Category Archives: Social

Just Die

Commentary Political Social No Comments

 

We are a caring nation, yes?

Our private citizens and companies give generously to many charities. We love to help.

Our communities reach out to help those in need. At least they used to. That help now comes quite often from outside of the community and is funded by those who do not know Mrs. Jones around the corner or Mr. Jensen down the road a piece.

When I was growing up the folks who needed help in some way, shape, or form got it first and foremost from the family, many of whom were still nearby if not right in the home itself. Those that had, gave; those that could, helped; those with blood ties, cared and helped and gave. It was a beautiful system that complemented the role of the limited, local government. The only time you dealt with the bigger guys was during elections, at tax time, and perhaps with a visit to the DMV.

Sometimes we had older folks who had no children nearby any longer or perhaps had lost their only son to the war or some other calamity. They had lived there forever and everyone knew them.   And whether they were liked or not, when they needed help they could turn to the church and the groups sponsored by the church or some other caring and giving organization.

There always seemed to be someone or some group or some institution that could and did help out when the family could not or, less likely, did not. It was a beautiful system.

And what did they help with? Family counseling, family planning, hospice, food, home maintenance, rides to and from the store or church, recovery from an accident or illness, watching young children for an hour or two before or after school, maybe with some mentoring for kids in trouble… The problems that received local help and the ways in which the help was given were innumerable. Family and neighbors and parishioners loved to help. Even if it didn’t directly get your soul into heaven it sure as hell nudged your heart and mind into a better place.

You just did and gave what you could. Communities helped and since they were already organized there was no need for that.

Activism was not required to elicit results and aid to those truly in need.

No organization, no activism, just good old fashion giving-a-damn and doing something to help. Anything.

A beautiful system once upon an older time.

Now, neighbors do not often know each other, at least not very well, and much less local help is requested or given. Families are scattered about the country and are unable to provide any assistance. So help is provided from afar. A simple and a new system.

But what is provided is provided from those who have no choice and have no ties to those who receive. That used to be okay, for example, when we used to give (freely!) to organizations that provided, say, medical aid to poor countries around the world. We kind of knew where our bucks were headed. Nowadays we do not have that freedom of choice and we have no direct connection to those who we are purported to be helping.  Nowadays we just provide the money and resources to the middle man. And after they take their cut then some of what is left may find its way to some who need it.

Or maybe not.

What do we support with this tithe to the middle man?

Oh let’s see some. Free phones. Endless compensation for those who can work but choose not to do so. Endless compensation for those who have kids they cannot afford to have and then have more. Free food for those who look like they have not missed too many meals. Free contraceptives. Services that no one really even needs but take nonetheless. Housing for those who do not even live here and have entered outside the law. Reduced or free transportation. Free college for those who will never do anything with it. Grants to universities for doing research that has no purpose and no direction other than to perpetuate such similar largesse. Subsidies for utilities to those who should be providing that themselves. Cheap or even free abortions. Subsidies to huge corporations who are in political favor (and then enter into political control).   I tire of even thinking on this endless list. And it is endless but still grows. One more though- healthcare.

I mean, why not?

So what would be a good plan?

How about this. You take what used to be- the family, the church, the close-knit, long-term community and you abolish it, demean it, erase it, degrade it, destroy it, eliminate it completely.

But wait, aren’t the same things that the individual really (and I mean really) needs still needed?

Why yes they are. And there is just the right and convenient solution- the government can provide.

And if the simple staples and needs of life are not enough then provide some more. Provide so much that the person receiving has no desire to change things and has every fear that it will be taken away.

What was a hand up, a limited offer so that you can help yourself to get back to where you should be, to where you want to be because of how you grew up, because of what you were taught all along, has now become a hand out. Free, free, and more free. That is the new freedom in our country.

Well, not quite completely free. While receiving with your right hand you simply give with your left. A simple vote is all it takes. Vote for and you get to keep; vote against or not at all then you will lose all that you have been trained to expect, all that keeps you alive and well all that your ever-growing government has given to you. Don’t even think of leaving the plantation.

What a plan.

Oh, and just to make sure the leverage is complete, just take control of healthcare. Nothing more controlling than that next to air and food I suppose.

And certainly none of that could ever, would ever, be taken away.

Right?

Only if they decide to do it. When they have grown so large and so controlling that they no longer need your vote. The family, the church, the local community cared from the heart. Does your government do the same?

Later on they may decide who will be born, perhaps even the genetics of those allowed to be born.

For now they are content in moving swiftly to decide how you will live.

And, oh yeah, who will die.

America in Fading

Commentary Social No Comments

 

I stood in line at McDonalds last night. I wanted a simple wrap and iced tea.

It was one of those Macs attached to a gas station and that is usually a bad sign.

I counted at least seven employees including the very large and slovenly (sorry, but she was both) manager and quickly noticed the disorder, disarray, and rather disgusting filth behind the counter. Granted, space was tight, but the view was one I am much more accustomed to seeing at, well, a Burger King.

I also noted that this particular establishment did not have any foreign-looking or foreign-sounding employees as is the case often. They was all home-growed (except for maybe the younger girl on the grill).

