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Jan 26, 2023Liked by Barry Brownstein

What a motivating article considering the challenges facing us as individuals, as well as those facing our Country during these times. Thank you so very much. I save it for future reference and to include in my Veterans Service Organization (Northeast Florida MOWW #250) Newsletter. High Praise to you.

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wull thank ya back Barry--and also for the free link to Read's works!

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Aye (and yup) there's the rub! to be humble enough to recognize yer own faults, errors, screw ups and stubborn stripped screws.... to gain insight and ta move past it--that IS part've what we used ta think was bein' human! (being a FREE human!--able to fix stuff including our own mistakes!) But in this newfangled AI-souped up world (whirrled!) these plugged-in / tuned-out cell phone-addicts--and all the psycho Mr Globals runnin' the show--well, they don't want'cha human--thinkin'--sentient--feelin', reflective or able to change--besides love! No siree, so young'uns today (not mine, thankfully but WAY too many...) are told to blame someone and/or some identity group and or some outside institution--Orange Man, Capitalism, White Supremacy, imagined hate-groups of Anti-Trans Bullies, the entire US of A, the police... pick a scapegoat! I am AMAZED that we have a nation of "the dog ate my homework-erz"...

So this here is one sorry generation provin' the mental stagnation of which Read speaks--and in today's crazy-ccp-infused "wrong think" (as if there is wrong and right think at all!) they need to blame someone... Since no-buddy takes personal responsibility for their actions, trials n' tribulations, problems--then in their view no-buddy is around for a solution.

Of COURSE the solution is us! I love to hear the wisdom of Aurelius, Emerson, and Read (a new'un to me!)--and lordy, if young'uns today were to READ, mebbe they wouldn't be so easily shucked an' jived!

It's also about patience (a great virtue they seem to now say is racist...say what?)--and resilience--and making mistakes (like Aurelius said) which is, basically, how ya do the ChaChaCha of life:

" Two steps forward, one step back" (not the contrary per Lenin...)

But if ya think about it, locomotion forward still manages to take place and mistakes are expected setbacks--normal both on the dance floor AND in real life.

Americans fer sure gotta put their dancin' shoes back on, apologize when they step on toes!, expect to do stuff wrong when learnin' new steps--but ultimately--move forward an' enjoy the steps and the music in harmony!

I so appreciate the insights here Barry and love how ya bring in so many important thinkers! Some've us fergit what we read a long ways ago and bein' reminded of wise words an' thoughts is like hearin' forgotten fond melodies which need to come back on our regular playlists!

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Excellent!

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Jan 26, 2023·edited Jan 26, 2023Liked by Barry Brownstein

Again, excellent.

“For man to be fully free he must first appreciate that others, as well as himself, are responsible and self-controlling.”

It is difficult, I think, for many of us to let go of the fear that other people, released from a strict yoke of the law, will go crazy, harming us or our loved ones. That feeling may largely originate from a fear that we ourselves might not be trustworthy without ever-present external constraints. Confronting and working through one's own inner demons provides a path to letting go of the fear that other people can't be trusted to run their own lives, and therefore strict top-down control is necessary.

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deletedJan 26, 2023Liked by Barry Brownstein
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