54.. Got to Be Some Changes Made

54.

For my own self-protection, I decide I must change some old habits.

I’ve got to stop coming on like “Mr. Nice Guy”. I’ve got to come on like a tough or hard person.

Outside America, and maybe even in America, “niceness” seems to be a sign of weakness and an invitation for trouble. People may take less advantage of me and perhaps give me a little more respect if they fear me a little.

I really hate being hassled by children and that’s exactly what these human animals often are in terms of education and experience. That is certainly an unkind and undemocratic thing for me to say, but it seems true to me today.

These “children” can certainly be useful to leaders who understand their condition—look at the amazing stonework terraces and irrigation projects they have built all over these mountains. The Incas were certainly leaders of great power and vision, but without their direction, these people are lost.

This traveler’s impression, and it may be unfair, but it IS what I see—is that very few people actually WORK here. They are poor, ragged, and if they are the heirs of a great civilization, they have lost the creative spark!

...