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Saturday, December 21, 2024

Ross Meurant: Message to Santa - All I want for Christmas is …Happiness.

In this Odessey we call life; what path; which road do we take?

Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it’s the courage to continue that counts,’ extolled Sir Winston Churchill.

Euripides said: ‘I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.’

My family coat of arms embraces the Machiavelli dictum: “Virtu et Fortuna”.

Yet, for they who strive, be it from helot to bourgeois, or those born to the Manor (where bequeathments from they who before them strived, are often squandered), debt is a companion for life – an albatross around one’s neck.

What is debt?

A promise to repay a favour?  Only a rogue would break his word.

A legal obligation to repay money borrowed? 

The curse of capitalism, an essential feature of which is the motive to make a profit –  Shylock still lurks in the twilight of Venice.

Money. Is this now fiat fantasy, the latent human instinct which drives our search for happiness?

Ahhhh!  Love is happiness.

Yet, it was Formula One race champion Nikki Lauda who cautioned; ‘Happiness is the enemy. Happiness is something to lose. One become afraid to lose. One does not take risks,’

Machiavelli said, ‘It is better to act and repent than not to act and regret for never was anything great achieved without danger’  

Perhaps a contemporaneous interpretation of Si vis Pacem para bellum -To make peace you must prepare for war, Rudyard Kipling said, ‘No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.’

But, in a system where Justice is Money; Just Money, “the price” for many is too high.

Without money, what do we have? 

Schopenhauer penned, ‘They can take your pride but they can never take your love’.

Without money, what do we have? 

Health may be the exception.  The standout gift of The Gods.  Yet, if the Gods pass us bye, the healthiest amongst us, can still fall.

 

          

As Princess Catherine of Wales recently acknowledged: Life as you know it can change in an instant and we have had to find a way to navigate the stormy waters and road unknown.’

Wherever our feet may now tread in this Odessey we call life, few do not or have not or will not feel the pain of the unexpected. Physical illness which all can see.  Mental illness which none can see. Financial stress which money delivers.  

Now, in the Land of the Long Black Cloud, a latent anxiety emerges predicated on threats by radical elements to steal the assets (money) contributed to by us all – i.e. taxpayers.

What pain will this quest for separatism cause?  What are the consequences?  

Santa!  Will you deliver my present, please?

Albeit irreconcilable with his earlier axiom, from the mists of time, Euripides did forewarn: “Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad.”

Ross Meurant BA MPP.  Company Director. www.gena.co.nz  Former Police Inspector, Member of Parliament & Honorary Consul.

3 comments:

Peter said...

Ross, it's Xmas - that's all far too deep for this time of year. But, you are right, a very dark cloud is upon us and it does not forebode well, unless we stand united against it. You might hope Santa delivers - I'm more a pragmatist and it doesn't come in the form of our PM.

Brian W said...

Rossco, and again - bloody brilliant Mate. I can partly agree with Peter above but NEVER is there a time when the truth is too dark. Luxon - yes - woke/scared. We must get the TRUTH - the REAL interpretation/meaning - of the Treaty of Waitangi out there to everyone and let our people decide. For too long these activists, led by those who went to Cuba to be indoctrinated, have twisted the truth to suit THEIR agenda, Lets return our once wonderful NEW ZEALAND, for whom my late Father spent three years as a Pilot O/Seas during WW 2, to how it once was, PLEEEZ.

Anonymous said...

Sadly, peace and goodwill to all men , is likely to be lacking both at home here and globally in 2025.
And we can easily identify the main actors.

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