Marcus Aurelius said that “The object of life is not to find oneself in the majority, but among the sane.” We see many whose preference to be safely in the majority is so strong that they have given up all interest in sanity.
In every area of human endeavor, the insane seem to have taken control. Blinding themselves to the consequences of their thoughts, words, and deeds, they embrace one lunacy after another. Perfect examples are to be found in those structures prefaced by the word “public”.
Public Parks are a mess, embracing far more land than can be taken care of. Public Education is a disaster, with one lie quickly followed by another to justify funding rather than teaching. Public Transportation is a grossly overfunded monster, draining whole states to pay a few thousand unionized bus drivers three times the salary and benefits that would be earned in a private sector job. Public Convention Centers and Sports Arenas are built, one after another, none of them making any money. Public Utilities persist in embracing the most insanely inefficient sources of energy production.
At some point, one wonders if these people are all insane. Slowly, one comes to the conclusion that there is no other explanation for such waste.
The lunacy, of course, is not based on the stupidity of their plans, or their ongoing inevitability of failure. It is based on the fact that they have closed their minds to the possibility that all of us are racing toward final judgment.
True insanity is giving up a eternity of joy for the transitory sops to vanity that may be garnered by cheating one’s neighbor.
