Grandpa was in a talkative mood one day as we were hoeing weeds in the bean field and started talking about freedom as we went down the rows of beans side by side. It was his way of taking the boredom out of the chore. Though it seemed as if he was talking mainly to himself I listened attentively as he spoke.
"Freedom can be seen from two different perspectives. One person will seek the freedom to something while another person will seek the freedom from something. And each of us falls into one of those two categories.
Decisions can be said as the most inner motivator of our actions and behaviors. And it is in the making of decisions that is the determinant of which freedom we seek. Those who seek the freedom to make their own decisions are the ones who also accept full responsibility of those decisions. They recognize that the power and authority to make those decisions come from within themselves.
Those who seek the freedom from their decisions will be those who allow another to make their decisions for them. They also find a way to blame others or something other than themselves for the decisions made. They view power and authority as being the possession of others and view themselves as powerless.
A decision be one of many possibilities of choices of decisions that is available to act on. In the seeking of advice one person hopes to be given a greater number of choices than he already has to choose from. The other person seeks advice for the purpose of hearing the other person’s decision. Seeking answers to a problem is a good illustration of this.
The big problem with all of this is the fact that there are those who think they have the right to make decisions for others. They feel that they have this right because they see the perceived consequences that some suffer as a result of their own choices. And as a result of what they see they think that some people are incapable of making good choices thus need someone to make their decisions for them. The poor are a good example of those perceived as being incapable of making good decisions.
Their righteousness of the need to make decisions for others comes from the excuse that they are helping others and think they have the right to force others to accept this help and force those they see as capable of helping to help also. They will accuse those in disagreement as being cold hearted and without compassion. What they do not see is that forcing others to help nullifies the act as being an act of compassion and reveals their own cold heartedness.
That is the appeal of Socialism. It is an economic system that, in theory, is compassionate towards those that are viewed as incapable of making their own decisions. What these advocates of Socialism do not realize is the fact that they are not making a compassionate decision but a decision to give up their own freedom to make decisions for themselves, the freedom of choice."
When he had finished I noticed that we had just did a whole row and that the sun was straight overhead and I asked " grandpa, think it is time to go in and get some vittles that grandma has ready for us?"
WELCOMES YOU to his little home in cyberspace.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
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17 comments:
Just awesome!
awwww shuckins, layla, thank you for the kind compliment.
Amen! It's easy to be charitable when you're doing so with someone else's money. It's much harder to use your freedom and choice to be proactive with doing the right thing. Though it is harder, rewards only come from voluntarily doing the right thing. In short..big government...stop trying to be charitable with our money (welfare) and let us do it ourselves!
Good job...
Yer gonna need a dcat for them there weeds Griper ;)
...and the government needs to do less to help people make decisions!
The less the government does the better!
Amen m. ross garner!
he grins, sounds like we have a general agreement on the issue here.
what comes down to is that we feel that if government was to attend to the affairs of government and the purpose of government and allow people to attend to their own affairs we'd have a better society and a better run government.
Excellent! You hit the nail squarely on the head, Griper.
The government is just too big, and it tries to be a nanny. That just doesn't work.
Ronald Reagan said, "I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves."
karen,
and to carry Reagan's words out, it means that government serves the people best by fulfilling its purpose in society and that purpose is to govern the society not be its servant.
and that is where socialism, as a form of government fails. it is a form of governing that, theoretically, caters to all the needs and desires of the people it governs over.
in other words it tries to be the servant of the people. and that is not the purpose and intent of government.
Very well-written. I especially like how it ends:
When he had finished I noticed that we had just did a whole row and that the sun was straight overhead and I asked " grandpa, think it is time to go in and get some vittles that grandma has ready for us?"
Perfect!
thanks wordsmith. i thought i'd add a little humorous touch to it. glad to see someone else saw the meaning behind it too.
I really enjoyed reading this, Griper, even though I'm coming down with a head cold and having trouble breathing. I made my own chicken soup from scratch though, and didn't ask anyone else to do it for me! :)
remember gayle, as he grins, you need to accept the consequences of your decisions.
I always enjoy your writtings, and I hope you grow up to be just like your grandpa.. {smiles}
Always try to make my own decissions, but don't hesitate to call on help when needed. My brain enjoys a good challenge, ummm, when not drug out too long.
i hope i grow up to be like him too, sugarbabe.
My Grandfather used to talk to us in just this way. Well, me mostly. My other two brothers weren't exactly able to understand most of what he was saying.
You nailed it. Thanks for recommending it and I excerpted a portion in the comment stream we have going on Hillary.
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