Some rules to live by.

[davywavy]

1. Anything which looks too good to be true almost certainly is.
But people still send money to Nigerian scammers. Sigh.

2. Despite appearances, Wasabi is not a dip like Guacamole and should not be treated as such.
Aren't you glad you have me to tell you these things?

3. Always be personally responsible for your own income.
If you rely exclusively upon mummy & daddy/partner/the social or similar source of income which you have no influence over, sooner or later you're going to get burned. Take control of your own finances.

4. Any person who thinks that you will be interested in hearing about how mummy and/or daddy didn't love them enough the first time you meet them has an above-average chance of being nuts. Do not get involved.
If a friend tells you personal things then that's what friends are for. If a stranger tells you personal things then they're probably attention seeking, and not in an good way.

5. If there is a pattern in your life which you don't like then the mostly likely cause of it is you. Change yourself before you try to change others.
Aristotle once said that we are what we repeatedly do. Smart feller, Aristotle.

6. Anyone who tells you they have magic/psychic/divine/other powers is either lying or deluded.
They are, you know. And if you think you do, then you're deluded too.

7. If you split up with your other half, quit your job and stop paying your rent, don't expect any sympathy when you complain of being single, skint and homeless.
I'm often amazed by how often people do stuff like this.

8. Treating people like they're stupid is the best way of getting them to act as if they are.

9. Whatever you want to do, don't procrastinate.
What do you want to do? Whatever it is, go and do it right now. Why are you reading your friends list? Stop it.

Comments

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem onto others. Ultimately, no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation.

[lareinemisere.livejournal.com]

'There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation'

Yes and no. Babies and the severely learning disabled, to list two fairly non-contentious examples, have no obligations, but they are nonetheless legally (and, I would suggest, morally) entitled to be fed, clothed and sheltered, simply on the grounds of being human beings. Perhaps it's more more to do with the ability to contribute to one's own welfare: one could reasonably argue that those who can, should. The tricky bit is figuring out who can and who can't (as opposed to who can or can't be bothered).

That said, with you all the way on the imbalance between some people's understanding of their rights as opposed to their responsibilities - because a few years of dealing with stroppy adolescents will persuade anyone of that. I'm not sure that it's what they've been 'given to understand', though - it's astounding how much some people only take in the information that suits them and ignore or forget the rest.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

There's an excellent essay by ( I think) Douglas Hofstadter where he says that in debate it's always best to assume that anything the other person says is prefaced with the phrase "all else being equal" so, no, babes and the mentally subnormal don't fit the structure I threw out, but all else being equal it's not an unreasonable expectation that people should accept responsibilities are the commensurate of rights - or those capable of integrating within society should accept that, anyway. The incessant bleating of 'I know my rights' by the latest drooling troglodyte to be trotted into the police station round the corner from my office leads to me agree with your suggestion that people only hear what they want to hear - they know their rights, but they must have skipped the bit where other people's were mentioned.

Not to mention that I'd say that babies and the disabled would count as your 'neighbour', in the Christian if not the literal sense, and I did suggest that people accept a responsibility of care for their neighbour?

[uninvitedcat.livejournal.com]

Fascinating discussion! Hope you don't mind, but I'm friending you (I've wandered over from snapesbabe's LJ).

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Welcome.