I almost said it's been a slow day. That was an hour ago.

Many rants have been passed over during the past month because I haven't had the time to sit and blog.

During lunch today, I spent the time contemplating the greatness of my virtue in not tossing my empty milk bottle into the nearest recycle bin. It's trash and recycling day in this neck of Northern Suburbia, and everybody had their bins out at the curb for pick-up. I decided it would be best not to presume that my waste would be welcome in somebody else's bin.

I believe, with the Randians, that "the moral is the practical" and that by behaving in that way I was indeed behaving morally. I read a debate once between James J. Martin... No, it was S. E. Parker, a Stirnerian egoist, and Robert LeFevre, founder of the Freedom School, in which Mr. Parker asserts that morality is not important, it is expediency that counts. (I'm going to reread the debate right after I finish my point.)
This strikes me as a false dichotomy. I believe that that which works to promote my longterm happiness is moral. My egoist morality kept me from possibly irritating the neighbors around where I take my lunchtime stroll, thus encouraging them to get even with me in some way, perhaps by yelling at me from their window. I walk to enjoy peace, pleasure and exercise, I don't want unpleasantness to intrude. The temptation was strong and I resisted it, but this does not constitute a validation of my morality.

Here, just a minute....