Insight, Meditations and Reflections

What then, is that primary goal that should concern us? Is it wealth? Great Depressions warn us about the fragility of the world's financial systems. The economy is an emotionally unstable mother whose moods swing like a see-saw. When she is happy she makes the family feel great.  When she is depressed, she drains all the joy away.

George Mehales was a Greek immigrant who lived in South Carolina in 1929. At the beginning of October of that fateful year he felt prosperous. But at the end of the month he lost everything. "The first day of October in 1929 made me feel like I was rich... (then,)  I was wiped out...I had nothing left." (Library of Congress, America’s Library)

George Mehales was one of millions of the people who lost everything they had worked for during the Great Depression. Countless others have seen their fortunes reversed through war, natural disasters, and other calamities. If amassing wealth becomes all that we live for then it can blind us to other equally important values of society. Remember ENRON and the BAYOU hedge funds.

Is it political power? That too is ephemeral. The kings of yesterday have ceded their symbols of power to the victors of today who will surrender their mandates to the rulers of tomorrow.

And acclaim? Like the sunflower, fame flourishes with the sunrise of public praise, drooping at sunset into the darkness of forgetfulness. What has made some famous today will be contested tomorrow. Scientific theories on which careers are being built now will give way to discoveries that show the objective futility of some lives. The extraordinary claim of yesterday is the child's play of today.

The apparently futile endeavor is necessary within the big scheme of things. The quest for wealth, power, and fame are useful. Without them the world we live in is unimaginable. But their quest cannot be the primary goal of life. We must subordinate the seeking of these ends to the imperative of the primary goal. This goal is the carrying of the “flame of freedom,” the subject of the remaining installments in the series.

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