Monday 21 October 2002

Pic of the day: With the ripening of fall, it becomes evident what bears fruit and what not. (Besides, you must be as fed up as I with those screenshots...)

A reminder from the past

A man from the utility company came over to change some stuff. The utility company has been bought out twice recently, not sure if that has something to do with it. Anyway, the guy turned out to be someone I knew long, long ago ... back when I was like 18 and went to Drottningborg Trade High School. We sat together in class and were generally hanging out quite a bit. He wasn't the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, and there must have been only trace amount of blood in the hormones that ran through his veins, but he was a good boy at heart.

He still is a good boy at heart, but he has also managed to add to his skills bit by bit, year by year, so now he is a good electro-technician with certificates and a wide range of work skills. Also got a family with 4 kids. I know I generally think people with an IQ less than 110 should pay for the privilege of having a child, and the income should be redistributed to those of a higher IQ who make the sacrifice of having a child. But somehow I think those kids have a better time than mine would have had. Not that we will ever know. Because I don't have any. More about that in a later issue, I believe.

Anyway it just goes to show something that I firmly believe in. You may recognize it as "The American Dream". Namely, that people can make their own lives, if they live long enough. If you work purposefully in one direction, you will eventually get there. Or die trying, possibly, but you're still going to have moved in the right direction. It is a very encouraging thought. Of course, these days it seems that the American dream is porn and fast money for nothing ... at least, judging from the innumerable spam e-mails I get from that once great country. Still, you know what I mean.

***

This all seems eerily connected with what I wrote one year ago, about how we could leave a little more than was here when we came ... but we don't know what will happen with it afterward. Why even strive for anything, any improvement of self or society or science, when we are anyway going to die and be forgotten? We don't know, as already the Ecclesiastes points out, whether those who come after us will be foolish or wise.

I believe it comes down to trust, and a feeling that there is a right thing to do. And when we do it, we do what we can; then we leave it to those who follow us. We cannot live their lives, they have to do that, and success is not guaranteed. Failure is always an option. But at least we have done what we could.

Or not, as my case may be.