying intensities, well into my senior year of high school. I readily admit, though, that I’m no boxer nor did I have any aspirations to become one.

By contrast, Manny Pacquiao had to quit school and work to support the family out of extreme poverty. He easily had as many as ten times of scrapping, and that was before he started fighting professionally at age 16.  He had been, quite literally, been fighting for his life, all his life. Therein is the difference. The rest of the story about Pacquiao, as they say, is history: He pursued boxing as a profession in 1994, spurred by the death of his friend Mark Penaflorida, and went on to become WBC bantamweight champ. It was in 2001 that the Pac-Man got his first big break, as a last-minute fill-in against IBF champion Lehlohonolo Ledwaba; he won that match via TKO in the 8th. Months prior, Pacquiao and then-manager Rod Nazario went stateside to seek out a trainer to help bring Pac-Man’s training to the next level. After a fruitless search on the East Coast (“He may be strong, but he’s small.”), they came upon Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. Roach was already respected in the boxing world as a primo trainer, but he was surprised and impressed by the diminutive fighter’s raw power and speed.

Three belts and three weight classes later, the new partnership of Pacquiao and Roach has not only helped him dominate the boxing stage, it has also brought on a renaissance of sorts to the sport.  Pacquiao’s ascendance comes as a breath of fresh air, especially for Filipinos, among the hardest hit by the global economic recession. To many in this generation, it was a dream come true, if only vicariously.  Manny Pacquiao has come to represent the hopes and aspirations of an entire nation, regardless of rich, poor, communist or democratic.  Indeed, the Pacquiao-Hatton bout caused the Philippine Army to call a temporary truce with the insurgents, and crime literally stopped, just so everyone could root for their Boy. No one figure in any known country, president or otherwise, have had that ability to singlehandedly cause such a phenomenon.  When Manny fights, all of the Philippines watches, from all corners of the globe.

Make no mistake about it, Boxing is a blood sport. It always is, and always will be.  No amount of glitz and bling will ever make it glamorous. Pugilists getting one too many hits to the noggin could get blind, deaf or Parkinson’s; or worse yet, dead. While boxing organizations have gone through great lengths to reduce the rate of serious injury and/or fatality, one’s chances of surviving a thorough beating by a semi-trained boxer is much, much less than when driving on an accident-prone freeway on any given day — if one ever decides to do either one, or both. If you need to know why it’s never a good idea for untrained slugs to get into a Toughman/woman contest, find out here.

Nonetheless, there’s something about boxing with nothing more than fists (sometimes feet) that is pure and primordial.  Zen warriors have tried to capture it and quantify it, but Chuck Palahniuk said it best in Fight Club: “After a night in fight club, everything in the real world gets the volume turned down.” In a fight, there is no one except you and your opponent; no one else matters at that point, not the spectators, nor the promoters. Sometimes not even the referees (although they can get physical with you if you piss them off). Hunters become hunted, and the roles frequently change. Fighters often fight for survival, to some degree or another. Though we like to think ourselves evolved from the rest of the animal kingdom, the ugly truth is that our mutual history has been largely carved out by millions of conflicts, big or small. The difference is, we have merely substituted the weapons for words of mass destruction, and strive to acquire or conquer, albeit by means that minimize contact and catharsis.  Without sounding too contrived, two boxers engaged in a duel of fists capture the synthesis and conflict of Life itself, all in a microcosm.

On a higher level, a few fighters fight for glory.  No one truly fights for just the money, although it does justify all the hype.  Most of us don’t get that thrill anymore when we see any boxer or MMA fighter lock horns, and the fight gets reduced to a technical analysis. But when Pacquiao steps in the ring, millions of viewers are electrified. Why? For The Pac-Man didn’t settle for just being a champion, as many of his forebears did; he pushed and pushed, and fought, until he reached the pinnacle of glory, the kind of glory very few will ever live to see. The modestly-spoken man from General Santos City, Mindanao has been deified as an icon to which Filipinos and non-Filipinos alike will look up to, for as long as he is champion. When Pacquiao downed Ricky Hatton in the Second at 2:59, many in the latter’s corner were saddened, but most of England slept through it all. If and when Mayweather Jr. fights again, and regardless of whether he wins or loses, it would be nothing more than a murmur to America and the world.  But when Pacquiao steps in that ring, it’s as if he is carrying the hopes and dreams of an entire nation and it could very well be. He carries this weight with pride and honor. And that’s what makes him more than a boxing champion. He is a hero, an icon.  He is a Dream come true.

Here are some great articles about Manny Pacquiao and the Pac-Man Mystique:

Manny Pacquiao – a Philippine Goliath

Pacquiao: From Unknown to King of Boxing

How the Pacquiao-Hatton Fight Stopped a War

Special thanks goes to Getty Images, AP, et. al., for all the awesome pictuers of the fight that are posted here.

