Specialization is for insects!

I'm a firm advocate of self-sufficiency. Yes, it is hard to be self-sufficient in today's society. Not many of us are growing our own food or making our own clothes.

HOWEVER!

That doesn't mean we shouldn't know how.

The good doctor had a fair start to it: "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects!"

I'd change that list a little bit. Here is my fast and dirty list of things everyone should know:
How to raise a child
How to treat other people with respect
How to maintain your car.
How to change a tire.
How to shoot, when to shoot and how clean firearms.
How to build a shelter in whatever terrain you might find yourself in.
How to build a fire without matches or a lighter.
How to plant and tend a garden.
How to preserve food for later use.
What wild foods in your area are safe to eat.
The LD50 of any drugs you have in your house.
How to live within your means (better than just balancing accounts)
How to build a table using only hand tools and glue.
How to fix things that break around your house.
When to fight and when to try and make peace.
That doing "the right thing" is its own reward.
How to kill and clean wild game (yes, fish count, but only under protest)
How to lay brick (or at least repair a loose brick in your house's foundation)
How to write a haiku (I'll give everyone a pass on the sonnet.)
How to perform basic first aid, including treating heat stroke, hypothermia, performing CPR and the Heimlich.
How to sew a button or mend a seam.
How to fix a computer, including how to avoid and remove spyware and viruses.
How to cook a tasty meal. This one /must/ stay on the list.
How to rescue a drowning person. (swimming just isn't enough)
How to work as part of a team
How to work alone
What to do in case of a fire (including how to put out a grease fire)
How to be polite (and why), even to someone you can't stand
How to find clean water in the wilderness
What the traffic rules are and why they apply to everyone (pet peeve)
How to quickly and accurately make change (without a calculator).
How to brew a good cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate.
How to listen (I need more work, here)
How to read and use a map
What to do if you're being mugged
When it is time to put down a beloved pet
How to remove a stain from carpet or an article of clothing
How to say "please", "thank you" and "where is the bathroom" in at least one language besides your native tongue.
How to tell someone they're wrong without being an asshole about it.

And lastly, everyone should know that being a kind, loving person, that someone can trust is the hallmark of being a good human being. Nothing matters more than the impact you have on other people- make it a positive one.

Feel free to add your own.

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Also: what do women want?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25desire-t.html?_r=3&hp

adding to yesterday's list

- how to nurse the sick
- how to buy a thoughtful gift
- when to help
- when to stop helping and let someone stand on their own

All of this likely makes me impossible to live with.

I clicked and old link and found the Enneagram site. These sort of things intrigue me, but I really can't trust them. The whole strengths finder, Myers-Briggs, Ennegram things seem to make sense on certain levels, but when I examine them more, it really just seems like a way to put people into boxes for some corporate exercise.

That doesn't mean they can't entertain me, though.

I seem to test out as a type 8. Rarely I might get a type 1, but I think it is fair to say that while it might still be close if I took the expanded test, odds are good I'd come out an 8.

They're currently showing an expended 8 type there.

http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/extendedsample.asp?flash

So yeah. I'm an INTJ, type 8 Enneagram with the following strengths: Strategic, Command, Learner, Ideation and Input.

I also know that I'm a Scorpio. I have to giggle about that, but only because I remember my ex-wife telling me something along the lines of "Most Scorpios are complete bastards who fear nothing and can't be trusted. They're often murdered in their beds, too."

As the title states, all of this makes me impossible to live with. I should be banished to a small island somewhere and brought out only in case of emergency.

Oh, I'm laughing.