(no subject)

[johnny9fingers]

That last post of mine was so naive, I mean I wrote:

And doing something means investing. Which means taxes. And paying teachers a wage commensurate with their responsibility to the next generation.

Of course, our only responsibilty to the next generation is to saddle them with as much debt as we can manage by indulging in our desires for luxuries and fripperies. Collectively, we seem to emulate the least intelligent, sensible, and able of the Bennett sisters, talking about spending money on things they don't need, nor really want: like badly-made hats and ribbons to put on 'em.

Yeah. We don't invest anymore. The 'short now' (as Jasper fforde would have it) weighs against investment. Collectively we don't think much of our kids, and we consider our Grandchildren even less.

The Anglo-Saxon cultures have no proper concept of long-term, which is good as we don't appear to have a long-term future.

Comments

Re: spleen leak

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

Another possibility I had not considered. Actually I know a couple of folk who should, given their talents and abilities, be mentoring. But to a certain extent that is what we do for godchildren. I have books to give mine, and I attend to some aspects of their learning, if only at a distance. Books may always be given, and to the reading child interested in knowing more (two out of the five), a book can work wonders. I gave Jostein Gaardner's 'Sophie's World' to one, which sparked an interest in philosophy of a simple kind in a twelve year old. We all do what we can. My own mentors were my teachers, and a parent of a schoolchum: Robin Buss. Robin died last year. I didn't keep in touch enough, dammit. I still honour the man. He encouraged me in my poetry and writing.
That is, I suppose, the thing I would be best at: encouraging folk in their writing.

Re: passing things on

[e4q.livejournal.com]

indeed, there is no need to do formal mentoring, it was just a thought. it's good that you have some contact with children, i really value it when i do, they can be very refreshing in homeopathic doses.

i was taught by the late jeff nuttall, who was a rabid generalist, he wrote, played jazz, did performance art, painting, all sorts. he died while i was too ill to have noticed, and then it was even too late to go to his funeral, nevertheless i still honour his memory.