Topband: Windows, Rules and Punishment

[W9UCW@aol.com]

Rules, more rules, windows, mutiple windows,  complications, cops, referrees, 
arbiters, penalties, punishment, banishment,  disqualification... what's 
next? It's the age of "It's not my fault that I'm not  on top, it's that the 
playing field isn't level!"  What a bunch of cry  babies. I have a news flash for 
you....life is NOT fair! And it's not going to  be! That should be obvious by 
watching governing bodies try to legislate  so-called "equality" through laws, 
tax rules and subsidies. 
 
Big deal! If you won every contest and had 400  countries on 160, it would 
still cost you nearly 5 bucks for a special cup of  coffee at Starbucks and no 
one would get out of your way or bow to you on the  street. Get over it, for 
gosh sake. Put together your station, spend what time  and money you can afford 
and be proud of what you accomplish. Face it....  no one else cares what you 
do but you. Do you feel like a lesser person  because someone else spends ten 
times as much money or time and/or lives in a  better radio location than you? 
I doubt it, but if you do, see a therapist  before you try legislate equality.
 
Deregulation makes more sense  than rule making.  No one would have to waste 
time trying to police a set of complicated  statutes that only part of the 
population would follow even if they knew about  them. Everyone would have the 
opportunity to do what is within their own reach  and within their resources. 
Good manners is a matter of self respect and the  reaction of those around us. 
If one doesn't respond to those incentives, no  rules or penalties on earth 
will make it right.
 
I wonder how much how more pleasant the pursuit of DX  contacts would be if 
no entity would publish the countries lists or contest  results. Think about 
it. The problem isn't to be solved by making operating  rules, but by taming 
egos. I suppose that's blasphemy in this age of competition  and self 
determination, not to mention commercial interests,  but if we  could learn to channel 
our need for self-actualization (in Mazlov's words)  to that which we accomplish 
without notoriety, the problem would go away. 
 
If I can say, "Given where I'm located, and what  resources, time, and effort 
I can devote, plus the limit of my  skills, I am proud of what I have done", 
then what do I need with rules that  hamper the more fortunate?  Wasn't it Abe 
Lincoln who said something like  "The poor will not benefit from the 
penalizing of the rich"? That makes sense to  me.
 
73 and best DX, Barry,  W9UCW