The Price of Hubris

The story of the fight between the Morgan Stanley banker and the New York cabbie has been in the papers for two days now. The big shot banker claims the cabbie tried to rob him by inflating the fare from $200 to almost $300. The cabbie claims that was the agreed upon price and that the banker refused to pay it once he got to his mansion in Connecticut. What is clear is that the fight got pretty uggly and the banker stabbed the cabbie in the hand with a penknife when the outraged cabbie started driving him back to the city. What I want to know is why didn't this executive take a company car? These guys can take limousines for crying outloud and they do it all the time. But putting all that aside, why didn't he just pay the fare and complained about the cabbie later? That would have been the smart, sensible thing to do and he's supposed to be the superior intellect here. Yet he showed unbelievable lack of self control and tact by fighting with the cabbie like a fishwife, and by assaulting him with a weapon. The reason for this is simply "hubris." He was the big shot and the other guy only a "lowly cabbie." "How dared he butt heads with me like an equal?" "This worm I could stamp under my feet?" The truth is that the banker showed his dark side and it wasn't a pretty one. Being used to a world where all his needs are fulfilled right away, where underlings do his bidding with no questions asked, he was challenged by the lowest of the low and he simply couldn't take it so he snapped, embarrassing the high brow company he works for, earning himself a a nice little suspension, to say nothing of a terrible reputation, and that might be just the beginning. I suspect that little wild episode is going to cost him plenty, might even lose him his job, as Morgan Stanley does not like this kind of publicity and the cabbie will end up with a nice chunk of change. Lesson learned here? Treat everybody the way you want to be treated. It doesn't matter what you do or how big you get, we're all equal human beings on this earth, and we all deserve respect for what we do for a living.

Death of a Heroic Man

I read a touching, heartbreaking story in the New York Post yesterday. An eighty five year old man and his forty six year old mentally handicapped son, were both found dead in the apartment. The elderly man died of natural causes and they are saying his dependent son died of "neglect." I think it's quite clear that the son died of a broken heart, unable to comprehend why his best friend, his lifeline to the world, was not there to take care of him first thing in the morning. He may have vainly tried to wake him, to bring him back for hours and unable to do so, might have cried and carried on for hours. I think he was unable to process the loss mentally, but emotionally he did, he knew he had lost everything and his heart gave out. Grief killed him, not neglect. One can live without food and water for a long time, but a broken heart has been known to kill very effectively time and time again. In a perfect world, it should have happened the other way around, the old man who was a great father and a wonderful person, should have said goodbye first, but we don't live in a perfect world and at the end his son wasn't spared. Yet as sad as this story is, it's also what the heroic father would have wanted, for his son to follow him right away so he would never have to be just another faceless number in an institution. He loved his son with all his heart and his son loved him. He would have died a slow death in an institution, instead he is now with his father, together for eternity, so sometimes the fates are actually kind. May God bless them both.

Looks like Curtains for Hugo Chavez

Let's face it,the fiery, clownish Venezuelan leader is dying. His aggressive cancer hasn't been stopped and seems to be taking over his body. He gambled with his life by going to Cuba for treatment and he lost the gamble. His love for Cuba and Fidel Castro has blinded him to the reality of that country for decades, and when he got sick, at the most crucial hour of his life, by placing himself in their hands, he only succeeded in shortening his life. He hates the U.S. and would rather die than be treated here but he could have gone to Europe, he could have afforded the best care in the world, and he could have bought himself more time. Instead he entrusted himself to Cuba, refusing to see that he could only get substandard medical care there because Cuba is a poor country and they simply can't afford the latest technology. And now it's only a matter of months, his idol Fidel Castro will surely outlive him and grant him all the honors their life long relationship does require. What will happen to Venezuela after he's gone? Will democracy rise again or is it already too late? It will be interesting to see if his untimely death will finally liberate the contry he almost single-handedly destroyed.

