Posts Tagged “tough love”
It never ceases to amaze me how just when you think it can’t get any worse, it 
invariably does. And there is nothing more frustrating than not being able do anything about it but sit back and watch.
I think that is how most Americans feel when we watch the National Debt Clock just keep on ticking. Recent Congressional wailing and gnashing of teeth has produced nothing tangible about stopping the bleeding. We are at a point now where this nation’s spending so far outstrips our ability to pay the debt off that it is on the verge of being a hopeless case.
If so, that begs the question of when is the best time to default. Do we wait until the debt is much greater and we are forced to default, or do we go ahead and do it now and get it over with. That is what divides our nation. About half of our nation consist of people who cannot mentally force themselves to put aside their emotions and make a pragmatic decision. They want to delay any pain and suffering as long as possible, even if it’s worse when it eventually happens.
And about half of the nation looks at the problem and sees the logical inevitability of the situation. They want to go ahead and get it over with, so the recovery time will be sooner rather than later. It is very hard to accept some facts, but if we are going to survive as a nation, we must. We have grown up with the idea that America can do anything. Our leaders have told us that we are the envy of the world and there is nothing we can’t do if we just put our minds to it. After all, they say, this is America.
Oh yeah, well how come the Chinese are using $100 dollar bills to light their cigars. We need a reality check here. The truth is we have our limitations. There are a lot of things we can’t do. And we need to sit back and learn to deal with it.
We cannot afford to be the policeman for the entire World. We cannot be the World’s sugar daddy either. And we cannot make some people in the world stop their hatred for others. We cannot feed the entire planet. We are out of money, out of energy, and out of patience. There are some of us that think “If we don’t do it nobody will, it’s our moral duty to get involved.” That is a very dangerous and ignorant belief.
As long as we have that attitude nobody will ever step up to the plate. Why would they, when they know America will do it. The phrase “tough love” was coined in 1968 by Bill Milliken when he wrote a book titled Tough Love.
The idea behind tough love is that you treat someone harshly or sternly with the intent to help them in the long run. You inflict pain now so that the pain over the long run will be diminished. That is what the entire world needs at this point in history.
We need to administer a serious dose of tough love across the entire world. Nations that we have been propping up need to learn to stand on their own two feet. Americans who have been living off of others need to take responsibility for their own lives.
We need to understand that we cannot provide everything for everybody. Some will have to shape up or do without. This nation will have to set a stern set of priorities that only provides a limited amount of individual support. And we will have to tell some nations that they are on their own.
Americans have let their lives be consumed with commercialism. We have been obsessed with acquiring gadgets and things. That has led our nation down a path of consumer debt that is based on the desire for instant gratification. We, as a people, need to live a more frugal life, and we must demand that our government do so as well. — Larry Oscar