OPS: Other People's Stuff*

December 2004 -- The world is covered with OPS. It is the detritus of thousands of years of human activity. It is the leavings of the billions of people who have lived before us on this planet—the ideas that work hidden in the muck of those that don't, the religions, the political principles, the edicts of kings, and the propositions of tyrants.

Everything in our world is covered with a thick, gooey atmosphere of Other People's Stuff. Everything needed for survival is included in OPS, and most people choose to stay there for their entire lives. It is comfortable in OPS, because the essential work of life—thinking—is taken care of by other people. The OPS rules are such things as: have faith; from

each according to ability, to each according to need; follow the rules; don't make waves; and sit down and hush.

There is good stuff in OPS as well as evil stuff, pertinent stuff as well as irrelevant stuff, important stuff and junk. It is important to each of us to identify, to categorize, all the stuff we encounter in the world of OPS. There are two ways to do this: by acceptance of OPS and by critically examining OPS. We are born into OPS, but we are issued a flashlight at birth, something we call reason. As children we focus it on everything around us, delightfully discovering what things are, how they work, what they do, and asking the perennial question of a searching mind—why? In the atmosphere of OPS, that is not long tolerated. We begin to hear such things as: because I say so, God says, you have to have faith, be quiet, that's just the way it is. Since shining the flashlight is work and almost everyone seems to already have the answers to all of the questions, at some point most people turn off the flashlight of reason and concentrate on getting along. They become a part of the universe of OPS—they accept the other people's stuff because it is easier than examining the other people's stuff.

There are a few, however, who will not turn off the light. They begin looking closely at OPS. It is hard work, thinking, and greatly feared by those who have settled for OPS. But some hardy souls persist in discovery, make independent judgments, and slowly work their way up through the layers of OPS, until they eventually sample the sunshine of excellent life awaiting those who can make it out of the universe of other people's stuff and announce: This is my stuff, and this is why. Unfortunately, the task of getting out of OPS is really tough, and many who make it to the sun arrive with defects acquired along the way. Some are badly crippled by the journey, some are just bent out of shape, some have acquired some personality defects, some have serious psychological problems, and some are just badly beaten up from the journey.

Since thinking is an individual process, it is only individuals who arrive in the sunlight. But they are apt to look around, see the deformities on those around them, and, forgetting the cause of the defects, judge those they see rather harshly. Not a good idea! All of the individuals around those who have escaped OPS have something in common that is far, far more important than that which divides them. By the use of their own minds, they have left OPS behind. So has everyone they see standing in the sunshine. This is not to say that they will agree about anything, or that they are right. It says that they have been using the light of reason and find themselves basking in the sun along with you. This means that they are likely to be of more value to you in your achievement of excellent life than are those content to live in OPS. It seems to me that it is wise to look past the lumps, bumps, and humps—the extra appendages and defense mechanisms acquired while working through OPS—and to investigate at the core the persons who have successfully made it out. You will find diamonds.

*A scatological noun can be substituted at the reader's discretion.

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