What Would Ben Stein Do? E-Book

Ben Stein

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 191

Beschreibung

Why should you let Ben Stein tell you how to live? Who's he to say what's what? The reason you should listen to Ben Stein is, quite simply, he says a lot of smart stuff about many different things. He's the wise old owl perched in a tree, waiting to answer all of your questions about life, marriage, work, and money. Delivered with the dry, honest wit that millions of people have come to know and love, Ben Stein shares his advice on nearly every topic imaginable, from the importance of being a loving spouse to the folly of supply-side economics. Understand the value of punctuality, sleep, and diversification. Let his wisdom guide you in coping with loss, feelings of despair, and national deficits. Stein's experience from Washington to Hollywood--and everywhere in between--makes him an ideal individual to offer guidance to others. His expertise in countless fields substantiates his keen observations on the range of challenges that people face every day. What Would Ben Stein Do? Well, he would read this book. Learn something new and useful from Ben Stein today.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter 1: Marriage: A Big, Big Deal

Shelter from the Storm. . .or Not

Chapter 2: Character Is Your Most Important Product, and Work Is a Life or Death Matter

Chapter 3: Work = Character

Chapter 4: Work Is Not the Same as Looking for Work

Heirs and Getting Real

The Exceptions That Test the Rule

I Meant “Honest” Work

Carefree Student Days

Chapter 5: Personality, No Divas Wanted

And Also No Divas

Love Is the Boss. . .and the Gangster

Chapter 6: Getting Along in Marriage Is Not Easy—It's a Job

How Human Beings Work

No, It Isn't. That's the Way Marriage Doesn't Work

Laugh, Laugh, I Thought I Would Die

Lonely Street

The Breaking Point—and There Is One

Be Careful

The Clock Is Ticking

Chapter 7: Tipping

Chapter 8: Work Is a Gift from God

Chapter 9: The Need to Save Money Is Life or Death

Chapter 10: There Are Few Guarantees

A Firebell in the Night

Chapter 11: Your Beloved Parents

Chapter 12: Does Death Really Come as the End? Maybe Not

Chapter 13: Friendship Is Golden

Chapter 14: Don't Be Late!

To Be Late for Appointments Where You Are Not Paying People for Their Time Is Theft

Chapter 15: Do Not Cross Other People's Borders without Being Invited In

Chapter 16: I Am Just Like You, Only I Am Me

Feelings Come, and Feelings Go, and Feelings Are Not Facts!

Listmania

Chapter 17: You Are Not at the Center of the Universe

Chapter 18: The Next Indicated Action

Eat

Chapter 19: You Are What You Drive

I Love My Cars

A Car as a Mirror

The Hell Machine

Chapter 20: The Absolutely Fastest, Surest Way to Get Rich Quick

Chapter 21: Silence Is Golden

Chapter 22: Gratitude, Revisited

Chapter 23: A Day to Remember

Chapter 24: Save and Beware

Chapter 25: Play It Safe

Chapter 26: Be Nice

Chapter 27: Thoughts on the Economic Morass and How to Get Out of It

Chapter 28: Progress, Not Perfection

Chapter 29: Education—To Read or Not to Read

Chapter 30: The Good Side of Drugs

Chapter 31: To the Tables Down at Mory's

A Better Day

Friends Indeed

The Gates of Eden

Chapter 32: Tax Policy

Chapter 33: Benjyrama

Index

Copyright © 2011 by Ben Stein. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging–in–Publication Data:

Stein, Benjamin, 1944–

What would Ben Stein do?: applying the insights of a modern–day pundit to tackle the challenges of business and life/Ben Stein.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN: 978–1–118–03817–8 (acid–free paper)

ISBN: 978–1–118–17352–7 (ebk)

ISBN: 978–1–118–17350–3 (ebk)

ISBN: 978–1–118–17351–0 (ebk)

1.Life skills–Handbook, manuals, etc.2.Conduct of life–Miscellanea.I.Title.

HQ2037.S73 2011

646.7–dc23 2011029293

10987654321

Chapter 1

Marriage: A Big, Big Deal

For most people in a free society who decide to get married, the most important factors in their lives are who they marry and how the marriage works.

Life is difficult. Out there in the world of commerce or agriculture or law or medicine or bureaucracy or the military, the individual is merely a cog in the machine. Expected to produce so many widgets, attend so many meetings, file so many income tax returns that the way he feels, the kind of mood he's in, all of that is extremely secondary to what he (or she) produces. What his or her output is for the production of the almighty dollar or the almighty spreadsheet is what counts in the real world outside the home. This means that the outside world is cutting you down to size (as the song goes) a fair amount of time. It leaves you feeling like your life is a routine, like you're a number, a brick in the wall (to quote another song). You—as a person, as an individual–do not count for a lot.