My bill was a bit over five bucks and I handed over a twenty. I usually use plastic as it is quicker and easier for me. The girl who took my order also took the twenty and opened the cash drawer.   She said she needed singles and mentioned this to another employee who went toward the back (to get the singles I assumed). So I waited for what should only be a moment or two. Right?

Next I stepped aside so that the girl at the register could take the next order. As I watched I could not help but listen to the two “ladies” behind me.

“So he said ‘fuck it’” the one said in only slightly hushed tones. “So I called and couldn’t believe it. He said ‘f u’ and hung up.” And so the adult conversation proceeded along similar lines.

I took a quick glance and, sure enough, the attire matched the vernacular. Is it the same to pre-judge and assume how someone is going to talk based upon the way they look as it is to pre-judge how someone is going to look based upon the way they talk? In any event, the pre-judgments lined up fairly well in my biased, prejudiced, profiling mind.

Both were dressed for the cooler weather else I was sure I would have noted some classy tats as well.

Meanwhile it was getting on toward several minutes having ticked away and no one had returned with singles for the cash drawer. The girl at the register neither went to look for the lost courier nor managed to take the next order which was, of course, the lovely ladies in line behind me.

“Do you need singles?” asked the more neatly-attired one of the two ladies. “How many do you need?”

“That’s okay, I need more for my drawer” responded the friendly though clueless employee as she seemingly managed to guess that the lady was offering to trade singles for a larger bill. Y’know, just to get things moving along.

During this I noted how many people were waiting for their orders. I also noted as the large manager ambled out and seemed intent on locating some missing keys while all the world about her screamed chaos. Good manager, thinks I. Wonder what I could do in my sleep to improve this franchise.

Still no change. Still the ladies chatted but now more about the fact that no one was taking their order. Not sure if they f-bombed the order talk or not.

About then I got my iced tea! I expected my wrap to be out at any minute so left the tea on the counter. I had ordered the chicken grilled after all and I know that usually takes a little longer than crispying it up.

Now it is past five minutes (that’s 300 seconds) since I placed my complicated order. I looked at the clock and while I was sure when I entered the place that I would have ample time to make it back to the field and my son’s baseball game I was then beginning to get a bit concerned.

Finally the manager seems to rouse from her hibernation and goes to help retrieve the George Washingtons so badly needed at the only manned register (of the three there). Seven employees- two are cooking, one standing helplessly and hopelessly at her open-drawer register, one working the drive through, and one delivering overdue orders to the many people waiting around. This is good, thinks I.

Back ambles the manager with the bills! Hurray! thinks I. She takes care of the money-hungry cash drawer while finally (!) asking if the register girl had taken the next order. When the girl cheerfully responds in the negative and mumbles some excuse as to why not the manager, obviously a top-notch trainer of men and women alike, mumbles something in return. Mumbling before me; f-bombing back behind. Caught in the middle is I.

So now the society women behind me can finally place their (rather large) order. Hurray for them! And I finally have my change- after they re-figure it that is. So hurray as well for me!

I also now see the manager ambling back (did I mention that she really should have worked a bit more on tucking in her greasy shirt?) to the counter to check on orders.

During this the sweet-looking young drive-through girl comes over to make a shake. She grabs a can of whipped cream and fills up the cup nicely though I did note how there was less shake and more cream. Cost-cutting there Mr. Big Mac? Anyhow, she jams the can of whipper, upside down, back into the quite filthy plastic receptacle that it came from. Though she tries carefully the angle at which she is forced to tong and retrieve a cherry is a bad one and she manages to drop a couple into some receptacle on a lower shelf. Wonder what is in there, I wonders. Cherries no doubt, I responds.

Oh oh oh. Did I mention that while waiting for my change a woman had returned to the counter and asked for some ketchup for her to-go order? Well she did and register girl obliges generously and dumps maybe twenty packets into the opened bag. I’m thinking it might have been better for her to offer 3-4 packets, confirm that that was enough, and then handed them to the woman but I guess burying the defenseless fries, in the bag, in unopened ketchup packets was the training she received. I suppose it was a better approach then pumping a bunch of ketchup from a large bottle directly into the customer’s bag. Not my problem I realizes but, notes I, the stone-faced customer receives the Halloween-like dumpage of ketchup packets into her bag without comment and turns and leaves without a word and, quite possibly, without much of a pulse. Kinda reminds me of Charlie Brown getting a bunch of rocks with the only difference being the missing “thank you (for blindly dumping an avalanche of unopened ketchup packets into my bag, register girl).”

Correction. I cannot absolutely say that I know for sure that all of the packets were unopened.

Where was I? (Sorry, longer story than I remembered).

Oh yeah.

So I finally (!) see a wrap get passed to the front from the back and the manager takes it and places it on a tray. Yikes go I. Did I mention I had ordered it to go?

Oh, I forgot. As I was calmly surveying all of this action, or, rather, inaction, I took a welcomed sip of my iced tea through the straw. (By the way, why was there a straw in it already? I don’t want to think of the possibilities…) And guess what? It was sweet tea!

