Bitterness Vs. Focusing On The Future

[solutions]

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Subject: Are You Bitter?
From: Solutions
Date: Sat, January 31, 2015 2:35 pm
To: ReadingLiberally-SaltLake@johnkarls.com
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Dear John,

Your Suggested Answers to both the First and Second Short Quizzes and your essay entitled “Tony Reali (GoodMorningAmerica-ESPN) and Lynching Tom Brady” seemed extremely critical of the American news media.

Are you bitter that you devoted more than 14 years of your life to raise funding to provide K-12 tutoring and mentoring for 10 million inner-city children with a guarantee of their college tuition, only to see that funding destroyed by 43 news media superstars, the 21 top national and California politicians, the California judges and the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices?

Your friend,

Solutions


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Subject: Focusing on the Future and The Definition of “Tramp” (noun)
From: ReadingLiberally-SaltLake@johnkarls.com
Date: Sat, January 31, 2015 4:46 pm
To: Solutions
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Dear Solutions,

Thank you very much for your e-mail.

It is true that every penny I would have earned from my activities from August 1997 when I took early retirement from Ernst & Young until October 2011 when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to accept my appeal on behalf of the 10 million inner-city children, was pledged in legally-binding fashion to benefit the education of those 10 million inner-city children.

[That was the intention I had announced to my Ernst & Young partners and to the other 177 sponsors of “I Have A Dream” Programs, many of whom (both partners and sponsors) continued to make contributions to IHAD programs -- courts routinely hold that such contributions from others are the “bargained for” quid pro quo that makes pledges such as mine legally-binding contracts.]

I was/am grateful that two pensions (from Ernst & Young and Texaco) enabled me to make such a financial commitment.

But, no, I am not bitter that the $84 billion that I was owed by the 15 international financial institutions that were sued 2008-2011 was “flushed” down “the segregated toilet” by the 43 new media superstars, the 21 top national and California politicians, the California judges and the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices. [The terminology in quotes was used in correspondence with 51 inner-city clergy who were supporting the cause.]

Of course I am disappointed for the 10 million inner-city children whose lives would have been transformed.

But my final report of 10/5/2011 to the 51 inner-city clergy from San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland who had been supporting the cause to inform them that the U.S. Supreme Court on 10/4/2011 refused to hear our appeal -- (A) thanked them for their efforts with the solace that each of us would be able to say at The Pearly Gates with St. Paul (II Timothy 4:7): “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” and (B) requested them and their congregants to pray for the souls of the 43 news-media superstars, the 21 governmental officials, the California judges and the U.S. Supreme Court Justices.

It is also my responsibility to forgive them and pray for their souls!!!

They will NOT be answering to me on The Final Judgment Day!!!

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Focusing on the Future

Instead of focusing on what could have been, it is much more important to look ahead for new opportunities.

And it has been very gratifying to have such a large number of participants and well-wishers over the last 9 years for our monthly study group!!!

Because everyone has always seemed to be motivated solely by a patriotic love for our country and a civic-minded desire to make recommendations to key decision makers in order to improve it!!!

So what might have seemed like bitterness in the Suggested Answers to the Short Quizzes and the accompanying essay on the national news media, was really no more than a frank assessment of the obstacles that we face in trying to improve our country.

In this regard, you probably noticed in particular Q&A-8 of the Second Short Quiz that said that in my opinion, the American media is the bedrock cause of all of America’s problems, but I don’t know what can be done about the media.

However, that does not mean that I am willing to “throw in the towel” and stop making recommendations!!!

That was the reason why the remainder of the Second Short Quiz was devoted to yet another problem -- the issue of Corporate America’s replacing traditional pension plans with Sec. 401(k) plans, the all-too-obvious horrendous consequences of which have been ignored by the American media.

And I would hope that at our 2/12/2015 meeting, we will decide to launch a Six-Degrees-Of-Separation E-mail Campaign to do something about it.

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The Definition of “Tramp” (noun)

This definition is something to ponder in connection with the issue of the replacement of traditional pension plans with Sec. 401(k) plans.

Because most Americans have no idea how the term came to be.

During the industrialization of Britain in the 1800’s, many people who had left the farms to work in the factories and mines became destitute for a variety of reasons such as ill health, injury, etc.

Most British urban areas had so-called “flop houses” for sheltering such unfortunate people.

But virtually all “flop houses” had a limit of only a few days for which such a person could be sheltered because of the idea that such people should not become dependent on such public charity.

Accordingly, after only a few days in each place, any person unfortunate enough not to be able to work (or, if able-bodied, not to be able to find work) was forced to “tramp” across the countryside to the next urban area with another “flop house” where s/he could stay for another few days.

Such unfortunate people became an all-too-common sight in England during the late 1800’s!!!

So much so that studies showed that they, in fact, were “invisible” to the general population who no longer noticed them!!!

God forbid that such becomes the fate of zillions of Americans who begin to retire in the next few years with, as expected, no retirement savings at all or an inadequate amount saved!!!

America’s callous disregard for the Permanent Under-Caste of our inner cities should already be too much for our consciences to bear!!!

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Thank you for your interest and participation!!!

Your friend,

John K.