If You Ignore This, It Will Become the Most Important Part of Your Life

 

I’ve always had problems with my hips.  Even as a teenager in high school, when training for football, I had to run in fields, etc. – if I ran on hard surfaces, my hip pain would limit my workouts.  I even changed my spin for discus to a new technique that put less strain on my hips.  So I found ways to work around it, but my hips bothered me for years.

Then, at about the age of 40, I injured my right hip.  Then I couldn’t run at all.  So I didn’t.  I would try from time to time, but it never got better, I couldn’t stand the pain, so I just didn’t run.  I went to ortho a few times over the years, but I didn’t have time for the repair, so I just found ways to work around it.  I could work, I was mostly functional, so fine.

I’ve started to put on weight (because I can’t exercise), so I went to ortho again last week.  He told me that I have to fix this:  “Look.  I know you’re busy, and you’d rather not deal with this.  But the hip structure you were born with was not well suited to the sports you played.  Now you’ve got bilateral torn labrums which can’t be fixed, but there’s other stuff we CAN fix.  Or at least improve.  You’ve put this off too long.  You’re only 54.  You’re already having trouble getting out of a chair.  Soon you’ll have problems walking.  You have to fix this.  You can’t just ignore it.  If you try to ignore this any longer, it will become the most important part of your life.  And that’s no way to live.

Which reminded me of a conversation I had with the daughter of a friend of mine recently.  She’s graduating from college soon, and when someone asked what she intended to do after graduation, she said something like, “I want to just live my life, and not waste my time chasing dollars.  There are more important things in life than money.”  Or something like that.

I responded, “Well, ok.  But if you don’t at least consider money in your decisions, then you’ll never have enough money.  And if you don’t have enough money, then money becomes the most important thing in your life.  And that’s no way to live.  If someone ever tells you that money doesn’t matter, what they’re really telling you is that they have enough money.  They’ve taken care of the money part, so they don’t have to worry about it.  You drive a 15-year-old Camry – you’re not rich enough to not care about money yet.  Again, if you don’t have enough money, then money becomes the most important thing in your life.  And that’s no way to live.”

In general, conservatives don’t care much about politics.  We don’t like being told what to do, and we have little interest in telling others what to do.  We believe in personal freedoms, personal responsibility, and limited government.  Such people do not aspire to careers in government.

And we’re paying for it.

Years of neglecting politics have led us to a place where politics is now the most important thing in our lives.  And that’s no way to live.

We tend to lack the busybody gene that would inspire us to run for school board, mayor, president, or congressman.  In fact, many conservatives view the desire to win an election as a disqualifying feature of a candidate.  We don’t want anybody in that job who actually wants that job.  So the majority of the staff of election commissions, city councils, and so on around the country – who do the behind-the-scenes work of government – the vast majority of those positions are filled by those interested in government.

And now, those not interested in government are paying the price.  Government has become the most important thing in our lives.  And that is no way to live.

I’m limping over to physical therapy twice a week.  Maybe my hip will improve.  Ortho says I’ll never run or jump again, but if I can get out of a chair and walk pain-free, I guess I’ll be satisfied.  I hope my friend’s daughter develops an interest in financial responsibility.  We’ll see, I guess.  It might be too late for my hip, but it’s not too late for her.

Is it too late for America?  Or has the neglect of those who love it most already led us past the point of no return?

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  1. Gazpacho Grande' Coolidge
    Gazpacho Grande'
    @ChrisCampion

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: In general, conservatives don’t care much about politics. We don’t like being told what to do, and we have little interest in telling others what to do. We believe in personal freedoms, personal responsibility, and limited government. Such people do not aspire to careers in government.

    No.

    Such people are libertarians, not conservatives.

    No. You need to be more observant.

    In what way?

    Washington, Adams, and Lincoln, for example, aspired to careers in government. Didn’t they? It’s what they did.