Crime in Bolivia

There is an article in the Huffington Post that crime is growing in Bolivia, and that criminals are now using the popular mini buses people use for everything under the sun as weapons for murder. Right now these criminals are operating mainly out of El Alto, one of the poorest neighborhood in La Paz, Bolivia, but they could move down to the city real soon as more and more people in El Alto become aware of their perfidy. The way they operate is by picking up passengers, charging them their fare and then murdering them for their wallets, credit cards, etc. The article more or less blames poverty for the rise in crime but the real truth is that "The Shining Path criminals from Peru" ("Sendero Luminoso") are responsible for all the horrific crimes that are happening in Bolivia. When Peru cracked down, they fled to Bolivia in droves and have been thriving there ever since, teaching the natives to rob, kill and assault with impunity. Crime in Bolivia before this human vermin fled to our country was practically non existent. The natives were passive and accepting of their circumstances. Now they have learned from the masters and the result is that Bolivia has become very dangerous, with corruption reaching policemen and other members of government. Unfortunately the administration of Evo Morales is soft in crime and long in incompetence so most of these criminals are never caught, but let's put the blame where it really belongs, with the Shining Path criminals, this virulent, malignant group that once terrorized Peru, and let's not blame poverty. Let's put the blame on the administration of Evo Morales for not cracking down and allowing them to flourish, and let's not blame poverty because before the scourge of the Shining Path infiltrated our poor country, Bolivia lived with its poverty without killing anybody.

The High Cost of a Mild Winter

We're probably experiencing the mildest winter ever here in the East and though that may be a good thing in terms of energy costs and not having to deal with the hardships of snow and ice, it's not a good thing in terms of good health. I have never been sicker in my life. I had "hay fever" for the whole month of January and it came with blinding headaches, runny nose and frequent sneezing. And as if that weren't bad enough, in February I developed the meanest, most virulent cold I ever had in my life. It came with an awful sore throat that made me want to scream when I first swallowed in the morning, sending me running to the doctor. He examined me and said "you're suffering from a very bad cold, half of the neighborhood is in my office with this thing because the germs are thriving in this weather and there's nothing to kill them, so don't feel bad because you're not alone." He said to try keeping bed rest and hot liquids for three days and if I felt no improvement by the fourth day to take antibiotics. Unfortunately my throat was better on the fourth day and my voice came back so I assumed I was feeling better but the cold had gone to my chest and I developed bronchitis for the first time in my life, so I quickly filled the antibiotics just a day late, and now I'm hopefully on the mend. But this bout of ill health has thought me a lesson. I will never again complain about the cold, snow and ice, in fact I will welcome a rough winter, because that's the normal course of events, having spring in February is not normal and there's a high price to take.

The flak over Whitney's media coverage

I can't believe the comments from a certain Bill O'Reilly and others like him that we are over glorifying Whitney Houston when she actually killed herself by years of drug abuse and a dissipated existence. Wrong Mr. O'Reilly, we're not celebrating her drug abuse, her disastrous marriage and sending the wrong message as you have openly said on public television. We're celebrating the gift of her voice which made so many people happy. We're celebrating her incredible talent, the fact that her powerful, jubilant voice moved millions all over the world for nearly two decades before her tragic downfall. She was our Edith Piaf, our Billie Holiday and we adored her, so now in death we're taking the full measure of the woman and letting her go in style, the way she deserves. Never mind that she had her demons, that she plunged into darkness with the same velocity with which she rose to fame, that's irrelevant and she paid dearly for her mistakes. But when all is said and done, it's about the music she left us with, that's what the world is honoring this week. Kudos to Chris Christie for recognizing that, I take my hat off to him for having the guts to face criticism from folks like you. And as for you, and others like you, begrudging this tragic woman her rightful place in our world, all I've got to say is open your mind a little bit, don't look at just the surface of things, go deeper and you'll live a happier, fuller life.

The disappointing Grammy Awards

The greatest pop diva of the twentieth century dies and the parties do go on as though nothing of consequence had occurred. The Grammy Awards ceremony was extremely disappointing and shallow. The best part came at the beginning when we saw a snipet of Whitney singing. After that it was downhill all the way, the stupid jokes, the rushed prayers, the uncomfortable allusions, and finally the emotional rendition by Jennifer Hudson which was a case of "too little too late." They should have skipped all the stupid singing and dancing, give out their awards and concentrate on Whitney because the night belonged to her. They should have shown her videos when she was on top and her beautiful voice was unequalled in the world, but no, they went on with their show and on with their party while she laid dead in the hotel. It wasn't only ghoulish, it was disrespectful and inexcusable. Had she fallen so low that they no longer cared that she was once shone brighter than any of them? Her talent was so great that none of the performers there that night came even close to her.