Copyright Anabasius 2009

The World Digital Library was proposed by Librarian of Congress Dr. James H. Billington in June, 2005. In his speech, entitled A View of the Digital World Library, he described a vision in which the rich collections that “institutions, libraries, and museums have preserved could be given back to the world free of charge and in a new form far more universally accessible than any forms that have preceded it.” Many libraries from around the world have teamed up with Google and other companies, to promote and make available on the Internet books, manuscripts, works of art, and other materials, to readers throughout the world. As of the time of release, the WDL has a modest collection of 1,170 items, available to readers in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Its website thus far is user-friendly. Most of the items are in .PDF format, which makes for less error in software reading; however, they can be a pain when one tries to make out the hazy resolution.

In terms of development, the WDL is ten years behind the rest of internet culture. This was partly due to the United States’ nineteen-year absence from UNESCO after its delegation walked out in protest over its irreconcilable differences with the body at that time. With the US again in the picture, resources and partnerships were made available when previously there were few. As an achievement of UNESCO’s, this would be a first. Ever since UNESCO became part of this writer’s vocabulary, I have yet to hear of more such acts that would validate its presence and budget.

WDL, of course, is not a new concept. A decade earlier, the Internet Archive was founded by Brewster Kahle in 1996. It boasts 4 petabytes of data, including old movie archives. Project Gutenberg (named after the famous German printer Johannes Gutenberg) was started by Michael Hart, and currently has 28,000 volumes in its electronic library. There are countless others who are carrying on where Gutenberg and his successors have left off.

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is an annual gathering of book lovers, booksellers, writers and publishers with the goal of “bringing together the people who create books with the people who love to read them.” In short, it’s a Love-Fest, a less glamorized geek-fest than the San Diego Comic-Con. This year, the festivities may not vary much from previous ones: writers’ panels, kiddie shows, booksignings, and of course… booths and booths of booksellers, publishers, and indie stores, opening the floodgates for bibliophiles with promises of discounts and cheap books. In its heyday, attendance at the Festival may have peaked at 150,000. However, the last few years have seen a gradual decrease. It isn’t a big secret why: Less people are reading books nowadays. This has been an inevitable development, as shown in a moving TV documentary, Paperback Dreams.

None of the panels listed have anything specifically about the whole e-Book and technology revolution, and what the future of reading entails, and we wonder why. There may be peripheral discussions about it in the rest of the panels, but it won’t be the same. It calls to mind how, legend had it, the politicians of Constantinople debated about the nature and sex of angels – just days before it fell into Ottoman hands. Certainly many readers are not as crazy about all this glitzy technology, as am I. However, we must all recognize that, as the man says, times are a-changing. We must not simply realize it, but also accept and integrate it as part of our lives. This is yet one more transition stage in the development of language and culture. Books will still have a place in civilization; they just won’t be the dominant force that they have been for the past 10,000 years, barring any nuclear wars that occur. However we can, we must continue to cherish and remember the written word, whether it is in book or digital form.

As we await the culmination of the week, here are some scenes from last year’s LA Festival of Books, courtesy of Yours Truly. Enjoy!

However, these are myths that have been routinely disproven. Worse yet, they serve to perpetuate the overall myth of “better” for these institutions. Countless studies through the years have shown that public schools have often equaled, even trumped, private schools, in just about every category except SAT and AP prep scores.  While the last two might be telling, all it means is that more resources are spent on the extra testing – not Basics.  Big whooping deal.  As for a better quality of education, the jury is still out.  While a more scientific study has yet to be done, it’s been my experience, as well as many other teachers and students, that most of the improvements done are on the countless new building projects these school’s owners or administrators have set up — which would only benefit current students, but in their dreams.  By contrast, quite a few public schools in certain areas exist, that have state-of-the-art equipment that are readily available for all.  Since there is little or no accountability by private school administrators to their tuition-paying constituents, money could easily be diverted to useless or altogether illegal projects. Something that would find itself melting under the searing eyes of public accountability. Follow my drift so far?

Private schools, especially those built on Judeo-Christian principles, should be ideal for raising our children to right morals and values, correct?  Only if the leaders themselves are incorruptible.  Which, unfortunately, does NOT hold true.  After all, private schools are still a business.  While teachers are admonished to discharge their duties to the best of their abilities, and to practice fairness towards all – the administrators and the owners have an obligation to please their tuition-paying parents. Need I repeat that? Didn’t you also know that some parents pay more than others?  Seriously, did you think that private school administrators could follow their teachers’ best recommendations if it meant losing their high-paying clients? Why, it would just be bad for business!  What about God? Nothing more than an abstraction, a functionary tool for ceremonies, an excuse to instill fear.  After all, one cannot serve two masters.  We know what masters these people are serving.