Did I mention I had ordered my now no longer welcomed iced tea to be UNsweetened?

So over comes my wrap and I have to tell the manager that my order was to-go. With a somewhat frustrated, but also resigned, look on her face she turns and goes to lose the tray and get a bag.

Somewhere in here I told the manager about the tea. She starts to look a bit unhappy as if maybe I am causing too many problems for her.

So she returns to the counter with the bag but just as she hands it to me someone must have said something because, without a word to me, and as my empty hand reached out, she turns and leaves the frickin’ counter! (That one is for you, classy ladies). She goes back to the “prep area” (?) and takes the wrap OUT of the bag, to look at it. She places it back in the bag and then walks it over to some waiting, starving customer and what seemed a minor apology. Or maybe she just burped.

“Check your drink!” I wanted to yell to the customer.

But of course I was better behaved than that because my mama taught me some manners that stuck.

Miss manager returns to the prep area and tells the kitchen folk that she needs another wrap and explains what kind she needs. Still no word to me.

Seems like it must be going on about half an hour by now, eh wot? Seemed that way to me too but we were probably just over ten minutes at this point. Be patient, advises I to myself.

Register girl is back to taking orders- from the person now AFTER the classy ladies.

At around this point Miss Manager ambles over with my new and improved iced tea! After she confirms that it is unsweetened and that it is for me (could she have forgotten me so soon? Guess I should learn to raise more of a fuss in such situations- y’know, to gets remembered). No need to worry that her greasy shirt or likely dirty hands would touch my new and improved straw because this time there was no straw! New, improved, wrapped, or unwrapped. None. I mumble something and then just reach over to my old and unwanted sweetened tea which was never removed from the counter and retrieve my old straw. I jam it into my new and improved iced tea as if I am stabbing something. Or someone.

I notice at this time that another customer, a pleasant-looking chap in his twenties, is standing back and looking on to the scene with a look that is hard to describe. Not smiling, but maybe thinking he should. The shorter and less-better-dressed of the classy ladies now engages me in conversation as I relate the series of events to her and, also, as I am not speaking softly, to the obvious interest of the pleasant-looking young man who is waiting to either deliver or receive his order. Though gruff and without a ton of oratorical class she does seem a bit sympathetic. That is until they bring out here and her friend’s food on a tray. Looks good. Smells good. And poof she is off.

“Enjoy your meal” I offer to the contrail. This time pleasant-man manages a wry smile.

Where are we at- maybe twelve or more minutes now? Game starts real, real soon folks!

Let’s see- got my change and got the real deal iced tea, with a straw. Now just need my food.

So then lo and beholden before I know what happens the wrap is finally done, handed over, bagged and given to me with nary a word- no apology, no excuse, no “have a happy life”, no “thank you sir, please do visit us again.” Nothin. They just move on to their next adventure with their next victim, er, customer.

I leave but not without one final contact. Outside of the fine establishment I note the better-dressed classy lassie on her cell phone, still issuing stinging invectives to whoever is fortunate to be on the other end of the wireless.

Oh, and I almost get run over by the Big Mac 18-wheeler as it barrels through the tiny parking lot and then, as I enjoy my tasty wrap, a good bit of it squishes out and lands on my pants. Oh yeah, it is time to get to the game with my attitude damaged but not destroyed. Same story for my jeans.

So there it is, a snapshot of America and what we have become or are continuing to become.

The service, the attentiveness, the self-respectful attire, the cultured language and communication skills, the civility, the general state of things that are as they are or are all too soon becoming.

It’s a fade route and then the final tally to lock down the final score.

Game over man. We lost.

Try This…

Commentary Political Social No Comments

 

Ok ok ok ok. So you don’t really know much about politics, or how our government is supposed to work (versus how it is actually operating), or about any of the key issues (like our debt, taxes, immigration, foreign affairs, etc), or you just simply want to spend the time to deal with any of that crap…

Ever felt that way? Ever said that?

“Doesn’t matter who I vote for they’re all crooks.” Really? Is that just an easy or lazy response?

“Oh, I don’t pay much attention to any of that stuff. I don’t have time.” Do you have time to watch TV or surf the Net, or go shopping, or tend to your garden, or check endlessly check your phone, or walk your dog…?

“I’m not smart enough to understand any of that.” Maybe you should raise your opinion of yourself.

“Oh, my husband worries about all of that; I just worry about the kids.” Better think about your kid’s future because THAT is in serious jeopardy.

“I haven’t voted in years.” Then shame on you- it is one of the few civic duties that you have. Paying taxes is another. You do one but not the other right?

“They’re gonna do what they want anyhow.” Before too long you may be right but maybe there is still time to stop them. Lay down for a fight and you are guaranteed to lose.

Just stop and listen to yourself. This is your country and your community and your home and your school and your family. This is YOUR life. So how about diverting a few minutes a day to getting smarter and getting active?

You should first learn the Constitution- read it; it really doesn’t take that long. Read it with your family. Read it out loud and discuss it. Bask in its simple brilliance.

Next, read some real history. Find a good book that honestly covers the history of our country. It doesn’t have to be a huge or complicated book but should honestly cover our whole history.

