Buyers and Sellers

DIVINE PRINCIPLE, COMMERCE, VALUES

I grew up with the idea that the various aspects of my life were synergistically and compatibly linked to each other.  I held to the wish and the illusion that the various aspects of my life comprised a harmonious, human whole, that would work together for good, for my well-being, progress, and prosperity.  I had values, good values, that I believed must necessarily result in the accomplishment of good things and a full life.  Spiritual sense, work ethic, and artistic expression were the pillars of my personal, human value system.  I embraced the spiritual vision of mankind and the universe in relation to Divine Principle, and endeavored to conform my thought and behavior to this model.  This science of being has been a deeply satisfying way of life for me.  It feels like the right way to live in a very confusing, challenging world.  I have not achieved all that I would have liked to do in life, but I have navigated my way through many difficulties to arrive at acceptable personal solutions.  My progress through life has not been as rapid or distinguished as I had hoped, but I have managed to plod along, support myself, and do a little good for others.

Individual, personal values don't always comport with collective, worldly values.  Commerce is about compatible value systems.  The exchange of goods and services for mutual benefit presumes a compatibility of values between buyers and sellers.  The seller promotes goods and services that he expects buyers will want.  The buyer depends on the entrepreneurial instinct of sellers to deliver the things he wants and needs to live a good life.  Disagreement between buyers and sellers as to the value of goods and services results in business failure and a poor quality of life.  The synergy between supply and demand makes life better for everyone.

Americans tend to assume an equivalence between personal passion and commercial success.  "Follow your bliss!"  "Build it and they will come."  Part of the American prosperity gospel is the idea that single-minded pursuit of one's own passion will elicit a sympathetic response from the world.  Sometimes it works.  It may even have worked for a lot of people.  But, it is not a universal law of nature.  Sometimes, commerce requires the entrepreneur to sublimate his own passions in order to give consumers what they want.  Who cares what the entrepreneur's passions are, if he doesn't deliver things that people want to buy?  The achievement of commercial success demands more than personal passion.  It requires a canny instinct for what it is that other people want, coupled with the intellect, skill, and capital needed to deliver the goods.

We have been trained to ask, What am I passionate about, and how can I get others to buy into it?  We ought to ask, What do consumers want that I have the power to provide them with?  We waste too much time trying to get the world to buy into our wish list for life.  It is good to acquire interests and to pursue them passionately.  Our passions make life worth living.  However, it is the nature of things that a man must earn his living.  Passionate or not, life's journey is not free.  I want to pursue my passions with the integrity, comfort, and security of commercial success.  Unless you experience the happy coincidence of personal passion and commercial success, you will want to learn the laws of entrepreneurship and apply them early to your life.  By so doing, you will establish the foundation of a full and passionate life.

Big Homo

Being a big homo isn't everything it used to be.  It used to mean something.  You had to have some class to be a big homo in the past.  Now, everybody and his uncle is a big homo.  You can't get a word in edge-wise there's so many homos out there.

I've been a big homo all my life.  It's hard to believe, but it's true.  I'm a fifty-eight year old man, a fifty-eight year old homosexual.  That's a lot of time to spend being a big homo.  I probably have a few insights to add to the lore of homosexuality.  Nothing special, but homosexuality has been a part of my life for a long time.  I've seen a lot, and I've done a lot, and I am my own man.  I have never been on the homosexual bandwagon.  I've never been on anybody's bandwagon.  I may even have a few unique observations to make about being a big homo.

Of course, I'm not just a big homo.  I am some other things too.  Christian Scientist.  Writer.  Cartographer.  Land surveyor.  GIS analyst.  Computer draftsman.  Database manager.  Son.  Brother.  Friend.  Neighbor.  Citizen.  Freemason.  People ask me, How can you do all these things and still be a big homo at the same time?  And I tell them, It isn't easy, but I've had a lot of practice.

Student Life

I have been so busy with school that I don't even know myself anymore.  I've forgotten who I am.  I no longer know what I want to be, or what it was that I wanted to do with my life.  I decided to get my master's degree in a highly technical field because I was interested in it and because I wanted to be competitive in the marketplace.  There may have been a time when intelligence, experience, and performance were enough to compete and qualify for gainful employment.  No more.  Now, the job seeker needs to be formally educated, certified, and registered before he can push paper around.  People spend more valuable time qualifying for employment than they do on productive work.  It has to be done.  If you want to compete and qualify for consideration in a dynamic, technical marketplace, you must present credentials.  And, the introduction to and experience with an array of professional methodologies, standards, and technologies provides a basis from which to proceed with confidence and success.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my master's education from Penn State.  Kudos to all the wonderful Penn State staff,  instructors, and administrators who have made this experience possible for so many people.  It has been challenging, interesting, and practical.  Working on my master's degree has been one of the highlights of my life, one of the best things I have ever done.  I can see how people fall in love with education, and never want to stop being students.  It used to be that you got your education and went to work.  Now, education is a continuous process of professional and personal development.

Destroyer of Worlds

What a dreadful, little life I've had.  I don't understand it.  What has been the point of this awful, little life of mine?  Not that it has to have a point.  Everything doesn't have to be imbued with significance.  But it is, isn't it?  Isn't everything significant of something?  Isn't that what makes life interesting?

A dreadful life in a dreadful, little world.  That is me.  That is my life.  That's the world I live in.  What do I want?  What do I want from life?  What do I want from the world?  What am I doing here?  This certainly isn't the first time that I've asked these questions.  It may not be the last, though the time left for asking questions is running low.  My life is running low.  My country is running low.  The world is running low.  There may not be much time left for any of us, even for the ones who think they have the answers.  They don't, you know.  They don't have any answers.  They are trouble makers, not problem solvers.  They are destroyers of worlds, not dispensers of justice.  They are the angry mob, not wise rulers.  And, we will all go down together.  We will destroy ourselves with a stunning lack of vision and a mean, little snit.  We will destroy the world with our resentment, because we were not bright enough to save it.