Wednesday, July 7, 2004
[1906 - Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige born in Mobile, Alabama]
Our favorite Uncle has fallen on hard times indeed. Bad enough that his moral leadership is compromised by a falsely justified aggressive assault on a foreigner, and by recent revelations about his shameful abuse of those placed in his care. His profligate spending has put him in serious debt because he continues to indulge his favorite children at the expense of the most needy, and mortgages the future of his family for unnecessary new foreign clothes, vehicles, and gadgets. He has been labeled a poor neighbor who only talks to others when he needs their help, and who litters the landscape with the waste products of his excessive lifestyle, all the while refusing to obey the laws made to protect the environs. His neighbors might forgive him these transgressions if he would forego his holier-than-thou attitude and acknowledge his vices along with his virtues. Instead he behaves like the school yard bully, refusing to acknowledge his addictive behaviors and relying on his superior physical strength and his inherited wealth to coerce his mates and frighten his adversaries.
All this has the family mighty worried, but the thing that really should trouble us has not even been mentioned yet. One notices that his bad temper and autocratic manner have driven off some of the foreign exchange students who used to flock to his mansion and study here at the local schools. Many of them stayed on in the neighborhood and contributed important innovations to his business ventures. If they go elsewhere and hook up with the competition it could create a serious imbalance in intellectual capital to match the current trade deficit. If Uncle doesn't reverse this alarming trend he could lose his competitive edge. Should this happen, he will be in real trouble.
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