A Hunter-Gatherer Lands on the Moon

A recent dinner conversation centered on equal opportunity for women in the workplace and education. I support it--with the caveat that earnings differential does not measure the same thing--but one logical question came up: What makes the species happy anyway? What are we really like? Does a nine-to-five job fulfill a male? Would it fulfill a female? Is the woman's happiness the point or is the equal representation on some unseen ledger--admittedly inferior--the point. It seems that is the basic question as equal opportunity of a hateful thing is no bargain or justice. There is no certainty that a woman--or man, for that matter--will find happiness in the modern workplace. After all, we are hunter-gatherers at worst, agricultural beings at best. Why should any of us, male or female, find reward in the modern world?
In fact, this modern life is an experiment on a gigantic scale. Of course, those experiments are ubiquitous. We get on elevators to live and work high in the air. We drive sixty miles and hour. Is the species built for any of this?
One experiment concerns coherence, proximity. The early cultures were tribal, close knit and homogeneous. The worst punishment in the world was banishment, forced separation from the family and tribe. Socrates chose death as the alternative. Yet now that separation is routine. Families are routinely broken up with divorce and work demands and retirement preferences. Does that harm the atavistic hunter-gatherer within?
More, what are people who chose to leave their friends and families like? In Europe, migration was a slow and deliberate thing. An emigration to America was nothing like it; it was closer to going to sea than a migration. Who did that? What were they like, giving up home and hearth to land on foreign, hostile shores? And who were these people who left that new shore and struck inland, into the forests and across unmapped Comanche plains to...to what?
And what kind of children did such people have?

Advice From The Millionaire Next Door‏

The Millionaire Next Door is a long, fascinating reassessment of success in America. Some of it is not flattering. In short summary, the following covers the essentials of becoming the millionaire next door.

The majority acquired their wealth in one generation and  followed these  factors of wealth accumulation:
Live well below your means.
Spend  your time, energy and money efficiently in ways that build wealth. Believe that financial independence is more important than social status. Their parents didn't help.
Their adult children are  economically  self-sufficient.
They know how to pick market  opportunities.
They chose  the right occupation.

In raising their children and passing on their beliefs, they have rules for how they raise and educate their children on becoming as self-sufficient and successful as they have become.

Never tell your kids you are wealthy.
Teach your children discipline and frugality.
Minimize  discussion on what your kids will  inherit.
Emphasize their achievements.....not your success.
Assure them  many  things are more valuable than money.
You are not defined by the car you drive.
Beware the effect of colleges and college students who actively diminish effort and material achievement.

On Winning and Losing

It would be of interest to survey men and women separately as to the notable events they felt were of the greatest influence in their formative years. The academic world might well blush as it is likely sports and particular sporting events or moments would likely be high on the list of the men. Higher than most classroom experiences.

All the usual subjects would be rounded up-- the value of hard work and its correlation with success, surrendering individual for team goals, the importance of preparation and practice, the need for self control during competition, the subtle relationship between athlete and coach and how to take instruction, good sportsmanship, comradeship, how to eat and exercise--and all would be seen as important to some degree among the men surveyed.

The most complex sports lesson, though, is how to win. Physical skills, preparation, practice, diet, training are all important components but not learning how to win can trump them all. And it is not easy to learn because one can not learn to win unless one learns to lose. The heart is tender in the hardest athlete, shy in the gruffest competitor. and can easily protect itself in the shade of indifference. Pledging oneself completely to the task at hand carries great risk as failure can be devastating. So failure--losing--must be understood and managed. While the individual submits completely to the event, he must somehow make his investment total yet contained. He must understand that the struggle is not with his opponent but with himself, to perform as best he can and recognize that and nothing more is at stake and is enough. The outcome is not a judgment, it is a conclusion. The outcome is his own preparation and effort coming to fruition. Sometime the opponent is faster, quicker, stronger and will be victorious; such qualities are unlearned and are gifts of God. But the opponent must never be more committed or more dedicated, he must never fear failure less. Only when one learns that the outcome is nothing personal can losing become tolerable. Then the athlete can dissolve his fear of failure and learn to win.

The same is true of love.