When is enough, enough?
Clearly for some, like Conrad Black, it’s never enough.
I probably won’t ever be in a position to know what it feels like to be tempted to push the legal or moral envelope in a situation that would get me absurd amounts of money if I got away with it, but if the end game is what Conrad Black got after a lifetime of work, strategy, risk , scheming , profile and the shameless pursuit of enormous wealth, then I thank the Lord or my family of origin for instilling in me a set of values that taught me there is a joyful enough life to be lived without it.
Those values were no doubt instilled more by default than by design, but they are more in line with the values upheld by Judge Amy St. Eve, who made sure she told Conrad that in her world “nobody was above the law” — not even him, with all of his wealth, all of his high-level friends, all of his lawyers, all of his brains and all of his confidence.
There are lots of musings about how Conrad will cope behind bars. Some think he will write another epic book perhaps about the experience, or how the system ought to be reformed. He thinks it will be boring, but endurable. I can’t think of anything worse!
Conrad Black will no doubt have a library available filled with all kinds of books, perhaps even the ones he wrote about Roosevelt and Tricky Dick Nixon. Maybe he’ll be able to find a copy of Robert Fulghum’s best seller, All I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten. Yes, it would be light reading for Conrad Black, not the kind of stuff that stimulates his mind, but for my money he could learn what millions around the world already know but are reminded about when they read some the main tenants of Fulghum’s book, which are: share everything, play fair, clean up your own mess, be aware of wonder, say your sorry when you hurt somebody, and the most important thing we all learned in kindergarten — don’t take things that aren’t yours!
I have occasionally admired those who claim to have achieved more than most of us, measured by the amount of money they possess and have wondered on occasion why I haven’t pursued the accumulation of more. Today I’m glad I haven’t been afflicted by, or instilled with, the need or the greed, because I like sleeping in my own bed.