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during threatening times, and should not be a tool for
predators to experience dominance or personal gain.
Are People Inherently Lazy?
You hear it said that people are inherently lazy. I don't l
know if it's so much that as much as the fact the most of us
need some sort of education and guidance to learn to truly
find their way in life. Yes, it's true that some of us seem to
be going out of our way to do as little work as possible
while personally profiting the most, and others are,
seemingly right from birth, ready to roll up their sleeves
and do the hard work of life, both in making a living and
finding spiritual enlightenment — and every level in
between. The bottom line is that it comes down to the fact
that all children need to be around adults who can and will
inspire, empower, and impart the knowledge that will have
the effect of them seeing the good and the truth of hard
work in general, and that things acquired without any work
or sacrifice can be empty and meaningless.
A good example of this was when I was 9 years old and
was, er, "encouraged" to get a job. I needed to get a bicycle,
not only for the job of delivering newspapers, but also
because I wanted that 3-speed Schwinn Sting-Ray very
badly. My parents purchased the bike I wanted, but we
agreed that I would pay half of its price back to them, in
weekly installments. Seemed like a pretty good deal at the
time, it still does, and it turns out that it was a very good
deal.
Now, I noticed that for the most part, the other kids just had
their bikes bought for them and I might have been a little
confused about that at first, but I also noticed that my bike
might have been of higher quality. The other thing I noticed,
which was much more important, was the fact that I
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