Get some news feeds from honest sources. Get them from multiple sources as a way to “double check”.

Talk to people about what is going on, what you like and don’t like. Join a civic group or two if you can.

Learn more about the issues that really matter- to you, your children, to your community. Decide where your opinion falls and fight for what you think is right.

Look at your moral and cultural foundations and decide if you like the way things are going. Be real, be honest.

Ask yourself “am I happy with the way things are?” And also ask yourself “am I doing my best to make the most of the life that has been given to me or am I just getting along or even living off of someone else’s wallet.”

Get real. Stop being lazy and stop being stupid. Stop looking the other way and dismissing everything as not being your problem because the funny thing with problems is that the more you try to avoid them the more they have a tendency to find you. And bury you.

Don’t let that happen to you. Wise up and rise up and be counted…maybe for the first time ever in your life.

Freedomerica

Commentary Political Social No Comments

 

It is Thursday and a brand new day in wonderfully brand new world…or at least a country.

It must have been very hard back in the early days, the days when the fight was so very young and vital. I think now to our heroes then, the men and women who struggled so mightily and tirelessly to bring about the change that since then has so brilliantly defined us.

Back then, the few freedoms gained were then held at such a cost. Then so many more secured and, in the end, perpetuated. There seems in these days of victory surprisingly little that remains to secure. We are now indeed free.

Certainly before our heroes were able to achieve there was struggle- at first for the equal rights for women and then later for the equal rights regardless of color or race.   But these were long struggles and ones that many felt were simply overlooked or perhaps sidestepped in the original and outdated constitution of that place. Many said it was due to necessity or perhaps expediency for the need to get things in place but we have always felt that a poor excuse. And so very much was ignored…but not for long.

Things came quicker then.

The right to clean air and a healthy earth. The right for renewable energy sources that do not rape or pollute our kind host. The right for certain religious freedoms for some and the freedom of certain religious restrictions for others. It has been about balance when necessary I suppose.

Perhaps the defining original freedom then became the right to love whoever I choose and to secure that right with the implied bonds of the legally recognized commitment known as marriage. The need for that old institution has of course fallen by the wayside but the right to love or couple with whomever and whatever I so choose had been so fundamentally at the base of our continued progression. It may be restricted at times for health reasons but this is clearly sensible.

And with that expression came also the right to healthcare as defined and administered by our selected government officials and proper agencies. No longer did we have to burden ourselves with the need to choose what was best for us- we are free to have these others choose.

And it is really unnecessary to say that the rights as defined by our founders, especially of course Wilson, Roosevelt, Clinton, Obama and, yes, even Johnson, are now as much a part of our social fabric as is the right to select our wards. A place to live with some food to eat. There was, for a while, those rights to work and gain a sponsored education but it was necessary to deem these unnecessary and free us all to pursue our dreams. No bonds, no worries.

And the freedom from those horrible guns. It is so very reassuring now to know that only the appointed are allowed to be armed. We are all now guaranteed the freedom from worry that we will be shot except in the cases, of course, where it is warranted by decree. And as an added benefit of course comes the reduction of the need for courts and prisons and also from the need to actually formally sentence anyone to death. The decree frees us from such worry.

All that is needed is now provided. And it has been so efficient that what is needed is pre-decided. We no longer have that burden to bear.

There are those who have tried to warn against the system, to misrepresent the situation as “unsustainable; the money will simply have to run out” but they conveniently ignore the fact that the goal has always been to eliminate the need for money. All will be provided and all that is needed is indeed provided. Except of course in the times of shortage. And they might say that those times are occurring more often but, again, they would ignore the fact that the goal is always to eliminate the shortages. There is always a bottom to be gotten to.

But that is truly no matter for the ability to express such lies has been replaced with the right to state the truths as outlined in the annul revisions to the charter.

And those who continue their attempts to speak lies against such truths are justifiably removed. I am sure that the removal is backed by words somewhere but I cannot recall at present where that is recorded but it is certain that it is. That much we have been told.

Life is now so free. Without borders there are no restrictions except in those places which have not yet agreed to remove their own borders. Some have said that those “countries” have gained tremendous power and pose an extreme threat to the world order as seen by those selected but those selected wisely ignore such imagined threats and, here as well, those who speak to the contrary have been removed.

We are now so free. No longer do we have to worry about elections or any such old rituals. The wise have been selected and the wise then select the more wise. It is a beautiful system and should have been implemented so long ago.

We are free and have no worries. We can pursue all that we wish to pursue with the things deemed as needed now provided. We can pursue all that we wish as long as it is not disallowed.

And all that is not disallowed is of course allowed. How can a provided right to such freedom ever be seen as anything but a wonderful thing?

Time Left for Man

Commentary Social No Comments

Utash, Hughes, Jackson & Sharpton

 

I know that the world is changing.  I can feel it and I can see it.  It reveals itself in so many stories from so many sources.  It is inescapable.

I know that the world is changing and I am not smart enough to know into what exactly though it is likely not very good.  I’m not sure that I would want to know even if I could.  Would you?

