In a message dated 2/20/00 2:52:11 PM Central Standard Time, spike66@ibm.net
writes:
> My grandfather told me the two very most important skills for
> any young man to have are: auto mechanics and self defense.
> OK. One has been marginally useful, mostly as a hobby,
> the other totally useless.
I'm not so sure these were useless or trivial objects of mastery. I was also
oriented by my father to auto mechanics and learned a lot about logic and
"systems thinking" by making that old 1966 Mustang run when I was in high
school. Sometimes I feel sorry for the kids today that don't have a system
as straightforward and susceptible to mastery by dogged rational
self-application as a classic American V-8 with a carburetor and mechanical
ignition. Some of the most rewarding moments of my life came with the "aha"
experience of figuring out how to make that old 289 run again after I'd
wrecked it.
As for the self-defense, again, the notion of being self-reliant and
responsible for one's self in the world - even if it's never employed in any
violent way - is valuable to a person's growth.
> How can we avoid passing on similarly inappropriate values
> to the next generation?
The specific life-lessons that earlier generations passed on will doubtless
be of less and less value. But the core concepts of rational self-reliance
seem to me to be timeless. It ought to be possible to teach these in almost
any circumstance.
Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<gburch@lockeliddell.com>
Attorney ::: Vice President, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
ICQ # 61112550
"We never stop investigating. We are never satisfied that we know
enough to get by. Every question we answer leads on to another
question. This has become the greatest survival trick of our species."
-- Desmond Morris
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