David A. Hancock
Chester
Look Around: Money Can’t Buy Happiness
To the editor:
The Frank Gruttadauria and Enron sagas should remind us of human vultures—parasites at work. It is quite obvious that these individuals have the disease called “more.” More money, of course. It reminds me of a few enlightening quotes about economics:
“The only thing wealth does for some people is to make them worry about losing it.” (Antoine de Rivarol)
“Poor and content is rich and rich enough.” (Shakespeare)
“$1 million doesn’t always bring happiness. A person with $10 million is no happier than a person with $9 million.” (Unknown)
Ben Franklin expressed the folly in trying to achieve happiness through money: “Money never made a man happy yet nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one.”
Total security based on external possessions is another illusion of life. The people who are striving for security are among the most insecure, and the people who least care about security are the most secure. Emotionally insecure people seek to offset their unpleasant feelings by accumulating great amounts of money as security against attacks on their egos.
People striving for security, by their very nature, are very insecure. They depend on something outside themselves, such as money, spouses, houses, cars, and prestige or security. If they lose all the things they have, they lose themselves because they lose everything on which their identities are based.
If money makes people happy then why didn’t Ivan Boesky, who illegally accumulated more than $100 million through insider trading on Wall Street, stop his illegal actions after accumulating $2 million or $5 million but instead continued accumulating more millions until he got caught (or felt guilty)? Sound familiar?
Why do so many well-paid baseball, football, and basketball players have drug and alcohol and gambling problems? Why do doctors, one of the wealthiest groups of professionals, have one of the highest divorce, suicide, and alcoholism rates of all professionals? Why do the poor give more to charities than the rich? Why do so many rich people get in trouble with the law? Why do so many wealthy people go to see psychiatrists and therapists?
These are just a few warning signs that money doesn’t guarantee happiness.
David A. Hancock
Chesterland
Hancock is a science teacher at Monticello Middle School in Cleveland Heights.
Machiavellian Duplicity
The following morsels are ruminations about West Geauga Board of Education member Michael Kilroy’s school-renewal levy campaign ads published in local newspapers. I don’t intend to be crass.
First, I think Mr. Kilroy’s Smart Board campaign and focus on technology in education reflected positive educational leadership. Also, research on interest rates seems to be positive.
However, I am more concerned about the following attitudes and behavior, ego and power. Many statements reflect some common political demagoguery—e.g., Mr. Kilroy’s iconoclasm and intransigent attitude and opinion about the professional positions of superintendent, former business manager, treasurer, and communications director. He seems to think that these positions should be part-time or share them with other school districts. What?
Many of Mr. Kilroy’s statements and comments are a reflection of Machiavellian duplicity: disguising of true intentions by deception, deceptive words, or actions. Obfuscations—“confusing the issues” or “to make obscure” or “discombobulating.” Prevarications—“to deviate from the truth” or “equivocate.” Verisimilitudes—“the quality or state of appearing to be true or real.”
Confabulations—“fabrications.” Hyperbole—“exaggerations.” Caviling—“to make frivolous objections or raise trivial objections.” Captiousness—“an inclination to find fault, especially in certain people.” Sophistry—“subtle deceptive reasoning or argument.” These are all narcissism traits and characteristics.
Mr. Kilroy has obsessive-compulsive thinking about ranking and test scores. Mark Twain said that “there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics.”
Mr. Kilroy would probably conclude that Chagrin Falls schools have higher test scores than West Geauga because Chagrin Falls spends $11,044 per student, while West Geauga spends $10,461 per student.
*Ron Hill’s Oct. 29 Chagrin Valley Times parody, satire, caricature cartoon in reference to school cuts and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre reflects Mr. Kilroy’s opinion and attitude in regard to school finance-funding perfectly.
In conclusion, Mr. Kilroy should move to Chagrin Falls and run for the board of education. He would probably be much happier. A sense of pernicious elitism? Change the name of West Geauga School District to Kilroy Pro-Bono Online Smart Board Virtual Academy.
I would also remind Mr. Kilroy that he is a board of education member, not a micromanager or pseudovirtual superintendent.
David A. Hancock
Chester
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
FALLACIES OF NEGOTIATION
Some didactic pensive musings and morsels in reference to faculty (teacher-educators) and boards of education administration (which can be Chagrin), equivoque intended.
Words that describe negotiations: animus, miasma, acrimony, narcissism, megalomania, power, ad hominems, Machiavellian duplicity, and atavistic appeals to indulge in autocratic-dictatorial behaviors.
A recent letter in which a graduate supported giving back to Chagrin Falls teachers reminded me of Henry Adams: “A teacher affects eternity—You can never tell where his/her influence stops.”
It seems that teachers do what lawyers do with less pay, harsher judges, and tougher juries.
“The principle of diplomacy-negotiation(s): Give one take twenty” (Mark Twain).
“Conference: A gathering of people who singly can do nothing but together can decide that nothing can be done” (Fred Allen).
“Confirmation bias: I will look at any additional evidence to confirm the opinion to which I have already come” (Lord Molson, British politician).
Reform: “It is essential to the triumph of reform that it should never succeed” (William Hazlitt, English writer).
“If you’re going to fight, don’t let them talk you into negotiating, but if you are going to negotiate, don’t let them talk you into fighting” (A. Lincoln).
“Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate” (John F. Kennedy).
During my thirty-five years as a teacher-educator (1968–2003), all in the Cleveland
