Evil Politicians! Film at 11!

[Henry D. Musikar]

My personal philosophy re happiness vs whatever: bottom line 
happiness. Do I invest doing without a few short-term "mindless 
pleasures" if it looks like a good investment/bet that will pay off 
with satisfaction/hapiness/pleasure/love, whatever, with interest 
plus? Sure. Is it in my daughter's or DCNY's best interest for me to invest 
All my emotional/energy/money (how about that W. Reich?) in them, or 
in "futures?" Course not. 

Gotta remember: it takes individuals to make a village.

DCNY - About 12 more hours! Picture JH's FL... Aw, shucks...

> From:          <LBernier at tribune.com>
> Date:          Thu, 14 Nov 1996 14:47:27 -0600
> Subject:       Re[2]: Evil Politicians! Film at 11!

>      
> Heikki, I think your example, while illustrating some of the more selfish 
> aspects of American individualism, vividly highlights Americans' sense of 
> entitlement and expectation.  In Kramer, it has to do with love, and marriage, 
> and whether there is fulfillment in restricting one's freedom for the greater 
> community.  The moral of the film is that one's own "happiness" is more 
> important than family, or community.  This is, in a nutshell, one of the moral 
> problems we are facing in today's society.  At what point should your own needs 
> by superceded by the needs of the many?  And, how does your expectation of 
> happiness affect this formula as well?  "Do it if it feels good" is an attitude 
> that in the long run is indirectly harmful, even if it is not directly harmful, 
> because you end up with generations who are not willing to sacrifice anything at
> all for someone else's benefit.
> 
> Applied to marriage, if one's expectation is to produce children, provide a 
> stable environment in which they are raised with a mother and father, and 
> perhaps also to enhance financial security by pooling resources, then one could 
> expect to be reasonably happy.  If one also looks at that relationship as an 
> end-all towards spiritual fulfillment - (I like to call this the "We're married 
> and we're best friends" syndrome) then many, many times, one will be 
> disappointed.  You only need to look at the divorce rate in this country to see 
> evidence of that.  This is not to say that marriage is only drudgery, or that 
> love is irrelevant, but you should never expect that one single person will 
> provide for every emotional, intellectual and physical need for the rest of your
> life.  This is why I have many friends (including you all, my electronic ones!) 
> and why I'm grateful I have both parents and a brother.  I also have a wonderful
> lover, who will likely be my husband and father to my children.  I think it 
> would be a terrible burden on him if I truly felt that I needed no other.
> 
> Jean.