My thoughts, hopefully helpful

[klubhammer]

Wisdom learned from personal experience. Maybe there is something of benefit for you in this thread. I have a buddy, who was once worth a lot of money and had all the trappings of money: Wife, family, Mistress, girlfriend, Cars, foreign travel, a life of luxury. He thought he could do no wrong financially and convinced himself and others, of this. I thought he was a genius. What was he doing that I was not, I asked myself? The bottom line, he was willing to get into deep debt. It is very easy to spend other peoples' money. When the World Economy imploded, so too his world. Everything was lost and his delusion was revealed. I analyse all this (and more, untold) and conclude:

* Humans are way to quick to associate wealth with intelligence.

* If you sell your soul to the d'vil, you are soul-less.

* Never doubt your doubts (About anything)

* If it walks like a duck and sqwalks like a duck, it's usually bullsh*t

* Bullsh*ters sell hype. Hype thrives on peoples' Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)

* Bullsh*ters are liars. This is who they are and what they do.

I learned once: What to Beer Companies sell? Obvious answer Beer. In reality, they sell Hype. Beer is sold on the piggyback of hype; sport, occasion, celebration ... BEWARE HYPE

With his fall from heady heights, came a cycle, of the stages of grief for me.

I kid you not .. .. !

How was this guy so stupid?

I wanted to be associated with success and now he was . . lost.

How was I so stupid not to realise he was so stupid?

Why did I suspend my own thinking? (Hypnotic Suspension of Disbelief??)

I wanted the easy route. I hoped he'd open the doors and I'd walk in on his coat-tails.

Resolution: You don't have to be a genius to see where this is going;

Believe in yourself.
Keep it simple.
You have to have your own vision and do your own work.
'Superman' ain't coming. Get your own cape on.
You have to step into the abyss.

I've written this at one sitting. The context, over a 20yr period, in my brain, will not be conveyed in such a short article. I hope you get the gist of what I'm trying to convey. Now that I understand the folly of my own thoughts about others, I see this behaviour everywhere.

Ultimately, "There are more good people in this beautiful World of ours than bad people" (Paraphrase Nelson Mandela) but be very wary of who you listen to and form your own opinions. Thank you.