Separate Fingers or One Hand

Uh-oh, the philosopher in me is antsy this morning.  It wants to say something.  Okay, so what is it that you want to say?

Every day my curiosity takes me to remarkable websites.  I'm usually out there exploring and hunting for inspiration, motivation, hope, and understanding.  Besides those things, my big game hunt is for the words and metaphors that jump off the screen and punch me right in the nose.  Here's what I mean......

Okay, here we are, imagining one hand held up in front of us.  It appears to have 5 separate fingers...all different, all useful in their own way.  Do you think each finger dreams that it is a separate entity?  Because that is what we, a collage of human beings, think about ourselves.  We think we are separate entities scrambling for placement in an uncaring world.

We are finger one versus finger two versus finger three.  Finger one is better off.  After all, it is carrying a substantial and costly ring.  Finger two has no ring and is a child of poverty.  Fingers three and four have scars, inscribed since childhood, but they have overcome their obstacles to become useful and respected  citizens.  Finger five has power and leverage because it was born a thumb.  All other fingers are jealous of thumb's high rank, but are too polite to let on, and are completely powerless to change the situation anyway.  Finger five likes being the thumb but complains privately that it has to do most of the work.  See?  Nothing's perfect in fingerland.

Okay, so why don't we instead think of ourselves not as separate fingers, but as one hand.  That way we would take the impossible burden of one and turn it into a powerful hand that could give good old-fashioned pinches and slaps.  If we'd use that hand to pinch and slap the right people in high places, then maybe we could put a stop to some of our nation's wrongful spending of American dollars.  If we continue to tolerate all varieties of these new-fangled bail-out practices and passing out subsidies during bountiful times, well, I can look into my crystal ball and accurately foretell where our children and grandchildren will eventually end up on the global totem pole. 

The eye of the Eagle cries.