I see and feel that the world is changing and I know that I am no longer young enough to do much about it.

But is that really true?

I believe that there is a certain amount of goodness and a certain amount of badness in this world.  I call it badness because as a counter to evil the word “good” just doesn’t seem to cut it.  But I believe there are finite amounts of each at any given moment and that while it can be changed it cannot be changed all that much in a short amount of time.  The armies are massed and the battle lines drawn.  The outcome is not necessarily a given though.

Or is it?

I believe that in this day and age the dark forces have been emboldened and are stepping en masse out from the shadows.  And with that stepping out, the forces for good have stepped back in.  The balance has shifted and it has not shifted in our favor my friends.

Doubt this?  Okay.  But rather than attempt to list the reasons why I am right can you simply give me the reasons why I am not?  Please, I’m listening.

Too many good people have just given up.  They have either been worn down or exhausted or just don’t care much anymore.  And with each ounce of good that retreats more than an ounce of bad advances.  I believe that.  Just look at a mob beating as it serves as an easily accessible reminder that you can view more and more often these days.

Just look at what happened to Steve Utash.

Someone who is a better position to provide a comment on what happened has to tell me what that man did to deserve the beating that he received.  In fact, when does anyone deserve such a beating?  And our present and supposed forces for good would, hell, do, openly, loudly, and repeatedly decry such things like the evils of our advanced interrogation techniques and label them disgustedly as torture.  On this other thing though they remain silent.

It is not a black on black crime.

It is not a Latino on Latino crime.

It is not a Latino on black crime.

It is not a black on Latino crime.

It is not a white on black crime.

It is not any of these that receive at least some media coverage, some liberal outrage, or some street marches as led by the spectres portrayed by those long-time players Jackson and Sharpton.

Where, oh where, are those good right reverends in this case?

Silent.  Back in the shadows.  Bad rarely advances to confront bad in cases such as this.

No, this is a simple crime of black on white.  Many blacks on one white.  And no matter what the supposed reason for the reaction it is clear that what happened was an accident and in the process of trying to do the right thing this white man was savagely attacked and is now in a coma.

While there may have been high emotions due to the fact that a young boy was hit by a truck, accidentally, and the group of thugs (can I say that without being considered racist?…okay, so I will call them assailants instead, is that okay?) is it true to say that the man driving the truck was beaten simply because of the color of his skin?

There are different colors of skin in the world are there not?  Or does white skin only count when it is reported as being on the wrong or presently unpopular side of the issue?

If you disagree then that is your right of course.  And you are more than likely a racist in the full and horrible true fashion of the word.  Hate is hate.  Bad is bad.  Wrong is wrong.  Evil is evil.  Don’t matter where; don’t matter who.

So into the midst of all this madness, hatred, and racism steps an older black woman.  And this brave and courageous woman manages somehow to stop the beating.  There are almost no words that can describe my own personal admiration for this woman.  I don’t know what she thinks of white people but I see what she thinks of human beings.

The armies are massed and the battle lines drawn.  From out of the shadows emerges both good and bad, in constant battle for control of this world.  It is bad, it is indeed evil, that is the bolder and lately much more prevalent of the two forces.  And it is winning, I fear, and the good is in retreat.

I read a good bit of history and realize that battles, and ultimately wars themselves, can turn on a single event, can change with the heroic or simple but timely action of the few; or just the one.

How much time there is left for man may well depend on such courage and actions as exhibited by one solitary woman.  I wonder though just how many more of Deborah Hughes’ make-up and mettle are out there, out of the shadows and into the light.  Woman or man.  Black or white.  Rich or poor.  Tall or short, fat or thin, young or old- Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist…   Human.

I wonder.

For Him Who Done Did It

Political Social No Comments

Was It You?

And who, may I ask, is responsible for this?

You might hear the question but I would be willing to bet that you will be waiting some time to get an answer.  A very long time.

Seems that these days no one, anywhere, at any time is responsible for anything.  Ever.

Slight correction.  Someone is of course responsible but no one admits responsibility and no one, for damn sure, is ever held responsible.  Ever.

I hear it all the time on TV and more so on radio commercials:  “It’s not your fault.”

All the time parents seem to find ways and reasons to dismiss the clear evidence that clearly implicates their child in something that often is not very serious at all.  It is as if by assigning blame to their children they are admitting some sort of flaw or shortcoming in themselves.  God forbid they are ever held to account either.  Not ever.  Neither.

I wonder what type of society we have created with all this re-assignment of blame and this abdication of responsibility.  Actually I really don’t need to wonder.

Some young adults seem absolutely floored when they finally hit the real world and someone, a co-worker, a boss, a (gad!) customer holds them responsible for some action.  They really don’t seem able to process the thought that something they did 1) caused a problem and 2) um, they were the ones who did it.  Cause and effect is hard to outrun.

I blame parents and I blame teachers and schools and I blame sports coaches and teams and leagues and I blame youth leaders and groups and I blame the government.  Yes, I said it and you heard it- the government.  Especially the current administration but maybe they are just the crest of the wave.