    Further, the idea that our country, historically, didn’t like telling others what to do is historically ignorant to an extraordinary degree. We used to have laws outlawing everything from sodomy to adultery to fornication, for example. Divorce was hardly ever permissible. There was harsh social and legal treatment of bastardy, now toned down to illegitimacy, and even the toned-down word is objectionable to the immoral majority these days.

    If you don’t know this, you need to study more. Not the juvenile fantasies of Ayn Rand. Actual American history, to see how people behaved and what laws were on the books.

    No.  Man, you’ve gotta dial back on the false premise.  Washington did not want to president, he fought tooth and nail against it – but saw the need, and filled the gap.  He couldn’t get back to Vernon fast enough.

    Ironically, you telling people to study more is a study in hilarity.

    • #61
  2. Gazpacho Grande' Coolidge
    Gazpacho Grande'
    @ChrisCampion

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Doc,

    This was one of those little masterpieces that come along just a few times a year. Essays that present an idea with such completeness and elegance, that few Comments are likely to add anything. Even this one.

    Why do I comment, then, if I have nothing to add to the Post?

    Because I have something I hope to subtract from the Conversation that follows it.

    Often such a piece will have a peripheral detail about the author’s life that he or she introduced only to help demonstrate the main idea. That concrete detail may trigger in our minds the memory of some similar event in our own lives. I hope we don’t yield to the temptation to detract from the piece, and the thread, by relating these stories that have no relevance to the idea that gave rise to the beautiful piece.

     

    Thanks so much, Mark.

    I’m in a lot of pain, now. Which makes me irritable & easily frustrated. So I’m not responding to comments like I should.

    Or, perhaps, that’s the whole point. Perhaps our neglect has led us to tolerate pain that perhaps we shouldn’t. I’m not sure.

    I refuse to take narcotics. So I guess I’ll just stick with grumpiness.

    Perhaps some Soma would help me. Perhaps it would help all of us.

    Or perhaps grumpiness is what we need.

    I’m not sure. I need to go lie down…

    Really sorry about your condition, Doc.  I hope you can find some kind of relief.

    • #62
  3. Gazpacho Grande' Coolidge
    Gazpacho Grande'
    @ChrisCampion

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    Also, did he really sacrifice his business to do the right thing? I never heard that about him.

    From what I read, he lost 1/3 to 1/2 of his law practice clients. He was well aware that he may have lost enough clients to destroy his practice when he took the case.

    It’s been a long time since I’ve read his biography, but that rang a bell.  His choices made him unpopular in a city not too thrilled with the Brits.

    • #63
  4. Red Herring Coolidge
    Red Herring
    @EHerring

    Gazpacho Grande' (View Comment):

    Finally realized what this was a picture *of*, Doc. From the tiny icon, it always looked like Bon Jovi to me – the hair, basically.

     

    Discus throwing?

    • #64
  5. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Gazpacho Grande' (View Comment):

    Finally realized what this was a picture *of*, Doc. From the tiny icon, it always looked like Bon Jovi to me – the hair, basically.

     

    Yeah – that was the first time I broke my school record in discus.  It’s also a good demonstration of how NOT to throw a discus.  If you’re trying to throw a heavy thing a long way, it’s best to have your feet on the ground.  You don’t have much leverage when you’re flying through the air.  I had great speed, but so-so technique.  I got better over time.

    As for the hair, hey, it was the mid 80’s… 

    • #65
  6. Red Herring Coolidge
    Red Herring
    @EHerring

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    Gazpacho Grande’ (View Comment):

    Finally realized what this was a picture *of*, Doc. From the tiny icon, it always looked like Bon Jovi to me – the hair, basically.

     

    Yeah – that was the first time I broke my school record in discus. It’s also a good demonstration of how NOT to throw a discus. If you’re trying to throw a heavy thing a long way, it’s best to have your feet on the ground. You don’t have much leverage when you’re flying through the air. I had great speed, but so-so technique. I got better over time.

    As for the hair, hey, it was the mid 80’s…

    I remember you mentioned this some time ago, pre Covid. 

     

    • #66
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