@Old Goat,
Old Goat wrote:
Are we talking Australian or US Dollars?
If it's US, then I would prefer to be paid in some kind of bullion, if that's OK.
Bin Ladin would get it; but you do not... The money, even the gold is only good because of the honor behind it, and if you lived some place where honor were really worth something you might realize that fact...The money is supposed to stand for honor which is beyond price, but in our society has come to replace honor, and represent honor... If some one had money in some places the first question asked would be how was it come by... Now it is simply presumed that the money is come by honorably, and no one asks... Yet the down side of this is that no wealth is safe since it is honor, and it comes without questions, and anyone could hold it who could keep it... So, to hold your wealth means forever being on guard, and being on guard against those who are supposed to help you guard your wealth...
You can trust no one any more than others could trust you, and to have this loot in question you already had to prove untrustworthy... Bin Ladin guarded what no man could take from him, and what only he could give up, -something more valuable than life, something that of itself made life possible for all... Having honor takes no honor from anyone, but money to have takes money from all, and where money is dear, honor is cheap... Where honor is dear, money is rare, and where money is rare people are as good as gold, and communities are strong because you must know who you are dealing with, and who has your back, and who will stand fast, and who may cut and run...
The enemy in Pakastan, and Afghanistan was not Bin Ladin, but it is the honor that makes communities possible, and that supports Islam..
One of the reasons it is so expensive is that we are trying to buy what they feel they cannot live without, and very often we only buy the illusion of what we think we have purchaced simply because those people find it so essential... As bad as the place smells we are stinking up the place, and it does not matter if we show up with a boat load of perfume, it is not going to get any better for us... Those people will make their bones taking our lives... If they fight us once and survive they will have shown themselves to be men and all we will be is closer to giving up, and going home...We are trying to buy a moral value with a moral value, that is, with paper dollars that only have their value because people want them, and when their possession means that some one has sold their soul, they will not want them any more...