If this post doesn't make you wonder how scrambled my brain is, I guess nothing will. Yesterday I was helping teach a Fire Instructor I class where I work. While the guys were working on their Power Point presentations, I stepped outside for a break. It was then that I wandered over to a small fountain that was filled with little goldfish (Ok, so the fountain was filled with water, but it had little goldfish IN it). As I stood there watching them, they ALL came to the surface right in front of me, their mouths wide open. As I moved along the path, THEY FOLLOWED ME! They were looking for food. They were............conditioned. Much like Pavlov's Dog I would imagine. Every time someone approaches the foutain, they assume it's time to get fed.
It reminded me of a time years ago when I was water-skiing on Lake Tawakoni. As I was cruising along behind the boat, showing off my best moves, I glanced behind me and noticed I was being followed by a flock of gulls of some kind. They obviously weren't there to applaud my expert skiing skills. They were there because the wake of the boat and the skis churned up food of some kind that made their fishing easier. They were dependent, to some extent, on the influence of people.
I've seen it alot, actually. At the house I once lived in, which was right in the middle of suburbia, I saw fox, coyote, racoon, possum and hawks. I lived within about a mile of a sparse wooded area which had a creek dissecting it. The animals could have stayed there and foraged for food, but it was just easier to cruise into town for a snack in a garbage can or garden.
People are like that. We're all animals, right? We're always looking for an easier way. Its been evident since the Stone Age, on through the Steel Age and the Industrial Revolution, right up to where we are now......the Electronics or Information Age. Nearly everything "man" has ever invented was done to make life easier.....simpler.
Take a look at your cell phone. Jut 30 years ago, my first girlfriend actually had a party line. And she had to use a rotary phone! We don't have to look at a map or Mapsco any longer. We have computer maps and GPS. Forget writing longhand or mailing a letter. We have email and online banking. When was the last time you walked somewhere instead of taking your car? It's just human nature isn't it? Or is it simply......nature?
Nearly everything that influences investment in the stock market is a product or service that "revolutionizes" how we live. The wheel, the train, the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, cars, faster cars, the phone, electricity (try living by lamp light for just one night), computers, grocery stores, EVERYTHING!! It's all created to make life easier. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe it isn't.
I've often thought the answer to having bad roads is to just stop fixing them altogether. The worse they get, the slower we'll drive. As they get even worse, we may stop driving altogether. We may hitch up the team and go back to horse and buggy days. Road problem solved. Should we let Chrysler and GM crater? I think we should, but that will make things HARDER. Therefore, my guess is it'll never happen. Someone did invent the printing press so we can always print more money and send them a few billion dollars. It would be so much easier.
I guess we've gotten lazy. That's the price of progress. I wonder if those goldfish realize that.
Brother...that was deep.
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