PICK YOUR BATTLES WISELY

In physics, energy is the quantitative property that must be transferred to an object in order to perform work on, or to heat, the object. It has also been defined as the capacity to do work. Battles require energy. Energy is expensive and should not be wasted. It should be applied strategically to obtain the maximum possible benefits from its deployment. Cost and benefit. 

I watched a video of a dummy cock carved out of wood and planted into the ground with a spring base. The spring base made sure the dummy would come back up after being pushed. Cocks are very territorial. A real cock saw this dummy and felt his territory was under threat so a fight started. He kicked and pecked this dummy but no matter how hard he kicked and pecked, the dummy always came back up. Eventually the cock got tired and left. I admit that a cock may not have a brain developed enough to have seen he was fighting a dummy but humans, with all our brain capacity, sometimes behave like that. We pick the wrong battles and waste energy fighting them such that when the right battle we really need to fight comes along we have nothing left to fight with. Pick your battles wisely. 

Boxing is a brutal sport. It is one where fighters have to be very smart about the opponents they fight. Boxers while trying to rise in the sport fight anyone available but once they become champions they become intentional with picking their opponents. They fight those who they are sure they will beat and retain their title and try as much as possible to avoid those who will be difficult or impossible to beat. James J. Jeffries refused to face Johnson, the Gavelstone giant, and retired instead. It was in the 1900's and racism was prevalent, Jeffries retired, claiming not to want to fight a black man, and deep down knew Johnson would beat him. He came back from retirement to fight Johnson and was beaten. It was his only loss in his career. He said after the fight, "I could never have whipped Johnson at my best. I couldn't have hit him. No, I couldn't have reached him in 1,000 years." He picked his battles wisely. Deontay Wilder is another boxer who is good but not very highly rated because he hasn't fought worthy opponents. His defeat by Tyson Fury hasn't helped change that opinion. 

As at the time of writing this over 157,000 Americans have been killed by Covid-19. That's a lot of dead people in about 6 months or less. It's a catastrophe. You would think Americans would be worried. I don't think so. They are more worried about who wins the November 2020 elections. The Democrats are fighting hard to oust Trump. The Republicans are working hard to retain power. All hell has been let loose in the American political space. Common sense is dead. Coronavirus has become a political tool deployed as a game changer in the elections. While supporters on both sides are busy fighting themselves, more people are dying and more getting infected. Are Americans picking their battles wisely? 

Speaking of that, I am starting to find partisan politics unattractive to the point I loathe it. Why? I find that the only thing supporters of politicians and political parties do is support their representatives and never hold them accountable. I prefer a system where supporters hold their politicians accountable and make sure they behave better with public trust and funds. That, in my honest opinion, is a better use of energy. Why waste energy defending the nonsense our politicians do all in the name of support? Is that not why they will never do better because there's an army ready to deploy energy to defend them? When we do this are we picking our battles wisely? Defending politicians is a never ending battle that is on repeat. That takes energy. Holding politicians accountable takes energy too. I will leave you to decide which method yields better results. 

A man and woman fall in love and decide to get married. They are happy. Along the way the woman finds out her husband is cheating. She doesn't confront him. She finds the woman the husband is entangled with and goes to fight her. Why? That's a total waste of energy. The fight you want is with the man you have at home. He is the one you made a vow with. The woman outside may not know he's married and even if she knows she has no obligation to respect his vows he chose to disrespect so why fight her? This woman will be picking her battles wisely if she confronts her husband and seeks explanation. 

As a kid I picked my battles wisely. If an adult gets hold of my ball because it hit their car I couldn't fight them. They'd beat me silly. I found my own ways to get back at them. I remember breaking broomsticks in the keyhole of a car. A locksmith was called to change the car lock. Why did I do this? The owner of the car took my football. If I didn't do that I would have found her child that I could beat, beat him or her up, and tell them to go tell their mom that as long as she held on to my ball they'd get beat. As a parent would you hold on to the ball? I laugh now writing this but it was a terrible thing. It worked. 

We are faced with very many battles in life. Some are necessary to fight while others are just distractions. Ignore those ones and save energy for the fights that are consequential. That's how you win in life. Pick your battles wisely and stay undefeated. 

COMMON SENSE IS IN THE MIDDLE. NOT LEFT, NOT RIGHT.

PART 2

Have you followed the WE Charity scandal in Canada? Wait. Safety first. I need to put on my helmet. Where is it? Done! Let the batons fly. It's pretty much obvious to sensible people what happened in the WE Charity imbroglio. WE Charity was paying the Prime Ministers' mom and brother to speak and the government, headed by the PM, doled out a contract of over $500m to the charity without the PM or his finance minister (he has benefited from WE Charity) recusing themselves. The PM and the Finance minister have both apologised. Do you need an ethics commissioner to tell you what happened? Find the story and read. Common sense is in the middle. It's not left or right. Seeing the debate between Liberals and Conservatives makes me laugh. One person blocked me on Twitter when I asked her what the PM's mother had done to command a speaking fee of $250,000. She could have just answered the simple question. You see why I need my helmet? 

Five ants plus five ants is ten ants. Right? Remove the space between ten and ants. What do you have? Tenants. A whole different meaning. That's exactly what happens when common sense is removed from the middle. To make my next point I need to fasten my helmet. 

The Government of Canada is responsible for the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP), which provides support to Government-Assisted Refugees. This includes: security and medical screening, settlement assistance upon arrival, immediate short-term housing, counselling and cultural orientation, information and referral to community services, translation and interpretation, language training, job-related services and so on. This is very noble. I am not in support or against the RAP. I am just wondering why this program exists when there are Canadians who are homeless, can't find work, sick and on a wait-list for surgeries. There are veterans amongst them. My common sense tells me to take care of my own kids first before my neighbours kids. I have a colleague who came to Canada more than 30 years ago on humanitarian grounds. His dad was told that if he doesn't find a job in 3 months he would be made to pay the cost of the things the government did for him. Three months later, the man was working. Does that still apply today or do we have people living in low income houses with no willingness to work? You can bring down the batons now. My helmet is firmly in place.

With my helmet in position, does it make sense for Canadians to be working two jobs to pay taxes and get by so that the government can have money to subsidize cost of living for refugees? Let the stones start flying. Moving on.. 

Depending on what political ground you stand, you will have certain views on abortion. I am not for or against abortion but I keep wondering why we promote abortion a lot more than sex education. It is unprotected sex that leads to pregnancy. I think it's important to make young people understand that unprotected sex has serious consequences like pregnancy. Would this approach not reduce the dire need for abortions? 

Immigration is another issue. Liberals want one thing. Conservatives want another. What to call immigrants is still up for debate. For some reason the people who say countries shouldn't have borders somehow have walls and doors and windows in their homes. They make sure they lock their doors when they go out. I would scratch my head but my helmet. 

We want to reverse climate change but we are still building bigger houses with basements. Bigger houses mean more gas to heat, more wood, cement, plastic. If we want to reduce climate change would it not be better to ask why a man needs a 3 bedroom house when he lives by himself? Get a room. 

Political correctness has taken over common sense. We just can't seem to agree on simple things anymore. That middle ground that separates ten and ants is totally gone. It will get worse. We are just at the beginning of a very slippery slope. Come with me as we attend the funeral of common sense. It lived well while it did.