EXCLUSIVE TO THE RIGHT OF US

A few days ago I was talking a women I know about our children returning from university for the summer. Our daughter is finishing her thesis but I thought it polite to ask if her son had found a summer job. Oh, she said, he's working for the (town unnamed) Golf and Country Club. It's VERY exclusive.  Imagine that; very exclusive.

I realized I'm not polite- because my first impulse was to think she must be pulling my leg. But her expression revealed she was completely, competitively serious.   Graham you wouldn't think that way if you were a member! Wrong oh wrong. That shite was edcuated out of me when I was a boy; when I had the opportunity to be well schooled. Did you know, some people feel a deep need to display their wealth?  The germans called it schadenfreude- pleasure derived from other persons discomfort. I know we have to dumb it down quite a bit to grasp this process.  The ethos of the capitalist experiment of exploitation is one of ambition and goal directed accumulation of wealth. Modern work is not without criticism but it can be said, before the industrial revolution life was dire for more of us. Having a reliable source of drinking water and food is better than dying. Yet millions are dying while a fewe live lavish lifestyles. I'm not saying wealth isn't without purpose but it's out of control. Bragging about the exclusivity of life and displaying wealth is just tasteless.  There was a time in ancient Rome when hurbis- arrogance, self-importance, egotism-  was outlawed.  The world wide occupy movement voicing concerns about the gap between haves and have nots is today showing us what comes when we tolerate it. It might be an odd version of meritocracy but exclusive? If freemasonry was exclusive would it be of philosophy and ideas or wealth?