Sacrifice sometimes mean "giving something up" but not everyone adds on the follow up "in order too gain something else."
Sacrifice without gain is failure. In chess you may sacrifice your queen to win the game. Sacrificing your queen to lose the game is utterly stupid.
So when someone says "You'll have to sacrifice a little more for the 'greater good'" they are telling you to give up something for no gain. That is not sacrifice, that is stupidity. When people talk about "shared sacrifice" but don't talk about "shared gain" they are simply telling you to give up something of yours for no gain.
People talk about the sacrifice those of us in the Military make. Yes we sacrifice our time and even our freedom of choice, but we do that to gain a paycheck and benefits.
The Occupy Wall Street movement wants to "eat the rich" and somehow make the rich "sacrifice" a little more in order to support some sort of social welfare scheme. Newsflash, social welfare is an utter failure wherever it is implemented. Cultures with social welfare stagnate, people stay in poverty, or stay in the middle class, and the rich stay rich. Social welfare doesn't spread the wealth.
So remember, when someone asks you to "sacrifice" you need to ask back, "what is in it for me?" and not be afraid to be labeled "cold hearted" or "heartless." Sacrifice must always be working towards a goal. Otherwise the player on the opposite side of the board is asking you to sacrifice the queen so that they will win.
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- AM
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8 comments:
A study of the fall of many of the ancient societies we have called great will show that social welfare was at the top of the list in their fall.
On the same note, I don't think that just because you, or others, may not see the gain in their sacrifice that it is necessarily stupid.
I see where you are coming from...my husband is now in his sixth year of serving in the Army infantry. In January 2010, he was shot by a sniper during a patrol. Yes, he agrees that he "sacrificed" his own life in a way, but was very put off and embarrassed by all the attention he gained once he came back home on medical leave. He decided to heal just enough to return to Irag and finish his tour. He didn't have to do that, but he felt it was necessary. It was his job, as you said. He gets paid to take care of his men. I think it is rather naive of us to think that we aren't gaining anything by sacrificing.
Kyle Bass [Hedge Fund Manager] Discusses Soaking the Rich
Mindy, I like to say that "there is an exception to every rule, including this one."
There are some things we just have to take on faith, and sometimes we sacrifice based on that faith even if we know we won't see the reward in this life.
However, to a logical person who doesn't know my faith, some of my sacrifices would be stupid.
Yep.
Would refer anyone with the time and inclination to read Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. Written in 1957; Rand spends 1200 pages discussing the way society demands sacrifices of the people who "produce".
Exactly what you touch upon in this post is expounded upon.
I prefer to listen to the book, unabridged, on my ipod. I listened to it first in 2008 after the crash, and again now this year.
This book, more than any other I know, has our society and its collective idea of sacrifice, and whom it means to sacrifice, to a T.
Sacrifice with no gain is what Ayn Rand refers to as altruism, a concept that has held the world in thrall for 2,000 years.
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