 | Andy Snyder
Founder |
We just saw something nobody had seen for a century or more. It was an honor and a privilege... like shaking hands with a brother who came along centuries before us. Longtime readers know we've embarked on a big project. We bought the neighboring farm and are restoring the old house that sits on it. Someday, we'll use it to tell the story of the land. Before we do, we need to learn that story ourselves. We need to coax it out of the walls and let it be heard. [An entrepreneur's frustration with his daughter's diagnosis could turn his tiny $2,500 solution into a $5 trillion blockbuster. Find out how.] Over the last few days, we removed a section of vinyl siding. Beneath it was a layer of asphalt siding. And beneath that, in a surprise to us, was a dense layer of horsehair plaster. But with a bit of work, we were able to get through it all and reach the original logs. They hadn't been exposed to the light of day in more than a century. There are no nails holding them together. Only precision, hand-cut notches, gravity and a few strategically placed pegs around the windows. The original mud that was used to seal the wide joints was still in place. As we dug it out to replace it with something fresh, we couldn't help but feel connected to the folks who put it there. (Thanks to some friends at the local historical society, we're quite close to putting a name to the ax marks that run up and down the old logs.) What would the builders think of us? Would they scoff at today's materialism, or would they, jaws dropped, want in on the action too? Humans in TimeOur hearts tell us they were simple folks who were happy with what they had. Anything else, their noble spirits pushed aside. But our mind tells us the culture then was no different from how it is now. They surely wanted more. They surely yearned for a better life, just as a child yearns for a toy on a store shelf. We saw the proof as we dug through the rest of the old place. The log walls were never enough. Eventually, they were plastered. When electricity came to town, they were ripped apart so wire could be strung throughout the house. With electricity, a well pump was installed. The plumbing moved indoors. Then asphalt siding. Then phone lines. Then an addition on the back... with another bathroom. Then vinyl siding. Then an addition on the south side... with two more bedrooms and a kitchen that's the size of the original home. A microwave... showers... cable TV. More... more... more. But now a curious dope who wants to know what's behind the walls has come along. He keeps the plumbing and the electricity and even adds air conditioning... but wants to get to the core of the old place. He gets rid of the bad and keeps only what's good. The Great ResetThink through it a bit, and it's obvious what should stay and what should go. The hard work, the hand-hewn, and the slow and steady... it stays. It's lasted 180 years, with plenty more to go. But the cheap and the shoddy... it wore out quickly. The hands of time bullied it into oblivion. There are many ties to investing - what we should be writing you about this morning. This tale shows that evolution is impossible to deny. Markets grow and change as human nature compels us to pursue more and more. Keeping things flat and stable is impossible. It's simply not in us. Neither is a straight line up and to the right. Every once in a while, a full gutting of the joint is warranted. Some bloody-knuckled fella comes in with ambition and a new vision - a great reset. The good stays... the bad goes. It teaches us that the best things, well, they don't come easy. They may be simple - like stacking one log atop another - but they require sweat, finesse and maybe a devoted pal or two. We've been hard on the world lately. We don't like what's going on. There's trouble afoot. It's harming our culture, our nation and our money. But it's okay. We've been here before. Our old friends have reassured us. Sometimes we need to rip out the plaster to see the good that's hidden below. Be well, Andy Want more content like this? | | | |
Andy Snyder | FounderAndy Snyder is the founder of Manward Press, the nation's premier source of unfiltered, unorthodox views on money and what it means for a free society. An American author, investor and serial entrepreneur, Andy cut his teeth at an esteemed financial firm with nearly $100 billion in assets under management. He's been a keynote speaker and panelist at events all over the world, from four-star ballrooms to Capitol hearing rooms. | | |
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