Trying to take out Isis by bombing them from a few high flying aircraft is like trying to destroy a fire ant colony by stomping on it’s nest.
This approach has only really succeeded once – and that was when we resorted to using nuclear weapons at the end of World War II.
There is an old saying that might lead to an alternative approach that might have more promise – Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Within the last few weeks I’ve had the following problem with mechanical devices.
My son says that I am having problems because all my stuff is old.
Except for the the coolant leak, I’m getting replacement parts and doing my own repairs/replacments. I’d probably look the coolant leak, except that I just finished replacing the crankcase gasket on the lawn mower engine, and don’t feel like diving into another engine right now.
I’ve had a lot of issues over the years with the lawn mower which was built in 1994 and would replace it with a new one, except that repairing it is so much less expensive than replacing it. For instance, the crankcase gasket, PTO oil seal, and a welded muffler (which I found was busted when I pulled the engine to repair the crankcase gasket) cost me all of $35 to repair or replace. That wouldn’t even pay the taxes on a new mower.
When I pulled the crankcase cover off, I was expecting to see an engine on it’s last legs, but the internals looked good. Over the last couple of years, it was using a lot of oil, and I was thinking that the rings were going, but now I think that the oil was just leaking out of the crankcase. Now I think that the engine might last a few more years.
I finally read Isaacson’s book on Steve Jobs and got to thinking about his narcissistic behavior. Though living around this sort of person is extremely difficult, he achieved great things. The question I have, was his narcissistic behavior part of what made him so successful or was this behavior something he had to overcome to achieve success?
Here are some other examples of narcissistic people that achieved great things.
Greek King Alexander the Great
Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus
French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte
United States General Stonewall Jackson
United States Entrepreneur Henry Ford
United States General George Patton
United States Entrepreneur Steve Jobs
I’m omitting people that had narcissistic behavior that caused great harm to society, that will be another list.
Can you think of others?