Sader, Kenne, Claudia and Joy At Rotary Governor-Elect Conference In San Diego, January 16, 2013
Since our close friends, Antonio & Claudia Sader were in San Diego this week to take part in Rotary Governor-Elect training, Joy and I drove over to the southern California coast for a couple of days. We have known Sader and Claudia since we lead Group Study Exchange team to the other’s Rotary District.
kenne
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Economic Crisis!
Good times exist when people seek, find and live by the truth. People can look around and see the truth. In this time of crisis, people look around and truth is nowhere to be found. Truth doesn’t exist because it has been buried by lie upon lie. Nobody, even the “experts” can see the truth. As a result, we now fine ourselves trying to make survival decisions in the center of a maze, containing many false options, without a truth compass.
Unless one has suffered a direct hit from the economy, most Americans remain unaware that we are on the edge of the biggest economic crisis in the history of human kind. We have created a huge false economic bubble brought about by institutional accesses, irresponsible borrowing and CDS’s. For several decades the bubble has been filled with hot air (lies) fueled by greed. Yet for several years now we have been ignoring the hissing sound as if it were “white-air.” When some of us began to complain to those in authority, the response was not to deign the hissing sound, but to say, “the volume is not high enough!”
If we as a people don’t start listening and acting in a responsible fashion, we will experience another “big bang.” This past week the volume went from being tolerable (we’ve learned to live with it) to being a loud noise created by the money we have been giving to banks going out the window. However, this is not a time to panic , but to borrow an example from history.
During last century’s “Great Depression,” one businessman in Chicago had a business that went bankrupt. That businessman was, Herbert J. Taylor. After evaluating the situation, he observed that to make things right, it was important to think right. What he proposed was a basic code of ethics that could be easily remembered and applied by the companies leaders and employees. What resulted was “The 4-Way Test.” Putting the test to work, five years later despite the continuing depression, the business was able to pay a $400,000 debt with interest and distribute over a million dollars in dividends to stockholders.
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to All Concerned?
3. Will it Build GOODWILL and Better Friendships?
4. Will it Be BENEFICIAL to All Concerned?
As an active Rotarian, Taylor shared the success of his test and in the early 1940’s Rotary International adopted “The 4-Way Test”, which is today the basic ethical test for over one million Rotarians around the globe.
Yes, it would have been nice if more people had been living by this basic test of ethics, but more importantly is the need for all peoples to begin using The 4-Way Test. By living the test we can better see the truth and evaluate our choices, especially in choosing those who are given the responsibility of representing us. Let The 4-Way Test be your truth compass.
If we believe in our greatness as a nation, we can protect the greatness by always seeking the truth. “My country, right or wrong,” may sound patriotic, but the true protectors of our greatness are those who routinely evaluate what it is to be great. To question is to seek the truth.
A true prophet is the one least certified or acceptable by
church, state, government, media and “proper” people.
— Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo
For more on the current crisis, see Kevin Phillips interview on Bill Moyers Journal. While there, also click on “Winner and Losers.”
It is well worth taking the time to view these interviews.
kenne
P.S. After this posting I read Frank Rich’s Op Ed Column in the NY Times — Truthfulness Stages a Comeback. I share it as a related opinion.
Rotary Club of Conroe
Like this:
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Economic Crisis!
Good times exist when people seek, find and live by the truth. People can look around and see the truth. In this time of crisis, people look around and truth is nowhere to be found. Truth doesn’t exist because it has been buried by lie upon lie. Nobody, even the “experts” can see the truth. As a result, we now fine ourselves trying to make survival decisions in the center of a maze, containing many false options, without a truth compass.
Unless one has suffered a direct hit from the economy, most Americans remain unaware that we are on the edge of the biggest economic crisis in the history of human kind. We have created a huge false economic bubble brought about by institutional accesses, irresponsible borrowing and CDS’s. For several decades the bubble has been filled with hot air (lies) fueled by greed. Yet for several years now we have been ignoring the hissing sound as if it were “white-air.” When some of us began to complain to those in authority, the response was not to deign the hissing sound, but to say, “the volume is not high enough!”
If we as a people don’t start listening and acting in a responsible fashion, we will experience another “big bang.” This past week the volume went from being tolerable (we’ve learned to live with it) to being a loud noise created by the money we have been giving to banks going out the window. However, this is not a time to panic , but to borrow an example from history.
During last century’s “Great Depression,” one businessman in Chicago had a business that went bankrupt. That businessman was, Herbert J. Taylor. After evaluating the situation, he observed that to make things right, it was important to think right. What he proposed was a basic code of ethics that could be easily remembered and applied by the companies leaders and employees. What resulted was “The 4-Way Test.” Putting the test to work, five years later despite the continuing depression, the business was able to pay a $400,000 debt with interest and distribute over a million dollars in dividends to stockholders.
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to All Concerned?
3. Will it Build GOODWILL and Better Friendships?
4. Will it Be BENEFICIAL to All Concerned?
As an active Rotarian, Taylor shared the success of his test and in the early 1940’s Rotary International adopted “The 4-Way Test”, which is today the basic ethical test for over one million Rotarians around the globe.
Yes, it would have been nice if more people had been living by this basic test of ethics, but more importantly is the need for all peoples to begin using The 4-Way Test. By living the test we can better see the truth and evaluate our choices, especially in choosing those who are given the responsibility of representing us. Let The 4-Way Test be your truth compass.
If we believe in our greatness as a nation, we can protect the greatness by always seeking the truth. “My country, right or wrong,” may sound patriotic, but the true protectors of our greatness are those who routinely evaluate what it is to be great. To question is to seek the truth.
A true prophet is the one least certified or acceptable by
church, state, government, media and “proper” people.
— Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo
For more on the current crisis, see Kevin Phillips interview on Bill Moyers Journal. While there, also click on “Winner and Losers.”
It is well worth taking the time to view these interviews.
kenne
P.S. After this posting I read Frank Rich’s Op Ed Column in the NY Times — Truthfulness Stages a Comeback. I share it as a related opinion.
Rotary Club of Conroe
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