Economics, The Monetary System

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7065205277695921912&hl=en

Story

My "big" addiction began in 8th grade. I was fat, as I may have told you earlier, and I wasn't very popular. But I did love technology. My family had recently gotten a Gateway 2000 computer along with dial-up internet access. Boy was that great! I learned so much about computers and the internet. But as I got bored (Google wasn't around then), I went to Altavista and started to search for images of sex. You see, my dad didn't exactly do a good job with "sex-ed", as he always just said, "If you have any questions just ask." Well, how is a 14-year-old boy supposed to be able to formulate questions then have the gumption to go and actually ask them? So I found my answers on the internet and go addicted to pornography. The "hard core" stuff. And so began a 4 1/2 year addiction to images, fake and emotionally empty. Hmm, I think in a way, both of us had (and have!) a desire to be liked and wanted in a group, even if that group is two people. I sought fulfillment of that in a fantasy world of images, while you actually did hang out with people. Perhaps what is most important about this desire is how we act when we are alone- or at least feel that way. Perhaps true wisdom is very rarely seen, as it plays itself out in decisions made in a feeling of emptiness or disconnection. For when such strong feelings arise, it is easy to find the "quick fix" that we already know in our minds will always let us down. So wisdom in that moment, fleeting as it is, displays itself invisibly in the conscious choice to reject the lie of the "quick fix" and to find real companionship and hope (and I'm not talking about the kind of hope most people refer to, or know of for that matter).