Portland Oregon Rose City Blog

As children we were taught or learned among many things, two principals of American life. Americans love a winner and if you try hard you can succeed.

We admire young athletes as they try their best to come out on top. We all know of course that there can only be one winner yet we encourage all to do their best and we console the winner with admiration for their well fought battle and encourage them with a " You'll get um next time ".

If we could look into the future of those young athletes we would see something totally different. Take for example NBA Basketball, those young athletes have developed into finely tuned agile sports figures. Yet as talented as they have become they now can not seem to take a shot without falling down. Why? Because they have learned that they may be awarded a second opportunity to score if they should not complete their shot and if the referee believes they were fouled.

No longer can we admire the pure competitive battle of our young sports figures where the best can compete against the best without the dynamic of the end justifying the means rearing it's ugly head. Our young sports hero's have learned that, cheating is okay as long as you win.

It is not just in sports that we see this. We see this attitude applied to every day life situations all around us. From the car in front of you who cuts you off to make their exit. To the political arena where we see a George Bush and or John McCain making statements one day and then literally a few hours later stating " I never said that ".

We see Senator Clinton tell her story on several occasions of ducking from bullets. Yet the video of the event disproved that story. Time and time again we see or hear of people that we had previously admired only to have that image dashed as their stories of lies begin to unfold all for the end justifying the means.

Folks the End does not justify the means. As a nation we are not getting betterand we will not be the leaders of the free world and admired by many if we continue on this path of deception. Instead we will be known as a nation of liars as we demonstrate daily our willingness to lie for the belief that the end justifies the means.

The former watchdogs of our society, News Organizations are almost useless. They used to report the news and now they have become opinion givers. The competition in their business has gone from one of reporting the news to one of supplying opinions to those unwilling to take the time to formulate their own opinions from the facts given. That of course would take to much time for we are a nation of sound bites.  

News organizations of course are just businesses that are trying to succeed. So if the people are just waiting to be told what to think then why not tell them something that will help the profit of the company?  Why is it when a politician or others are caught in an out and out lie the news entity can only ask why is the story different from the apparent facts? Choosing to stop short of calling the perpetrator an out and out liarand instead leaving the sentence unfinished.

Sadder yet, when news organizations call on their so called Political analysis teams to discuss the merits of a headline, they choose people with diametrically opposed opinions that read from statements written prior to the debate. Calling on an old ploy of politicians, one of offering analysis of a two hour speech with in moments of its completion.

All you need to do is tell them the headline and provide a quick couple of sound bites. They will debate their side vigorously for they are following the same rules. That of the ends justify the means. Win at any cost. As long as we win we are profitable who cares. Meanwhile the entire fabric of our society is in the spin cycle with the flush cycle just moments away.

As Real Estate agent's it is a world of inconsistencies. We live our lives on the straight and narrow while we are surrounded by lies and liars that we then hold up as our champions.

I submit to you. The end does not justify the means.