ChinaRiders Forums - Thoughts of a tired old man..

Let me apologize in advance for the following stream of consciousness ramblings offered by someone who has frankly "been a few places, and seen a few things."

The following is primarily directed towards our younger board members, and I hope that at least one of you will find it worth some consideration.

A very wise philosopher/scientist type once told me, and the world, that human existence is much like the life of a seven second fly. Think for a moment on what any single fly could possibly learn in seven seconds of life, similarly, think of what knowledge any single human could possibly accumulate over a seven second lifespan(effective scaling vs age of universe). Well, not much:) BUT, what if each seven second generation found a way to pass forward what knowledge it had accumulated? and so on and so forth. Hint, well, they/we did,its called History.

There is a reason that village/tribal/community elders were once valued and respected as repositories of wisdom by the ancients and those before. In the present day, not so much.

Well we now sit on the threshold of a sea change in this world, where ,more than ever before in my lifetime, the sense of a human community, is on the verge of destruction. The societal imperative "we" has become "me".

Sure, like always, there'exist no small number of societal issues to divide us, but i believe imho, that there is a species wide danger fast approaching.

As a sailor, or a pilot, will tell you, the health of the boat/plane comes first! Everything else, second, and for a damned good reason.

Well our societal "plane/ship" is currently losing altitude/taking on water...primarily because (imho) of Major in-fighting over relatively minor societal issues while ignoring the BIG issues presented by the "big" picture.

You know it seems like all sides now seem to revere the former president Reagan, but let me tell you, at the time, the press, the left, his opponents on the right, the european "elite" as they referred to themselves, the media etc., did everything they could to first: prevent him from becoming governor ("he's an actor, not a professional politician"),then deprive him of the nomination (the proverbial smoke filled room), then the presidency, and finally, they almost uniformly opposed nearly every thing he ever tried to do. Many of the same people who you now see routinely praising his memory and presidency were at the time, his most vicious and underhanded attackers!

But he was a strong alpha male with a strong alpha wife/ "teammate" whom together -against all odds, took on a world at the very precipice of self destruction-at perhaps its most critical time, and, without firing the proverbial single shot, to a large extent , won. How? he had a LOT of help and, he was a helluva man.

Most likely history will record that his greatest single achievement was the seemingly single handed orchestration of the downfall of the old soviet union, but I will tell you he, and his advisers (and some key adversaries-Tip Oneil for one) were playing out a game plan instigated years before by one of the most unjustly vilified presidents in our history, Richard Nixon, without who's masterful international manipulations, nuclear devastation really might have consumed us all. Still, it was the "gipper" who carried the ball across the goal line.

Now, I ask you to define for yourself, just what constitutes a great leader? In business, the entertainment field, politics, in anything really.

Now, I will tell you in advance that in my "seven seconds" of existence, I have had no small amount of personal experience with people who can be called "leaders" in all of these fields and others, including those persons named above, as well as many, many others. It turns out, (imho), that key similarities exist between them all.

1. No one Ever got EVERYTHING "right", i.e they are/were all human, mistakes were made
2. but, and Perhaps the most important trait;
Each (man or woman) had the courage and self esteem to surround themselves with persons who may have been brighter, better educated,had more expertise and/or more experience in a given field or more knowledge on a given issue; each Leader" also had
a genuine ability and willingness to Listen to and genuinely consider his/her advisors' counsel, and could
ultimately make their own final decision then direct the formulation and execution of a coordinated strategy or action to resolve same.
3. At the highest levels, this process is exceptionally-both psychologically and physically destructive to those leaders without a firm personal philosophical foundation, whether based in one's religion, code of ethics, or those with minimal levels of the seemingly inherent alpha (male or female) characteristic values (protection/nurturing of family, societal group, children etc., even to the risk of their own lives and well being).

I have said many times that I believe that nothing truly happens now for the "first time". Humanity has already "done it all".

