Balance is Natural

It must be worked for. Balance. It may come naturally, but it also comes at a price.


Witness the stock market. Housing prices. The value of money itself. Things are worth so many units of something – money, hours worked, things traded, etc. – based on what people think they are worth at any given moment. Supply and demand enters the equation. Opportunity to use something is part of the equation as well. If I don’t have the time to use or enjoy something, that something has little use or value to me at the moment. I will not buy it. It would be silly to have something I cannot use.


Balance is equilibrium. It is the sharing of space, forces and moment in time, like water seeking its own level, equilibrium happens.


But only for a moment. The market closes. The bank closes for the day. I’m at work and not present to buy your goods or services. Money is held by others someplace on the globe. Normally that money is denominated in US dollars; it is the standard of exchange among most people. Local currencies are used mostly, but in the main, those currencies are worth something expressed in dollars.


The dollar is worth whatever it will buy anywhere in the world. The value of the dollar fluctuates. So do oil, gold, precious gems, art works, an hour of labor, and so forth. Values shift moment by moment. What I think it is worth doesn’t matter unless I’m buying it, paying for it. What I am willing to give up to acquire the other thing, that establishes the value right then. The next person may not care as much as I do for the thing, so they wait fort he price to decline before buying it. The seller then sets the price by giving it up to the buyer for the agreed upon price.


Air, water and soil are not free. We think they are, but they are not. It takes a lot of work to keep water and air safe to consume. Someone has to pay for that effort, that processing, that guarding and supervision function. We the taxpayers of the world pay for that. we know it is not free because we pay for it to be consumable. Land is somewhat like that; however, social constructs allow ‘ownership’ of the land, and thus an artificial value is established for the land for all the reasons of supply, demand and subjective reasons encountered above.

Similarly, the free press is not free.


Balance is natural. It is a must. But finding the balance takes time and effort. That is what makes for value.


The same is true in politics and governance. Notice I say governance, not government. The latter is established order of goods and services provided by taxpayer supported functions. It is provided for in constitutions and laws. Governance, however, is what is thought governing ought to be like, what it includes, and how we acquire it. It is thought, opinion, and process of thinking that derives ideologies.


The balance among all ideologies at any given moment is another form of equilibrium. Black Lives Matter is more important today than it was a few weeks, months or years ago. Oh, it is still of value and important throughout time in a philosophical framework, but it is more timely today, right now.

Public sentiment sees, hears and understands better in this moment why Black Lives Matter is an issue. It is because we allowed the lives of our black brothers and sisters to be degraded and undervalued most of the time in the past, and yes, today. So we struggle to make it right.


In this day and age, we have a chance to get it right. We’ve been here before and let opportunity slip away. But, Pray God, let us not do so again.


Balance. It is ever present. It is always forming. Moment by moment. It changes position and value. But it balances.


This time let it fall squarely on liberty, fairness and equality.


June 21, 2020