Listening to a segment on morning radio titled 'how do you deal with Mormons' driving to work today, I was reminded of a visit from the Mormons that I had over 5 years ago, at a previous residence. The results from the callers to the station ranged from suitably polite, through mildly impolite, to spectacularly bad-taste.
The Mormons that came to my door offered me a copy of their Book of Mormon, which I took. They did return a week or so later asking "Are you going to join us?"
"No fellas, I haven't read all of your book yet..." They seemed a little dismayed. Which I thought they'd have been used to after fifteen months of their mission. I wonder what their success rate is? Long story short, we moved a few weeks later and I never saw them again. I've still got their Book of Mormon, though. Still mostly unread.
The Mormons haven't come to the new place in 5 years, but the Seventh Day Adventists have been a couple of times. One pair landed on Easter Sunday, so I wished them a happy Easter, partly realising they don't necessarily partake of Easter as Catholics do. The other family called by a couple of times, until they were told Catholicism Lives Here, and will do so for a long time to come.
To an extent, its the Catholic Missionary taken to grass roots in a community with an already-established religious bent. Can Mormon missions be compared to Catholic missionaries of the 1800's, preaching and converting Africa, Amazonian tribes, etc?
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Showing posts with label opinion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opinion. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Ross Gittins and the Age of Enlightenment
Ross Gittins is a man I like to read, quite a bit. He's very stable and forthright, which probably annoys the bleeding hearts and upper-crust toffs no end, especially when he bangs on about a subject like the incoming means-testing for the one-off baby bonus and on-going Family Tax Benefit (can I get any more "-" in that sentence - sure!).
Read here.
A sublime intellingence and an accurate interpretation of what it all means gives a strong article that tells it like it is. Personal opinion hasnt over-run the meaning, and I bet a few readers are sitting back thinking "he might be onto something, but that doesnt mean I have to like it". As it should make people think.
The key parts of this article I found are these:
"Figures updated from the official Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey show that, for 2008-09, the median income of "households" will be about $80,000 a year before tax. And households earning $150,000 or more - starting at almost twice the median - are in the top 15 per cent of households."
OK, owning up time. Our household income will be less than the median this year, and probably for a few years to come. So means testing doesnt affect me. Thats not to say we need the bonus. We eat, we play, we live, we rent, we're not about to all die of starvation and poverty. So if our income was double, what is $5000 in the scheme of things? Answer: nothing. To jump up and down about unfairness if you're earning that much is plain greed and/or bollocks.
"Third, most people manage to keep themselves dissatisfied with their income by always comparing themselves with people who have more and never with people who have less (who, remember, they rarely see up close)."
"Fourth, a lot of people on high incomes keep themselves in a perpetual state of feeling they're having trouble making ends meet by increasing their spending commitments in line with every increase in their income."
I'm betting these are two things everyone does. Comparison to those better off is inevitable. Comparison to those who have less is rare, but more enlightening as to your current status I'd wager.
The fourth point is an excellent one. And in this time of interest free department store deals on everything under the sun, its only getting worse. So you stack up debt that you can "handle", then one bill increases (usually the most important one, the home loan), and suddenly its very sparse at the disposable income end. The non-essential bills get ignored, you sell the second or third car, you get a personal loan to cover store debts, and it all spirals.
The new residential morning mantra: "Grant me the willpower to resist interest free things I dont really need to survive..."
Insert tagline here...
Read here.
A sublime intellingence and an accurate interpretation of what it all means gives a strong article that tells it like it is. Personal opinion hasnt over-run the meaning, and I bet a few readers are sitting back thinking "he might be onto something, but that doesnt mean I have to like it". As it should make people think.
The key parts of this article I found are these:
"Figures updated from the official Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey show that, for 2008-09, the median income of "households" will be about $80,000 a year before tax. And households earning $150,000 or more - starting at almost twice the median - are in the top 15 per cent of households."
OK, owning up time. Our household income will be less than the median this year, and probably for a few years to come. So means testing doesnt affect me. Thats not to say we need the bonus. We eat, we play, we live, we rent, we're not about to all die of starvation and poverty. So if our income was double, what is $5000 in the scheme of things? Answer: nothing. To jump up and down about unfairness if you're earning that much is plain greed and/or bollocks.
"Third, most people manage to keep themselves dissatisfied with their income by always comparing themselves with people who have more and never with people who have less (who, remember, they rarely see up close)."
"Fourth, a lot of people on high incomes keep themselves in a perpetual state of feeling they're having trouble making ends meet by increasing their spending commitments in line with every increase in their income."
I'm betting these are two things everyone does. Comparison to those better off is inevitable. Comparison to those who have less is rare, but more enlightening as to your current status I'd wager.
The fourth point is an excellent one. And in this time of interest free department store deals on everything under the sun, its only getting worse. So you stack up debt that you can "handle", then one bill increases (usually the most important one, the home loan), and suddenly its very sparse at the disposable income end. The non-essential bills get ignored, you sell the second or third car, you get a personal loan to cover store debts, and it all spirals.
The new residential morning mantra: "Grant me the willpower to resist interest free things I dont really need to survive..."
Insert tagline here...
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