“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin

“If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom. ” Dwight D. Eisenhower

“If money is your hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability.” Henry Ford

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in the future.”  Hellen Keller

My point? Paradoxically, when you feel safe and secure, that is the time to start worrying. I know in my life I have often defaulted to security. In my 20’s, I lost a fair amount of money in an investment scam that included some Illinois senators and many of Chicagoland’s elite. Once burned, twice shy.  I wonder how much being too conservative cost my 401K? Career wise, I was mostly motivated by a better tomorrow and willing to take risks to move ahead. My thoughts were usually, what do I have to do so I can have a better job tomorrow? As noted in earlier sessions, I was probably too future focused and too willing to take on risk. It cost me a pension, long term work relationships, a whole ton of stress, and many hours sending resume’s that could have been spent on any of countless life pursuits.

When you reflected on the role of security in your life, what did you find? How did this affect you? Were you sad at looking at what you didn’t do by playing it safe? Were you wondering what may have been and a bit wonderstruck at the possibilities that still lay ahead for you? If you were not at least a bit melancholy about how safety and security may have led you to suboptimizing your life, then you were not sincere in your considerations. We have all played it safe. It just needs to be moderated.  I propose that failing to see how you are playing it too safe may be even worse than the desire for safety and security itself.

This Week’s Talk

There is so much going on in these few pages of the book and these few minutes of the movie. Scrooge is moving across a variety of scenes and situations with the silent specter.  Scrooge comes to grips that he is seeing what could happen should his life trajectory not change. Wouldn’t that be scary?  I personally love the mystery of tomorrow. Now, writing this, I wonder if what I really like is the ability to avoid confronting where I am heading and instead dream about where I want to be heading.  There is a big difference, usually.  How many of us are truly earnest with ourselves about where we are heading?

Scrooge and the ghost move past several places that are familiar to Scrooge, and travel past people Scrooge recognizes.  Scrooge overhears them talking about someone’s death. He also makes note that he is missing from places where he “should” be. Places where he is normally at this time of day.  As the two travel they come upon a group of men talking about a funeral. The men are discussing someone’s passing and what came of the man’s money.  We are all familiar with the scene.  We know aht shortly Scrooge has to come to grips that he is previewing his own mortality.  Dickens in his mastery, doesn’t just pass through this scene but makes this arguably one of the highlights of the story.  This scene has perhaps the ultimate insult. As Scrooge is listening to the men talk about who is attending the funeral, one of them says “It’s likely to be a cheap funeral.” “For upon my life I don’t know of anybody to go to it. Suppose we make up a party and volunteer?” One of them responds “I don’t mind going if a lunch is provided”.  Now that is an insult to one’s life if I ever heard one. How tragic that at the end of your life, there is nobody to attend to your funeral. Scrooge is observing someone’s mortality and that person has had so little impact on others that nobody will come to his funeral. Not to say good-bye. Not to say thank you. Not to tell others how this person helped them.

This Week’s Assignment

I like the paragraph in the book where Dickens writes “He knew these men, also, perfectly. They were men of business: very wealthy, and of great importance. He had made a point of always of standing well in their esteem: in a business point of view, that is: strictly in a business point of view.”

Who do you know? How well do you really know them? Do you know them personally, are you familiar with their family; do you know where they stand on religion; what are their career aspirations; what are their deepest fears; what are their life goals; where are they in their career; how well do you know their history and their wants for tomorrow? This week’s assignment is straight forward. Think about who you know, and how well you really know them. Want some scary extra credit? Think about who knows you and how well they really know YOU?

See you next week…