In the sixth year of this administration I cannot really recall a single time when the president of this country has admitted responsibility and then also carried through on that admission in terms of making it right or fixing it or doing something differently in the future because of something that has been done wrong in the past.  That used to be commonplace when families were as well.

Seriously, it seems to me that with the dissolution of the family so came the abdication of responsibility.

In terms of blame or responsibility it’s easier to allow than correct; to dismiss than to address; to deflect than accept; to deny than admit; to run than to stand.

To stand and admit that it was me, that I was responsible, and that I am ready to make it right.

I wonder what type of society we would create then with such a resurgence of the acceptance of personal responsibility.

It’s kind of hard the first time that you do it, no doubt.  That is a great reason to start with your kids when they are young.  Let them know that actions have consequences and that those actions and their consequences have an owner.  Own it, learn from it, grow from it, and be a much better person in the long run.  Simple enough right?

Imagine if we had a whole slew of such young folks that we could send to Washington to take over the leadership of this country.

I wonder what kind of country we would have then.

All from just a simple childhood lesson that seems to have disappeared somewhere back in the late sixties.

Imagine.

When I Becomes Us

Commentary Political Social No Comments

 

The collective.  It is indeed great fodder for elections.  Who would run as someone who does not express total support for the greater, common good?  It’s about us and not about just you.

The collective.  If you don’t believe then you are selfish and narrow-minded and do not deserve the good things this country, and this government can give you.  Even if you don’t really want anything anyhow.  In the collective everything is given and everything has to be accepted.  As is.

Ah, the mighty collective.  It worked so well in the Soviet Union.  It was just great in China.  And Cuba.  And Venezuela.  They smoothed it over and made is fashionable in Europe for we all know that the Europeans have such flair for just about everything and their version of the socialist collective, even though it’s not really in the end a collective, is far superior to any that had existed before.  It has to be; it’s European.  And it appears to be working really, really, um, well.  So well in fact that we seem to want to do something similar here ourselves.  Only better because we are America damnit!

And so it goes.  The collective lives, it breathes, it rises to rule.  Time and time and time again.

We had a group of folks a little over a couple hundred years ago that turned the tables and rather than the collective the focus was for the first time placed squarely on the individual.

The individual.  That means you and me.  But not together.  Apart, as individuals.  For the first time ever it wasn’t about the king, or the queen, or the tyrant, or who had the most money or the largest army or the most land or could get together the most people and rule by mob.  Not unless those people were collected to vote, in a democratic fashion (though through a decidedly different set of rules) for the leadership and legislators as members of a specifically and purposely limited type of government.  A representative republic.  Radical but workable.  And genius.  Pure genius.  And more than just bold, it was radical.

And it worked and then worked again.  It survived attack after attack and war after war, even internal ones.  It survived but will it still?

The collective has returned.  And the individual has seemingly run away, retreated, headed to the hills.  And the collective will devour if it is not stopped.  Just check your history.

It has happened, time and again.  Only once really was it stopped dead in its tracks and that was done by those sad old white men all those years ago who had the genius to see that only the individual could defeat the collective.  It could free us from the bindings of England and also the chains of slavery; from the outside control of other nations and from the inside control of merchants or legislators or soldiers; from a government that might grow so large as to be even more fearsome than the collective.  It uses but will then go beyond the collective and it seeks only to achieve complete control over all and over each.  And what is controlled can be used at will and it can also be discarded in an instant.  Just wait and see.  Or look back and see.

All that we have to fight this new foe is, again, the individual.  That is, that means, you and me.

You and me, brother; you and me, sister.  Us together but much more so us alone.  Stand and fight.  Rise up America.  Rise up and be counted- one blessed individual after another until the collective can be no more.

She Taught You What?

Observations Social No Comments

What I Learned in School Today

 

It’s amazing to me when my kids come home from school and tell me what they learned at school during the day.

Some things are as they have always been.

Gym teachers (I still don’t call them PE teachers- habit I guess) still join with the jocks in mocking the smart kids or the ones who participate in the band or the drama club or other non-jockey activities.  My kids happen to belong to all of these groups.  But they are not classic jocks though they do play a lot of sports and play them pretty well.  They just don’t do that clique and I couldn’t be more proud of the stands they have had to take and have actually taken.

Some math teachers appear to not have a deep background in math.  I happen to have done a lot of math during my academic and professional voyages so know a few things about math.  Some of these teachers do okay but the schools could do a lot to improve the way that kids understand math.  Not just be able to do it but also understand it.

History?  Usually buried within the subject called Social Studies.  My boys have been lucky enough to have had a couple good SS teachers but still, now in 7th grade, they have learned precious little about the Constitution other than what they have been taught at home or learned on their own (which is a good bit I might add).  Why do they learn about diversity, and immigration, and civil rights, and slavery, and other such deep and more adult topics long before anyone even bothers to mention anything about our founding documents?  Wouldn’t it make sense to start with why people first came to this land and then what they did to found this country and then move on from there?  Every vector has a starting point yes?

