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“If you leave the smallest corner of your head vacant for a moment, other people’s opinions will rush in from all quarters.” George Bernard Shaw

Just ask those kids down on Wall Street.

If you listen to pundits, they always want you to be open minded. “Give other people’s ideas a chance,” they tell you. “And it will make for a better world.”

Maybe that’s true. Maybe the world would be a better place if ideas were flowing through open minds like worms through apples. It might be nice if the world were a better place. Still, I don’t know if opening my mind to other people’s thoughts will make my world better. I’m not sure I want anything to do with what most people think.

Most people are nuts!

First of all there is a lot of craziness out there. Just look at the nut jobs polluting wall street- and I’m not just talking about their ideas. If you listen to those dim bulbs, everything should be free, including toilets and when you can’t shit for free, then your only alternative is to shit on a cop car. Well, I’m not buying their ideas, tempting as they might be because I’ve been around this block before. Old timers remember the 60’s because we lived them. We used to tell people not to trust anyone over 30 and demand a new world order. It was just as nutty as the wall street demonstrators but back then, we hadn’t been around the block so it seemed more reasonable. What did those old timers really know anyway and why should we let them run things. That’s the way it always looks to the inexperienced. When you haven’t lived much, it all seems so simple.

I was tempted! 

I didn’t buy into the demonstrations back then although I must admit being seriously tempted and a funny thing happened over time. I grew up. I took on responsibilities and obligations. It was a big trauma on my 30th birthday because I crossed the line and became untrustworthy. When I stopped to think about it, however, I couldn’t find any difference. I was still the same guy with the same hangups and the same dreams. It was the beginning of my recovery. Over time I took my place in society; earned my way, raised my kids and became part of the world that had seemed so wrong just a few years back.

Get your heads straight, kiddos! 

With any luck, those kids down on Wall Street will find their way back as well. And maybe when the authorities finally break up the herd, those dim bulbs will have a chance to reflect on life and think for themselves. It’s a natural thing to want life easy when you are a kid and when you have parents whose every thought in life was to help their kids avoid difficulty. That’s not the way life works though. The easy path often provides the least satisfaction and the smallest rewards. A life without challenges is empty but that is what those kids think they want.

Somehow their dreams and goals got waylaid and left them empty headed and rudderless. As a result they are vulnerable to any silliness floating around. Well their heads aren’t empty any longer and they have lost their mission in life leaving only dependency and whining.

Wake up and look down the road. 

Most of those kids will turn 30 and grow up just like my generation but nothing is helped by indulging them in their silliness. They’ve had their fun. It’s all been a great party but there is nothing in that experience to move them or our country forward. It’s time for them to go home and get a job.