"Averagely wise a man ought to be,I had a very, very nasty shock the other day as I talked to my brother. He does not know me, as the last time he did I was twenty, and now I'm in my fifties, but the truth is that I do not know him, either. We are forced together by my mother's death, and it is predictably nightmarish. He delivered an opinion in cold calm that I could not imagine from the hottest rage.
never too wise;
for a wise man's heart is seldom cheerful,
if he who owns it is too wise." -- "Sayings of the High One" 55, Poetic Edda
I came to live with my mother eight years ago, partly to take care of her as her emphysema worsened. Initially, she was looking after me, as I made it past suicidal tendencies after losing my job, but I got past those pretty quickly. I passed up job searches and . . . ambition during that time. My brother said that he thought I shouldn't have. As for her health, "I believe actions have consequences. She was an adult. She knew that smoking was going to kill her."
His first principle (consequences) was greater than family, too, so I told him that my religion, if nothing else, forbade such thoughts. I wasn't going to argue, partly because I was too startled, but his statement struck me as so quintessentially the product of a self-deception and a lie (which are different) that I thought it worth exploring. After all, the GOP primary debates had the crowd cheering "Let him die!" While Republican politicians won't quite say "Let the uninsured die," their pundits have said so.
These "actions have consequences" of the "self-reliant" fallacies need destruction. After the break, I'll volunteer my efforts.