Perhaps because it is easier to cultivate-for-purpose young minds when you present to them a simple good-bad, right-wrong, black-white scenario and then use their only possible answer to sell your own wares.  Not possible?  Not the plan?  Okay, believe what you will, it’s still a free country.

ELA?  For those uninformed (and I have a solid foot still in that group) that means “English Language Arts” (http://www.corestandards.org/other-resources/key-shifts-in-english-language-arts).  I suppose we now need to differentiate between English Language Arts and what may be coming later on.  Dunno.  I only know that since my kids have started down this enhanced path their use of the language has degraded and their desire to read has faded.  We work hard to fix that at home and will only have to work harder in the future I’m sure.  Maybe it’s the local implementation of these so-called standards within our school district.  Dunno.  Just know what they are learning seems far removed from English and from what I would call Language Arts.

Maybe it really stands for Enhanced Liberal Arts.  Dunno.  Just sayin’.

Add in things like flipping the classroom (the way I read this is that the onus of actually teaching kids is flipped to where it needs to be done by them at home, maybe with help from mom and dad, so that the teachers can be “free” to provide individual attention to specific students during class- great concept and a rather clever way to shirk any responsibility for being able to teach a class; hell, folks could just have their kids try to learn online and then hire a tutor to fill in the gaps; I wonder though how many kids get left behind when the teacher needs to spend so much one-to-one time during the 50 minutes they have over twenty kids in class?) and I think we finally have the recipe for vaulting the U.S. over the twenty or thirty countries that are ahead of us in too many areas.

How about this.  Get rid of the frickin unions that are about everything except for the students and a quality education (if this bothers you then here is a challenge- make Karen Lewis take a 7th grad ISAT test and see how she does- if she does well then you can call her an educator and then I will believe she is all about the poor kids); break the teacher-union-democratic party-progressive policy circle and just hire and reward the best teachers;  hold teachers responsible for results, fire the bad ones quickly, but hold the administrations even more so; pay only for performance especially at the admin levels; interview and survey the parents AND the kids.  You’d be surprised how many kids know what’s what and are more than willing to share their thoughts.  In the end they are the real customers and they are the ones most helped- or hurt- by the system.

Get real. And get aware of some of the crap they are feeding your kids and I don’t mean greasy potato chips Mrs. President.

I plan to have a lot more to say on all this.  To me there is not really a more critical need in this country then to educate our kids properly- in ALL areas.  More on that to come…

 

Owned & Owin’

Commentary Political Social No Comments

 

Got debt?  It’s not your fault.

Got bills?  It’s not your fault.

Don’t want to work?  Don’t worry; it’s not your fault.

Fat but still hungry?  Don’t worry; it’s not your fault.  We can help you!

Feeling sick?  Need a doctor?  We can help!  (You just might have to wait a bit and travel a ways..)

Can’t afford to go to college and drop out or get a worthless degree provided by professors who used their own worthless education and degrees to never face the real world but chose instead to train young minds to follow the same worthless path?  Don’t worry!  Don’t worry!  We can for sure help you with something called a loan that you don’t even have to pay back right away- you can just owe us for a long time.  A very long time.  But don’t worry.  Really.

It’s not your fault.  None of this is your fault.  You can definitely have your cake and eat it too!  But you would have had to actually go to college and gotten a fine liberal arts degree to understand that historical reference.  Don’t worry though if you don’t get it.  That’s not your fault either.

From the moment you were born and we began to take care of you there was really never any responsibility required.  Just your loyalty, boy.  Or girl.  Nothing that you ever decided was really ever your fault because none of it was ever really your choice.  Did you really ever think that it was?  Well, that mistake is not your fault either.

Sounds like being at fault is not your fault.  And I know it’s not mine either so there is such a thing as no-fault.  But not really anything like a free lunch.  Not really.

We take.  We take from thems that got it because thems don’t deserve it.  Don’t care nothin bout anythin like workin hard and sayin you earned it.  You didn’t.  But now we wants it.  And there ain’t nothin you can do about it.

Earning ain’t owning.  Owning is owning.

So keep on owin’.  Owe us for everything you need to live and, well, I guess that means we, like, have  control.  Totally.

Total control.  Kind of sounds like owning- y’know, kinda like slavery or at least a very strong serf system.  Serfs?  Oh yeah, I forgot.  Just go look it up.

So we are taking from those who have it but didn’t really earn it.  We then give some of that unearned stuff to others who also didn’t earn it.  We do manage to keep a little for ourselves because, well, we like to say we earned it but we really just know that we deserve it.  You agree right?  Who else would have taken the trouble to go get and then take something that isn’t theirs and give it out for free to others to whom it don’t belong?  We definitely deserve it.  Oh yeah.

And it isn’t completely free but the price is pretty small.  Just take it and don’t complain.  And give us your vote when we need it.  Just need to mention that.

While we still need it that is.

Someday soon we won’t because, well, the elections will be slightly changed to be more like selections.    Don’t worry though; it’ll still all be okay.  We’re really good at selecting.  You’ll still get your stuff.  We’ll take care of you even though we really won’t need you much anymore.

Until then though you just keep owin’ us ok?  Simple enough?

