Where is the Root of Evil?
Truth based stories that help us understand why we do the things we do, and why things are they way they are.
We are living in interesting times, because for a long time, the enemies of humanity have known us better than we have known ourselves. I’m constantly learning of new, interesting, very unique attack vectors that have been deployed against us because of the level of sophistication of the enemy’s understanding of human psychology. It almost seems (maybe still does to some people) impossible that any bet on humanity would prevail.
In the study of history, we find many instances of people being in the exact same type of dire-feeling situation, and coming out on top. Washington’s Continental Army suffered defeat after defeat, yet here we are. What I deduce from that is that there must be something the enemy can’t reach, can’t know, can’t grasp — some power that we have over the enemy.
What is it? That’s the purpose of these stories.
Below, you will find a collection of stories that I’ve gathered and generalized for your enjoyment. I initially wrote them in 2017.
You may recognize some of the stories from your personal research. I’ve done my best to make them entertaining so you don’t bore of reading them again.
Sometimes in articles I’ll refer back to these stories as a quickhanded way of reminding you why.
Let me explain:
Sometimes, the best way to understand why something is the way it is, is to have experienced that something personally.
Stories help with that. Listening to a story is the most powerful method of activating our brains and understanding cause and effect. I.e., “the moral of the story is…”
Listening to a story turns the story into your own idea and experience.
As in, instead of re-explaining why something, I’ll just say “Remember the story about the guy who did the right thing?” as a reminder.
Enjoy.
REMEMBER: All the stories you find here are completely made up. You should read nothing further into them.
1. PEOPLE AND THEIR JOBS
How would you answer this line of questioning:
What’s your job?
Why do you have your job?
What does it provide for you?
What would happen if you got laid off tomorrow?
Would you want that to happen?
How would you expect another person to answer these questions?
How many of them would answer mostly the same way?
Whether we like our jobs or not, we need them.
We need them to get money to pay our bills and fund our lifestyle.
If we lost our jobs, we’d try to find another source of money.
Whether we make $20,000 or $1,000,000, we need to get money to pay for things.
We need the money from our jobs to cover our life expenses.
The Job Stories
The little salesman that could
2. PEOPLE AND MONEY
These may be very personal questions:
How much money do you have?
How much do you make?
What do you buy?
Do you want more?
Do you owe money?
Do you feel like you have enough money?
How do you feel about your answer to the above questions?
My answers to all of them, for most of my life, had been either “not enough” or “yes”We feel weird talking about money – how much we make, have, and owe are taboo subjects, like sex.
I’m not sure why it came to be that way, and it may or may not be the root cause of our constant struggle with it.
In America,
75% of millennials are stressed about money, along with
76% of Gen Xers, and
77% of parents.
31% of adults are “struggling to get by.”
46% of adults could not cover a $400 emergency expense, or would cover the cost by selling something or borrowing.
What the hell is going on here?
I’m not quite sure, but I’ll bet it has something to do with the strange – and obviously unhealthy – relationship we societally have with money.
We want money so badly that we’re willing to trade a significant chunk of our lives to get it.
And when we finally get enough, it turns out not to be enough and we need to get more.
I have no idea how or why we got to a point where we’ve so magnificently missed the point of money.
We never had the class in school where we learn that a piece of money is no different than an inch. Don’t you think?
After all,
75% of millennials are confused about or don’t understand what money is or how it works because our economic system requires it to survive.
76% of Gen Xers, now nearing middle age, still haven’t spent the little bit of time it takes to figure it out. Meanwhile,
77% of parents haven’t taught their kids about money because they don’t know what it is. Is it a coincidence that these percentages are so alike?
31% of adults are spending more than they make and don’t know where all the money they got in their last paycheck went. (Well, I’m sure most know, the question is why do the basic necessities of life eat up so much of their substance.)
46% of adults will soon be shit out of luck.
The Money Stories
3. COMPANIES
As we shift our conversation to companies, we must remember that we are still talking about people. All companies are created by people, employ people, and serve people. Not all people involved with the company have the same goal, mission, or vision, but the point here is that there is no company without people.
Recall the story about the high level executive who was replaced by Melvyn. She, although having worked at the company for nearly 40 years, did not have the power to control her destiny at the company due to her status within the company.
She worked for some other people who had that power over her for that particular purpose
For these stories, our discussion will be focused on the creators and owners, who are typically those that benefit most from the company’s success, and the leadership, who have the ability to steer.
Keep in mind all lessons learned so far – it still applies here
The Company Stories
I feel a need, a need for need