Aristo! Aristo! A la lanterne!: The Test

Saturday, January 4, 2025

The Test

In our bathroom I maintain shaving gear, a bottle of shampoo, and some sort of bar soap. Some que tips round out the deal, but they are a family commodity.

WIFE, on the other hand, has hundreds of products costing thousands of dollars, and of questionable value overall.

How can I tell what is needed and what it bupkis? I decided I will do The Test.

This year I will tell her we are going away for a long weekend, and there will be a fancy romantic meal or two while we are away together. Then, I'll watch closely to see exactly what she brings along, in the assurance anything left behind is certainly not necessary.

Now, I won't do anything with this information except gloat a little, but it will be interesting nonetheless.

4 comments:

Pigpen51 said...: If you gloat to your wife about this, it has been nice reading your blog. Should we send your widow flowers? lol; January 4, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Carteach said...: I did speak to my wife about this, and she gave me a long lecture on the importance of having the correct left eyebrow shampoo for the winter months.; January 5, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Pigpen51 said...: I hope you are able to fall asleep tonight. It would be great if you wake up tomorrow morning as well. Lol. Have a wonderful week, and best wishes to both you and your lovely bride. It sounds like you have the kind of relationship that most of us desire. She seems like a gem.; January 5, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Carteach said...: I can honestly say I am VERY lucky, and work to earn it every day.; January 5, 2025 at 6:25 PM

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I have this philosophy.... All humans are faced with a choice.

They can become students of human nature, trying to recognize the good and bad within themselves... or they can choose to ignore human nature, and act simply on drives, desires, and instincts. The former is what sets mankind aside from animals, and the latter is to act as an animal.

Making the first choice is harder, more complicated, and creates a difficult path to follow... for it's the basis of knowing right from wrong. There are those who study human nature, and themselves, and actively try to better themselves and do what is right. There are others... people who study human nature, note the flaws inherent to the unthinking herd, and use them as a means to control.

There is no danger greater than the refusal to see, and to think. Doing so leaves one a pawn to anyone awake, aware, and driven to power over others.

Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.