I look at our world today and marvel that we now approach almost the identical precipice faced during the worst of the cold war and To some degree the similarities are incredibly disturbing. The corruption of the Johnson's and their administration comes to mind. The election shenanigans they pulled in Texas , and those by the Kennedy's in West Virginia. and Mass.
The actions of the Castro's, the resurgence of the Soviets under Putin after the short lived try for a republic by Yeltsin, Ghorby, et al., (look up Kerensky}, the gross inaction and anti-comon sense actions/inactions of some of the europeans, the rising tensions between the russians and an southeast asia expansionist china (hear about the giant nuke test?) That goofball in North Korea? The military build up in India? Islam's struggle against the west ("Convert" or Die!- read the book!!!) and how about our President's incredibly dangerous and expensive, rapprochement w Iran. I can go on and on. Frankly, I wish u 'new' guys a lot of luck.

sooo, my final question, will we put some thought and attention into this election? or demand more and more "gimmee, gimmee, gimee" right up to the tipping point loss of the still hanging by a thread,relatively free world.

Imho, its time we as a country, get serious bout putting aside some of this hype and vitriol over abortion, changing the faces on our currency, "whose" lives matter, and the insane actions seeking to preserve, at apparently ANY cost, this Pres's "Legacy", I mean , C'mon...

(well I don't remember anyone teaching Legacy preservation at Harvard (btw be skeptical about trusting Any of those, er "us" guys,:( }

So , finally, who? am I looking at?

lets start by considering somebody who has faced and withstood the most focused, most heavily financed, most vitriolic, incessant, underhanded, and in many instances outright fraudulent attacks (look at what HE said, NOT what They say he said,)- attacks by pretty much everyone; and yet who nonetheless has defeated not one, not two, of what? 17 declared professional adversaries(-1 for Dr. Carson-who now supports him) on his First try? as a rookie? and with all of them ganging up?

who has uncannily had the foresight and plain guts to foresee and publicly identify and address consequential issues and events which for the last 50 years or so, have been hidden, kicked down the road, or otherwise ignored and are now posing a real threat !
Say what they will about "can't win". He's done nothing but prove all of his detractors wrong, again and again and again.

I look at his family, he's done well, hell I wonder if someday his daughter isn't going to turn out "more alpha"- in a good way, than he is. lol. and, finally the clincher for me.

Having been to pretty much all of the beautiful and "best" places on our world, as well as a great many of the most ugly and worst ones, one thing hits me most about this often criticized "heartless" and "uncaring 'apostate'" (as Ted's Father has labeled him)-

As a young man, I once attended a diplomatic lunch in a downtown street level 4 star restaurant in what was then called Bombay. Literally On the other side of the glass window, a desperate appearing very young mother huddled w what appeared to be a recently born baby cradled in her arms- one hand outstretched begging. To my amazement, a total of close to 50 relatively well heeled looking persons walked right past them without so much as a glance or any acknowledgement whatsoever. Before the meeting/lunch ended, the mother slid over in a heap. I rose from my table but was commanded by the senior american to "stay put". soon a rather shabby looking poor excuse for an ambulance rolled up and the masked and gloved attendants picked up both she and the baby (who was visibly crying( but silently from our side of the glass,) and then drove away. I can tell u I have a not inconsiderable familiarity with death and that poor young girl had died, right there on the street. What became of the child, I do not know.
For myself I can only tell you that at the first private opportunity I asked why this had been permitted. I was informed the girl had been an "untouchable".
I would never again look at the State Department with an un jaundiced eye.

I Tell you this so you can understand why it was a delineating moment for this old man, when Mr. Trump, in the heat of debate, blasted back at Ted, in response to Ted's self righteous attack on Trump's desiring to not only repeal Obamacare, but to then Replace it with something better that actually worked. What he responded to Cruz, quite forcibly was " NO ONE is going to be left to just Die on the street while I am president!!!! "

Widely reported in the fair and balanced press? not so much...

In closing, Let me say this: whatever his faults,

I could sleep at night, trusting That man to

FLY THIS PLANE!!!!

and knowing a bit about the Clintons, I wouldn't follow her highness across the street into a Mc Donalds.

again, my apologies to all, sometimes angry old men just have to say what's on their minds.