No Brainer

I've been hearing that a financial gap between the rich and poor in Japan is widening. Some people suggest taxes on the rich, while others say the lack of proper education is the problem.

I'll tell you what I think. How about you? What do you think?

I think taxing the rich is definitely not the answer. I'm not rich, not even close. I consider myself more along the lines of the poor since I don't own a house, but rent, drive a car that the bank rightfully owns, and have a hard time making ends meet each month. But whether or not I'm rich or poor doesn't matter. I understand that taxing the rich isn't going to solve the problem. Rich people get richer and carry their employees with them as they reinvest what profits they get to bring in more money. If the rich get taxed more, they would in turn cut jobs to compensate for their lost income and raise prices on the products and services they produce. And if they did that, life for many here in Japan where jobs are already hard to find would only become more difficult as prices rise and jobs become even more scarce.

People who have money create jobs. People without money don't.

As for education, it is not the ultimate answer. How many well-educated people are out there without jobs? How many of them don't have a job because they are lazy or lack ambition? Just look at the homeless here in Japan. So many of them are well-educated, proof that education doesn't automatically give everyone what they need to make it in life.

Education, however, is a vital part of our lives. We need it to grow, live and prosper. But education isn't something people only learn in classrooms. Learning starts in the home. Parents for generations have taught their kids vital information to lead good prosperous lives. Parents have been the ones that have taught their kids what they need to make it through life, whether with money or without it. So many people survive life without money and do it well and live happily. Yet, others live just as poor a life and live it down in the dumps because they don't have what others have. Those people either stay there and cry about not having anything or they get their butts in gear and make something out of their lives. But most of those people don't do it on their own. They've had help. They've been taught what it takes in life to just do it. And here in Japan, there are many families like that. But that way of life where parents and children have close bonds is slowly deteriorating.

Way too many parents these days leave all the rearing of their children up to others instead of taking the responsibility on their own. So many families throughout the world go to and from work and when they come home they spend more time trying to make up for lost personal time that they leave out time to spend with the rest of their family, wife and kids. This is a huge factor in a high divorce rate. But I won't get into that right now.

Parents need to spend more time with their kids doing things and teaching them about life instead of leaving it to others. So many kids are brought up by their teachers and fellow students at school instead of mommy and daddy. It's no wonder why so many kids feel lost and don't really know who they are.

So many kids in Japan go to school, spend most of their time out away from the home and then go on to juku before returning home late at night. Instead, kids could be at home early in the afternoon with their mothers, if their fathers are still at work, studying and doing their homework with mom guiding and helping them figure problems out. And after they've gotten their homework done, they could be romping about outside discovering life through what nature that can still be found here in Japan and playing with friends. Then when those kids grow up and begin working, they'll have a healthy outlook on life, feel good about themselves and have a good idea of what they can and cannot do and make a good life for themselves, either as a rich person with money or without it.

Life isn't as hard as many paint it up to be. Money doesn't make a person, people make money and so many have it turned around thinking that if they had money they'd be a whole lot better off.

The gap between the rich and poor is always going to be there, here in Japan and abroad. For people to say there should be no rich or poor, they are in essence saying they want a society where people have no differences. Who in their right mind wants a world of no differences?

Let the rich keep their money. They've earned it. And if they are smart, they'll share it by creating jobs so they can in turn earn more money and more people will rise out of the lower class and bring others with them.

Here's a piece that will open your eyes to reality! Read the following article rewritten by Doug Patton on April 10, 2006. It'll help you realize which direction many people are trying to take the world.

Home Where No One Locks The Door

(Revisited) By Doug Patton April 10, 2006

Nearly four years ago, I wrote a column called "Where No One Locks the Door," wherein I attempted to bring the war on terror down to a very personal level. In rereading it, I realized how timely it was in analyzing the current debate over illegal immigration (particularly border security) so here is an update of that original piece:

Imagine you are a child living with your family in a small town. You have always felt safe there. The crimes of big cities seem distant from your serene world, where no one ever locks the door. Then one night, your next-door neighbors are murdered in their home, which is burned to the ground. Your whole town is terrified. Your parents gather the family together for a reassuring pep talk. "The men who did this will be brought to justice," your parents tell you. "And until they are caught, we will protect you."

You believe them, but the next day you discover that your doors not only remain unlocked; they are standing wide open. You are astonished. Your parents tell you that locking the doors would not be neighborly.

Miraculously, nothing happens for five nights. On the sixth night, you hear a noise downstairs. You wake your parents and follow your father down to the kitchen, where you discover a man rummaging through your trash. Your father opens the refrigerator and tells the man to take what he wants and turn the lights out when he is finished. Amazed, you ask why he doesn't call the police or at least throw this man out and lock the doors. He tells this man meant no harm, and besides, locked doors are not the way in your town. "After all," he says, "we don't want people to hate us." Angry and confused, you go back to bed and listen to the sounds of the man in your family's kitchen.

Over the next fourteen nights, six men wander into the house and take what they want.

One night, you open your eyes to find one of them standing over your bed. In answer to your screams, your father puts his arm around the man and escorts him downstairs to the refrigerator. The next morning your family discovers their home theater system is missing. Your mother sighs and shakes her head, while your father simply shrugs. On the second night of the third week, just before sleep comes, you smell something that sends chills over every inch of your body. Gasoline! This time, you don't wake your father. You reach for the phone and call the sheriff, who arrives just before one of the three men in your living room lights the match. The men are arrested and taken to the county jail, but later you hear that they have been released.

Meanwhile, you learn that the criminal's entire family is living in a house on the other side of town, and that they are all criminals. You ask your father why they haven't been jailed or simply thrown out of your town. He is shocked that you would even suggest such a thing. "Our town has a lot of new strangers who have moved in," he says. "Most of them are good, decent people who don't mean us any harm. Just because they are criminals doesn't mean we shouldn't welcome them here. After all, we were once strangers in this town, too. And don't forget, these folks are doing jobs that people in our town don't want to do." "That's right," your mother chimes in. "Unless you want to start mowing the lawn again, you had better start showing some appreciation for our new neighbors, young man!"

You stare at them and realize that they are serious. Are they losing their minds? Are you? And suddenly you know that life in your town will never be the same again.