Post No. 213: There's Malice in the Palace

© 2024, The Institute for Applied Common Sense, LLC ™

This has been a particularly difficult month for me, and thus I find myself being contemplative. I suddenly realized that not only are private equity firms taking over childcare facilities, single family homes, online retail establishments, and healthcare facilities, but they are now pursuing toilet paper manufacturers. This might ultimately require each state government to consider subsidizing the most significant commodity in my life these days, after seeking outside contractors with the lowest possible bids, and family values.

To provide a little background, I was born in Alabama in 1951, to two Depression-era babies, one of whom survived WWII. While I may not reach 97 like my father, to this day I remain functionally stupid, and read just about everything on which I can get my hands.

Additionally, I have operated New Media and Social Networking forums since 2008, on a non-content moderation basis, and thus I regularly receive the views of thousands of people around the globe who think I am an idiot, while constantly seeking the views of those who would not otherwise allow me to occupy the same room.

During my adult professional life, I worked within the criminal justice system in a big city, transitioned to defending Fortune 500 companies for 23 years (including defending the criminal children of corporate executives), followed by being in the tech and venture capital field for 5 years (during which many of the Corporate Drug Dealers were hatched).

Since then, for 20 far more enjoyable years and for far less money, I have worked in the interests of average, common, everyday citizens, John Doe, and Mary Doe. They do not typically have nearly the amount of good luck that I had, nor the investment of people who really cared about me.

There are complex, big picture, global economic events taking place daily while we are distracted by politics and reality soap operas. While it is neither my desire to be pessimistic nor dystopian, I honestly fear that younger folks are about to experience some stuff for which they are not fully prepared, at least not currently. However, they will survive, like all generations before them. They will simply need to use a different combination of skillsets.

My advice to younger folks?

ADOPT the self-discipline of my parent's generation; thus far, “The Greatest Generation” in recent memory.

HIDE your money in a Stanley water container, and then place it in a high-quality mattress while you ride out the storms, both climatic and economic in nature;

AVOID what I refer to as "Corporate Drug Dealers" and “Credit Same as Cash Charlatans” who lure you in with and like fentanyl, use your data against you, and suck up your money, not to mention have you pay the hidden fees contained in the fine print;

CONSUME information from every imaginable source, and not just the stuff you enjoy or like reading and hearing thus creating echo chambers;

GET your faces off your smartphones and look around. My dad used to say that the really big picture stuff, and the stuff which most significantly impacts you, does not require that you have a degree in rocket science. To the contrary, he said that you need only to observe with care, pay attention, keep your mouth shut unless you add value for the greater good, and connect the dots for yourself; and,

HAVE FUN, by physically and regularly connecting with those you love and about whom you care, and don’t delay or be hesitant about letting them know how important they are to your collective emotional well-being. While doing so, produce as many babies as you possibly can, since the harsh reality is that’s what ultimately matters toward the end, and there is some comfort knowing the name of the person collecting your piss and scooping your poop.

It is arguably the responsibility of every generation to prepare (not mold in its own image) the youth for the coming years. Occasionally ask those of us who are Baby Boomers and beyond what we saw, and we’ll be more than happy to share our experiences with you despite cataracts and faulty memories.

The line which I mumble to myself with the greatest amount of frequency these days, despite my crystal-clear perception of things, is “When all else fails, dementia is the preferred explanation,” in response to which I always hear people whisper, “He used to be so sharp….”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I touch base with my life - long mentors every single day. They recently shared THIS with me, so that I could share it with you...