Lessons from the 55th Anniversary of Castro's Takeover of Cuba

Happy New Year!

Today marks the 55th anniversary of the abdication of Cuba's President Batista and the assumption to power of Fidel Castro. Rather than recount the actual history here, I'm posting a clip from Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, The Godfather II. Much is going on in the space of three and a half minutes here. But for our purposes, after a quick re-cap of the plot, let's take away some lessons for 2014.

The clock has just struck 12 and the President addresses the rich and powerful party-goers. Michael Corleone tells his brother Fredo to get ready to flee from Cuba with him in an hour. He knows what's about to happen. (He also lets him know that he's found out Fredo betrayed him - a huge revelation as part of the plot of the movie.)  Few suspect what's going on in the outside world, but we're quickly transported to the crowds in the street who are both celebrating the New Year and are welcoming the conquering Castro and his troops. Batista then announces he is abdicating and we see the crowd, first in dribs and drabs, then in a massive rush, head for the exits. Michael tries to entice Fredo to come with him, but Fredo is disoriented by the knowledge that Michael knows what he's done and so he leaves Michael standing by his getaway car. It's now every man for himself.

As you watch the clip, one of the most dramatic moments in the movie, because of all that's going on, here are two things you may want to consider for your New Year:

1) Try to be aware of your surroundings at all times, especially what's going on in the wider world.

When you think about it, we all live in relatively small worlds. We've got our homes, our families and friends, our jobs and - well, add whatever else you've got that makes up your world. If you spend all your time with your head down, without opening up your mind what's going on around you beyond your little world, you risk missing the "big picture." Fortunately, we live in a time when access to information about the world is just about only a click away.

Just beware of the all-too-common belief that spending your life on Facebook or the Internet in general makes you informed and smart. For that you need to develop and apply reason and common sense. If you think it might be of some benefit, you might consider sharpening your ability to think and thereby understand all that information you can access in a heartbeat. Any idiot can point, click, type and talk. Take some time to sharpen your mind and it's reasoning powers.

2) Beware those who would "redistribute" wealth for the benefit of the needy.

As you watch the Cuban crowds looting and destroying, remember that the promise of people like Castro who would redistribute wealth by taking from the rich for the benefit of the needy or poor have been proven to be at best delusional, at worst, outright manipulative liars. In this case, fifty-five years of Castro's communist government speaks for itself. Socialism doesn't work.


While capitalism has its own serous problems, socialism has proven a far worse alternative, over and over again. If you're one who believes our society really has developed along the lines of A Tale of Two Cities, as the City of New York's new mayor continually claims, I don't say you're wrong. I just say that the solution - or more accurately the wrong solution - usually makes things far worse.

Watch the clip and think about all this. Then remember that every New Year brings with it a good dose of hope for a better future, for those of us who understand that hope springs from an understanding of the True, the Good and the Beautiful, and the will to pursue these despite whatever the world might dish out.

Enjoy the clip. Oh, and once more,

Happy New Year!