Let me explain it a bit better.  We’ll take from those who have, while they have it, and give to those who don’t, and make sure they need it and want it more and more and more.  Supply and demand.  We’ll raise the demand.  And as the supply dwindles, as it surely must and surely will, the demand will go up and the value of the exchange will go up and up and up.  You’ll owe and we’ll own.  Got it now?  It’s a simple trade system.  And we set the rules; how cool is that!

Sooner or later the supply will run out and then we will get rid of that side of our initial economic equation.  And while the demand side rises we will have less and less to give.  Those people, while becoming less and less important to us, may become upset at all that owin’ to those of us who own (us being then really no different from that other group who had what we took away- but none of you simpletons saw that sleight of hand did you now?) and you might try to rise up.

But you’ll have no guns.  And you’ll have no money.  And the only things you have will be what we have given to you and, well, we will just have to take that away.

And when you come after it all with just your bare hands?  Let me think.

Okay.  Let’s look at history again.  Communism seems to work really well in that particular situation so maybe we’ll try that again.

Ain’t tough to see it folks.  Can’t happen here though right?

Sure.  Whatever…

The Madness of Reefer

Social No Comments

 

Um, what did I come here to say..  Oh yeah, now I remember.

All across the country people are talking about getting stoned and doing it legally.  Those most happy would seem to be those who did it before and did it therefore illegally.  I would imagine that legalizing it for someone who did it illegally would not in any way prompt them to increase usage right?

And I also suppose that legalizing it would in no way encourage or entice someone who has never tried it to actually try it.  Maybe on their own or more likely at a party or somewhere else completely out in the open and no longer considered taboo.  Doubt that would happen, no way.

Legalization makes it much easier for me as a parent to keep drugs away from my kids.  Or, perhaps more correctly stated, to keep my kids away from drugs.  Those parties that they will inevitably attend in which alcohol is illegally provided and consumed will, I’m sure, block the provision and consumption of the weed.  And once they have consumed alcohol and tried pot I’m sure they will immediately become better people, citizens, and members of society.  It’s a natural transition.

Gateway drug?  Ah, c’mon.  Anyone who has ever smoked dope in a social setting, where a number of other like-minded folks are present (and especially those wonderful friends of friends), absolutely know that no other drugs are ever introduced at those get-togethers.  Ask those who have ever done coke or crack how it was introduced to them?  I’ll bet it was the very first time they were in the presence of drugs and also the very first drug that they ever tried.  Yep.

I would never say that alcohol or cigarettes were good for people, especially for kids.  Yet reefer seems to me to be a combination of those two.  I would never condemn someone who smoked a joint here and there but it seems to me that casual use when it is legalized would be far from the norm.  I would not so easily believe how much a simple drug could completely control a life if I had not seen it time and time again.

I guess that cigarettes are worse for you than marijuana.  And they are definitely addictive.

I guess that alcohol is no better or worse than marijuana and it is in no way addictive.

I guess the only truly addictive drugs then are the ones that smoking pot in no way leads to.  And legalizing reefer would not in any way make that access easier.  After all, you get to choose who you hang out with don’t you?  Buy it legally.  Learn how to roll a joint and then, while sitting all alone in your house or apartment, smoke it.  Don’t forget to hangout the “No Other Drugs Allowed Here” sign on your front door.  And ignore the doorbell when it rings.

Look at these hangouts in the states that have already pursued the legalization path.  If you are young look at the older smokers and talk to them and try to fairly gauge what they have done with their lives.  Ask them if they smoke every day.  Ask if they have ever done any other drugs.  Can you even recognize an old stoner or might you already be a bit too stoned?

Take a look while you’re at it at the younger folks at the same hangout and tell yourself these will be the most successful or otherwise outstanding patrons of our society.  Do you really believe that?  Like, wow.

Making it legal will drive away the illegal trade.  Right.  Not unless you also legalize the next-step drugs that it will surely expose new (and old) users to.  Oh, that’s right, we don’t believe it is a gateway drug.

Making it legal will generate revenue for the state.  It will be taxed but not so heavily as to make it too expensive.  Not like gasoline, alcohol, or cigarettes.  Trust those who tell you that and take another hit.

Making it legal and not taxing it too heavily as time goes on and people get inevitably hooked (note that I did not say addicted) will in no way increase the illegal trafficking of lower-cost alternatives and it will not drive more illegal trade to younger users.  That would be simple economics which we no longer believe in anyhow.

It does not and will not lead to the trying or using of other narcotics.  Not a gateway drug, not a gateway drug, not a gateway drug, not a….

It will allow you to free your mind to think great thoughts.  You can always hire someone who is not stoned to actually put those ideas into some sort of motion.

It is not harmful to your health in any way, shape or form.

It, like all of the other social exceptions we have made the last 50 years, has only led to a better country in any way that you care to measure it.

If it’s legal then I guess we had all better tell our kids it’s okay to do it.  At least when they are old enough.

Who knows, rather than having that “first beer” (right!) with dad at your high school graduation party you can share a bong or two.

And, while you’re at it, fill a bowl and pass it on to grandma- after all, it is a special occasion.

Party on!