Poor People - Poor Deer

I've been thinking about those poor people some more. It occurred to me that, if you and I sold all our stuff and gave all our money to the poor, like Jesus said to do, they would quickly spend it, they would still be poor, and now you and I would be poor too. In our good intentioned effort to alleviate poverty, we would have actually added two more people to the poverty rolls. I suppose it's not the same thing when the government takes money from us and gives it to the poor. They don't take all of our money, they leave us some to live on, and they don't just take our money, they take money from a whole bunch of other people and put it together, then they redistribute the money so that each poor person gets some. The thing is, by the time they spread all that money around, each poor person doesn't get enough to lift them out of poverty, just enough to help them get by for awhile, but they are still poor. This might work better if there were many more rich people than poor people but, as long as the poor people remain in the majority, it's the old law of diminishing returns.

I don't think there has ever been a time in history when the rich people have out numbered the poor people, which leads us to the concept of the middle class. I don't believe in class distinctions myself, but I don't know what else to call them. Middle income maybe? If we have a strong middle group like that, then they, combined with the rich people might out number the poor people. I have heard politicians of both stripes bemoaning the diminishment of the middle class and, of course, each party blames the other party for it. During each election cycle, candidates from both sides promise us "jobs, jobs, jobs", but where are the jobs? We keep losing good paying "middle class" jobs and, eventually, they are replaced with lower paying "McJobs". These McJobs might be fine for a young kid starting out, but they certainly are no substitute for the good paying jobs that were lost. This trend has continued since the 1970s, and it doesn't seem to matter who is in the White House or which party controls the congress. Unless this tend is reversed, I don't see how we can substantially reduce poverty in this country.

I suppose that hunting is more like golf than any of the other ball sports. While there is a competitive aspect to golf, I believe that, for most golfers, it's more about improving your own score for your own personal satisfaction. Making a bad shot like I did is kind of like a golfer hitting the ball way off into the bushes instead of right down the fairway. As soon as he sees his ball hooking off into the rough, he knows what he did wrong but he can't call his ball back and take the shot over again. Added to that is the idea that this deer is a living creature that doesn't deserve to be abused like that. I know it's hard for a non-hunter to understand how we don't mind killing a deer, but we certainly don't want to torture it. A farmer who slaughters his own livestock would understand it better. He has to kill that cow to be able to eat it, and he raised it for just that purpose, but he doesn't want to cause it any unnecessary pain and suffering, and he certainly doesn't want it running away and dying off in the woods where nobody but the coyotes will get any benefit from it.

Hunting like I do is classified as a sport, not a job, but there's more to it than that. It's something like farming or gardening when you do it as a hobby instead of a career. You put in some effort but, truth be known, Mother Nature does most of the work. Come harvest time, you reap the fruits of your labors, assuming that Mother doesn't throw you a curve. If she does, well, that's all part of the game and you're supposed to take it like a man.

The piano playing fell by the wayside as soon as the spring thaw gave way to regular spring and I could work on my outdoor projects. I knew that would happen, but the keyboard isn't going anywhere, it will still be there whenever I have the time and the inclination to play it some more. It's the same with my guitar, I haven't touched it in years, but it's not hurting anything sitting in my closet. When I've gone on to the Happy Hunting Grounds, somebody else will be playing both of my instruments, or at least storing them in case one of their kids want to take up music. I've got a bunch of guns like that too. Like this old Polish lady used to say, "It's good if you never use it!"