{"id":71801,"date":"2024-11-18T00:01:19","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T05:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=71801"},"modified":"2024-11-16T10:03:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T15:03:00","slug":"a-little-ditty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/a-little-ditty\/","title":{"rendered":"A Little Ditty"},"content":{"rendered":"

How about this for a little ditty?<\/p>\n

(Repeat a few times.)<\/p>\n

Life… is… very<\/em><\/p>\n

tem-por-ary<\/em><\/p>\n

So true.<\/p>\n

Our current-day “geniuses,”<\/span> our heroes, those we “celebrate” in these strange times?<\/p>\n

They are men who create massive<\/span> online retail, software, social media sites, or means of online payment.<\/p>\n

Money, money, and more money, veritable barrels\u2014tons\u2014of it.<\/p>\n

Actual trillions<\/em> in the hands of a very few.<\/p>\n

Tens of billions\u2014in single bank accounts.<\/p>\n

(Let us remember that a billion is a thousand millions. The richest man in the world counts a third of a trillion.)<\/p>\n

If one must name a few of them: Zuckerberg, Gates, Bezos, Musk, Google.<\/p>\n

Sometimes–frankly–there is an extraterrestrial countenance to them.<\/p>\n

Bezos has used his money for things like a yacht so huge, they had to dismantle a monumental bridge in Europe (Rotterdam) so it could get downriver.<\/p>\n

Ah, our priorities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He launched a $2-billion fund to support organizations that help homeless families and to create a network of Montessori-inspired preschools in low-income communities. So far, so good: Except two billion is one percent of his “worth” (which is more than 2,000,000 million).<\/p>\n

Zuckerberg has committed to giving away 99 percent of his Facebook shares over his lifetime, a commitment worth tens of billions of dollars. This is a very noble idea, and we’ll await its fruition.<\/p>\n

Musk is widely called a “genius” and, wanting to spread brain power, has offered to donate his sperm for those ordering in vitro<\/em> fertilization.\u00a0His claims to fame: PayPal, Tesla, Space X, and soon a flurry of robots.<\/p>\n

True genius, one would hope, is more vital than exploding a man toward Mars.<\/p>\n

It is more than creating algorithms for Amazon or TikTok and Instagram. But our priorities are “of this world” (and out of it).<\/p>\n

According to reports from organizations like Oxfam and the Economic Policy Institute, the richest one percent of the population now controls more than half of the world\u2019s wealth.<\/p>\n

There are 2,300,7000 “millionaire” households across the country.<\/p>\n

To look at how much celebrities such as “Puff” Diddy (rapper\/record mogul\/jail inmate) have been able to accrue is to view the far and fantastic reaches of esurience and materialistic excess (below).<\/em><\/p>\n

\"La<\/p>\n

God is the Expert at giving us what we\u00a0need<\/em>. The devil has always been the expert at handing out luxury<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And mostly, what we need are things that redound to our eternal<\/em> benefit, our eternal happiness, not the toys and bells and whistles and pretenses of life on earth, where the average lifespan is counted in less than eight decades.<\/p>\n

\"Sky<\/p>\n

This passing world. This world that wastes so much time on wealth and celebrities.<\/p>\n

Life it is very<\/em><\/p>\n

Tem-por-ary<\/em><\/p>\n

And when so materialist:<\/em><\/p>\n

Fair-ly scary.<\/em><\/p>\n