Choices

Living with Our Choices

' No good deed goes unpunished ' … that's a curious remark that possibly comes from folks … who once did good. It was obviously a choice … for they appear to have changed their mind about it. But … not doing good deeds … does not necessarily imply … doing bad. It could refer to the fact that … they don't wish for anyone to think … that they like to do good. So they hide their intent.

 

 There are many ways in which we handle that. One way is to make sure we don't cultivate and broadcast an image as a do-gooder. Another is to realize that … the good that we do … has a specific and measured benefit … with regards to others. Or we may ensure that we turn the do-good for ourselves … to advance our welfare and comfort. Then again … we may simply refer to it … as a duty we undertake … in the interest of humanity.

 

In viewing the many possibilities … in the way we began … to believe in doing good … often times … it may have started in the way we received something good from someone else … and never forgot that. And we must have wondered at the happy notion of such gifts … when received by the individual. It thereafter may have made us happy to give. It affirms the joy we continue to feel. And it brings to us the new joy of sharing.

 

I figure that in some such way … man converted the occasion of the winter solstice … in December … into a celebration of giving … by adding to the experience … the Christian ethos … and the reminder that … everything we receive in life … is a gift. And we realize from these … that the ethos of giving and receiving … also includes some very practical and sound reasons … for moving the economy … and in the study of human development … the transformation of our experiences into knowledge.

 

Beyond  the merely practical … we encounter in giving and receiving … the very heart of creation. Economics creates the opportunity for us to that … with a fair medium of exchange … the price. And in applying that view to the world's commerce … we realize the workings of creation on the street where we live … and the relations between producer and consumer. The price … as a factor in the transaction … has come to our understanding as opportunities lost … losses … and the cost of such experiences.

 

Economist report on the state of the economy often … and each time they do that … they identify investor confidence and consumer optimism … as reasons for growth. No doubt these indicators have always been fluctuating … and contributing to the possibility of speculative activity that relies on such instability for gains. But speculation is no substitute for work and production … and is certainly not the basis on which we raise our families and the society.

 

In the reliance we create for a balanced give and take … we encounter many factors that create promises of a larger take … and the promises get bigger all the time. The costs to such promises ignores the losses we sustain … for opportunities that create a stable growth … in the development of the human potential … for a quality of life … that is not entirely dependent on money. Such costs includes the ability to raise our intelligence to levels we have not experienced before.

 

Money and the desires associated with it … assume a static conception of mind … that is often based on habituated views about the quality of life. A cell-phone buyer is thereafter consumed by adding new features to the phone … in a race to keep his interest in the product alive. We did the same for automobiles … and today we catch our breath at old models of autos … re-conditioned for the road. It refers to a quality of aesthetics that is combined with the individual reflection of the quality of his experiences and his appreciation of them. These cannot be satisfied by newer and newer products.

 

In an individual grabbing for self attention … in a world grown to feed such desires … its curious to find man encountering the forces of Trinity in our lives … that are the source of such rich goods and services. We are encountering the very origin of our desires and the role they play in our lives. As we learn to relate to such experiences and understand them … corporations will have to find new ways to satisfy such interests.

 

About a year ago … a movie producer contacted me to write a screenplay. I had responded with my ideas for what I thought would create greater interest today. I pointed to him the growing creative sense of the movie goer … and suggested that current movies burden the imagination of the movie-goer with a full Monty of scenes … casts … and props. I had suggested that the movie goer might want to do some of that himself. As an alternative I suggested that … the movie combine features of illustrations … sketches … photos … 360 degree video at significant points … audio combined with video of background scenes … and allow the viewer his own thoughts on what he views is unfolding.

 

The suggestion brings a new experience of movies … and certainly … it relies on the theme of the living arts of life. Our celebrations of life in the Carnival … and Mardi Gras are grand stages of such arts that combine with religious doctrine … as regards the feast of the epiphany and lent.  Obviously our choices rely on our determination … to step out in new directions … where such directions … represent the quality of life … we experience in our perceptions … and our desire to preserve them. No … my suggestion was turned down by this movie producer and yes … sometimes we give … and give until received.