Do private schools provide a safe haven for children?  Generally, that could be true.  Your child might be safe from the gangbangers and the thugs, the junkies and what not. However, that doesn’t account for all bullies: there’s one in each block, even in Beverly Hills.  They just happen to have big-shot CEO parents who hold your parents’ lives in their hands.

Will your children feel any better about themselves, living in an atmosphere where the privileged scions flaunt their status and get preferential treatment, where students are granted their A’s with strings, instead of working for them?  Will children feel any happier, knowing that they’ll do no better than a public school, and have to settle for the scraps that the rich have to offer?  If who you know and which parents you have matter more than hard work and integrity, will we feel any safer, knowing that these pricks will run our country someday?  Just look at some of our Ivy-Leaguer presidents and their track record; the jury’s out and – sorry, they don’t feel your pain.

Are ALL private schools bad? No, and that can be attested to. There is at least one out there that is safe and good, even fair.  However, would they generally be a better alternative to public schools, assuming all else was equal?  The case for better education and standards in private schools is a lost one.  Safety, while a primary issue, is a weak argument.  It’s when one gets to the issue of whether equity and fairness, and above all else, integrity, rules the environment, that is really damning.  This is not to say that public schools are a paragon of virtue; far from it.  The difference is accountability.  The wonderful thing about the public school system is that, really, it’s what one makes of it.  Parents and children have a choice – and a voice.  Since everyone has paid for it in taxes, there is a sort of democracy at work in public schools, even during hard times.  No such voice really exists for the “poor” parents in private schools.  The “needs” of private schools may depend on an actual existing need of the school. Or a high-paying parent’s own agenda.  It depends on how badly that school needs the money, and how strong enough are they, to withstand that temptation.  In a public school, a poor but determined and hardworking student has more of a fighting chance, relatively free from worrying about proving themselves to their privileged peers.  Horatio Alger’s alter ego should be focusing on improving himself, not over-dressing.

A rough-and-tumble environment might be what is needed to build a person’s character.  We have been wussified beyond belief in the past few decades.  No one bothers to expose themselves to the elements anymore, insulated by tall buildings, smog, and small-time corruption and other small misdemeanors that bring food and comfort on the table.  People are too easily cowed into believing that safety from the elements is of paramount importance, and not growth.  If the tradeoff is seeing the young become morally bankrupt — then No Thank You.  I’ll save the money for their future, and train my children the same way the Spartans did with theirs: harsh, but strong, inside and out. Everyone will have varying degrees of harshness; however, there should be no argument that our children should be raised to be strong and productive citizens, not dependents or leeches of the state.  Until private schools disprove all the secret talk about the corruption and inequity of their systems, your child can do no worse than to go public.

Leave the myths of comfort and quality education behind. Your child’s education is really what both of you make of it. You can assign all that responsibility to an institution then try to control them all, as an afterthought. Or you can live and appreciate your life, and that of others, and your environment, and strive to work in balance with them from an early age.  That, My Friends, is an education that far outlasts all the pedagogical lessons in the world.

Copyright Anabasius 2009

There’s no need to deny it.  After searching information on whether or not air quality in the world has improved, preliminary findings indicate that there are no reliable and easily-understandable figures, anywhere in the world.  This implies one of two things: Either 1) No one has really cared enough to take stock of all of this data or 2) No one really gives a bloody damn.

It’s not for lack of trying.  People might care, but can only pay lip service; for the common working man or woman, this is not due to weakness, more to human limitation.  One can only recycle so much, take alternative routes to work, and so forth.  Unfortunately, not everyone in the world (or even Los Angeles) can take that path.  So we look at our politicians next.  Then we can see now, there are only so many conscientious politicians who can draft eco-friendly bills.  Passing muster is one thing, but enforcing them is another.  Does that mean all politicians who vote against such drafts are necessarily anti-environmentalist.  No, not necessarily.  What they do is simply look out for their own constituents, who are not always business interests.  With businesses, there are many who are rightly responsible for all this mess.  Again, not all of them are necessarily evil.  For every shifty-eyed business-owner, there are about a hundred more who are looking to make an honest living, just like any person on the street.  But we’re getting closer.

The main problem is that our civilization is still deeply entrenched in the Industrial Revolution, the 9-to-5 grind, the incessant need to earn a living and working jobs that require that we all (most of us, anyway) wake up at the same time, hit traffic at the same time, work (or idle) the same hours, eat at the same lunch time, then leave work at the same time.  These are the same rituals we go through every single day, and though it bothers us to varying degree, we think of it as nothing more than an afterthought.  But multiply all that smog in the air, all the energy used up, and everything used up and consumed by… a few hundred, a few thousand, a few million.  Every single day, nonstop, year in and year out.

You see the picture?