Bear in mind, there are exceptions. Some workplaces make you feel good about yourself and care about you as a soulful human being. But as far as I have been able to tell, these kind of professional environments are in the minority. It is great if you can get into one of them, but it's not a standard part of the workday to make the worker feel good.

Shelter from the Storm. . .or Not

However, if your home is a warm, cozy place with a warm, cozy spouse, you have a fortress against the pressures, anger, and cold of the outside world. This is no small thing. If your home is built upon the rock of love and understanding and caring, you have a shelter from the storm. (Forgive me, but I cannot stop myself from paraphrasing songs. Popular music is a major part of my life.)

To be sure, and I don't want to kid you about this, as many, many homes are not warm, cozy places. Instead there are many homes that are Roach Motels of anger, sarcasm, an absence of love, and constant fear of explosions of rage. Still other homes are poisoned pools of estrangement and deviousness.

How do you make sure you have the kind of home that works as a fortress and a Sleep Number bed to keep you comfy all of the time, no matter how badly Mister or Missus Recession blows at the door? How do you make sure you have a home in which you feel protected, and not threatened or bored or mystified by what is going on in there? How do you build that happy home you want?

There Are Two Major Ways

1. Making the right decisions about who you marry.

2. Acting decently and lovingly as a spouse yourself.

These might sound simple. They are in fact incredibly difficult. Let's first take a closer look at making the right decision.

Chapter 2

Character Is Your MostImportant Product, and WorkIs a Life or Death Matter

Basically, choosing a mate of good character is what it's all about in marriage, as in friendships. One immense part of this is that the man or woman in whom you are interested in must be solvent. This does not mean rich; however, it almost always means being employed. One of the most ready ways to discover if a man or woman (a single one, at that) is of good character is whether or not he or she is gainfully employed. If he or she is not employed––is not going off to work each day to earn a purposeful dollar––you generally do not want to marry him (or her). Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, “That surely does not apply in a bad recession, such as we are having right now––2011––as you are writing this, does it, Benjy?”

Yes, I am afraid it still applies. Of course we know that many fine men and women have been laid off and have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. I am well aware of that and my heart breaks for those people. My own dear grandfather was unemployed for many years during the Great Depression; yet he was a fine man. But that was a Great Depression—where there simply was no work to be found. And, as soon as there was any work at all to be had, even difficult work, below the status he had been used to, he took it. We are not in a Great Depression now, and I pray we never will be again. We are in a time when work is exceptionally hard to come by for many people in many areas––but there is still work and in many areas there are labor shortages. (Think any of the major oil and gas and non-ferrous metals extraction states. Think Washington, DC, and environs. Think of the major agricultural regions. Think anywhere the would-be worker is willing to look day and night for a job and take what's available.)

My experience––and I could be wrong––is that if a man or woman really throws himself into it, he or she will find a job, even if it's not the job of his or her dreams.

I keep thinking of my wife's manicurist, who came here from the Far East, could barely speak English, and soon had three jobs keeping her busy around the clock. I keep thinking of my daughter-in-law, an East Indian woman who came to Los Angeles from South Carolina and simply walked her feet raw looking for a job and found one.

Chapter 3

Work = Character

If a potential mate cannot—or worse, does not want to find a job—then this shows, barring some unusual circumstance such as a disability, a potential character problem. I am sure there may be some places in America where even the most assiduous worker will have trouble finding work. But in such situations, the potential mate can move to more prosperous climes, find work, and then ask the potential mate to move. A recession is wickedly bad, but it just is not anywhere near as cruel as a Great Depression and to say it is, by way of an excuse for not working, is a bad sign.

I will say it again: Absent extremely exceptional circumstances, a grown man or woman should be working prior to marriage (and—in most cases—after marriage, as well).

The better potential mate also has been continuously employed. You do not want someone who bounces from job to job every few months. You want someone who makes at least a good faith effort to stay on the job and do his best to be productive and get along with his fellow colleagues. My experience—anecdotal as it might be—is that marriages that last are made up of men and women in jobs they have held for a long time.

This does not mean they have to have had the same job all of their lives; although, that is not a bad thing. My brother-in-law, a successful lawyer in New York City and all-around great guy, has been at the same job since he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1962––which makes close to 50 years as I write this––and he and my sister have been married 48 years. However, having the same position throughout one's entire life is not a strict requirement.

Many fine people have tried several different jobs before they found the one that suited them. Your humble scribe has had many, many, different jobs and still does to this day. But I stay at them for some time and generally make at least a little something of myself in each one. I do not say this to brag; I am merely making a point––that steady work, in my experience, shows a character suited to a productive marriage more than unemployment or bouncing around within the job market, getting fired here, or quitting in a pout there.