The Concept Of Enough

imageApparently when Joseph Heller (Catch- 22 fame), at a party,was told that a certain fund manager had made more that day than Heller had made from all his books combined – Joseph Heller said – “Ah then I have something he can never have. I have enough.”Preposterous!What a strange concept in today’s N American world. The concept of enough.Because what we learn and we see demonstrated by all around is – More.You must have More.There is always More.If your company is at 15% growth – you need More.If you have just hit 10 million in sales -  you need More.If this CEO earned 200 million – you can earn More.We need to extract More resources this year.We need to capture More markets this quarter.We need More returns.And we can see how that is exported so well to other countries. Especially dictatorships or emerging “democracies’. The leader needs More. More aid, More taxes, More resources. More power.MoreWe export the concept of More very well. Because it plays so well into our greed and pride.Is there a concept of Enough?Companies need growth, markets need growth.Growth is More!But Personal growth does not require hoarding and grasping, in fact it requires the opposite.Corporations seem to display our worst traits.Their growth is always about their own financial feeding.No other criteria need apply.Charitable or giving done grudgingly and only if there is some income or tax return involved.A human psyche that demands constant feeding is a damaged psyche.The constant need for More in a human psyche is a sign of madness…I draw no conclusions…Benjamin Franklin apparently considered the possibility of EnoughAdam Smith considered the possibility of EnoughAmerican Eighteenth Century thought was that a business would succeed until it had enough for itself and then succeed and grow forward from thereby giving into the society .(well some Eighteenth Century Thought , thought that).The difference perhaps between an entrepreneur and a Capitalist perhaps… A capitalist can not have enough – they must have more. In fact Benjamin Franklin was told if he hadn’t spent so much time ‘inventing’ things and printing pamphlets of information – he could have spent more time making money. A real man makes More.Franklin was the one who said ‘Knowledge is not personal property – it should be used in the service of others”. As we benefit from their inventions – “we should allow FREELY and GLADLY other to benefit from ours”.Such heresy in this day and age of lawyers and grasping at every chance to extract every cent from all and sundry.Franklin founded a library, an academy, a college, a hospital and a learned society – not for his enrichment – but as a benefit to the community.(fool!)Today a college may be founded, or a library built, but with a corporate logo attached – never let a chance for advertising pass by.WE need More exposure.In “The Theory of Economic Development” it was suggested that the prime motivator of the entrepreneur – is: – “the joy of creating, exercising ones energy and ingenuity” and ” the will of succeed, not for the material fruits of success, but for success itself” (crazy!)What if there was a concept of we get enough and then we GIVE More (Socialism you cry! – Socialism is where the state gets it all, and then doles out what it doesnt need)What if the entrepreneur – the business community – allowed themselves to be led by ‘an invisible hand’ which promotes not just their own interest, but the interests of their community, the society at large. (Adam Smith) Adam Smith also mentioned “It is reason, principle, conscience – that is the great arbiter of our conduct”(exactly you say – the Trickle down theory – the ‘free market’ -the great being that if  left to its own devices – is perfect – Ah but we dont leave it, do we? We manipulate it to our own ends and call that freedom of markets)Ok. Enough…Now how do we ‘spin’ that so we get More.Enough? Enough you cry – I havent got mine yet – how can we call enough?Well what is enough?We seem to have enough hate, enough greed, enough lies dressed up as policies – all the easy stuff.Its the hard stuff we don’t seem to have enough of. Charity, conscience, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance – laughter. We dont have enough joy – do we?How can we have joy? We don’t have Enough Time for such frivolities – we need More.Work More.Spend More.Pitch More…
Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Blogplay

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 at 5:42 am and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

 
About - Contact - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service