David Brooks, "The Credit Illusion": Stunningly Gorgeous Irrelevance

Some seven years ago, we took a new mortgage and added two rooms to our house. Unbeknownst to me, our contractor put a concrete pillar around an existing sewerage line, where a short vertical pipe descends steeply into a more gradually descending horizontal conduit. As we all know - in this case very literally - shit happens, and after 13 years without a problem, roots got into the line encased in the pillar, blocking the flow at this vital junction. What to do? After many sleepless nights considering the problem, I began to burrow under our house, much akin to "The Great Escape." I left instructions with the family that if they should not hear noise from my digging after several minutes, they should dial 911. If memory serves me correctly, my wife made a casual inquiry about my life insurance policy and began to examine Hawaii vacation brochures.

After several days of digging, drilling into concrete, and pondering in the darkness the meaning of life, I gained access to the offending roots and unblocked this artery. The government, society, my forbears, and my youngest son, also locked in the darkness behind a computer screen, did not help me. In this last battle - I will never attempt this again - it was Jeffrey against nature. Just this once, Jeffrey won.

In his latest New York Times op-ed, "The Credit Illusion" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/opinion/brooks-the-credit-illusion.html), David Brooks breaks life down into decades of changing perspective:

"In short, as maturity develops and the perspectives widen, the smaller the power of the individual appears, and the greater the power of those forces flowing through the individual."

This is a magnificent essay written by Brooks, and I could hear in the background Frank Sinatra singing "It Was a Very Good Year." Most of my life, however, continues to be accompanied by the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive," and this isn't going to change anytime soon.

In case you didn't notice, Iran's Ahmadinejad has again called for world forces to annihilate Israel, blaming the Jews for all of mankind's ills during the past 400 years (see: http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=279903). Meanwhile, in Israel, Efraim Halevy, ninth director of Mossad and the 4th head of the Israeli National Security Council, is warning, "If I were an Iranian, I would be very fearful of the next 12 weeks" (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/world/middleeast/in-israel-panetta-warns-iran-on-nuclear-program.html?_r=1&src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Findex.jsonp), whereas Maj.-Gen. (res.) Aharon Ze’evi Farkash, head of Israeli Military Intelligence from 2001 to 2006, does not recommend that Israel attack Iran at this time (see: http://www.jpost.com/Features/FrontLines/Article.aspx?id=279955).

Yeah, I know that Plato was credited with saying, "An unexamined life is not worth living." And David Brooks informs us in his charming opinion piece, "Then in your 50s and 60s, you will become a sociologist, understanding that relationships are more powerful than individuals."

Me at 58? I don't have time for self-examination or sociology as I grow increasing less fond of government, government officials and government officialdom. Keep the change and the credit. I'm still trying to stay alive.