A View of Society

Grandma and I were sitting in the audience as grandpa was addressing a town hall meeting. As he spoke I could hear some of the people gasp in amazement at what he was saying as if he was treading on sacred ground.

"We need to get rid of the Dominant/minority mindset that has been created in this country, especially in government. It has done nothing except create a society that sees itself in terms of being victims. It is from this mindset that has created a situation where nobody is willing to accept responsibility of their own actions but finds justification to place blame on others. Yes, it has always been true that people try to blame others but it was always seen as an excuse not a reason.

It is from this mindset that we demand that one class of society change while demanding nothing of another class of people. In addition, we demand change from the so-called dominant class but never of the minority class. Power perceived is the determinant of the two classes. It is a Marxist view of society.

What people do not understand is that by taking power or rights away from one group of people does not empower another group of people. It only empowers the entity that took those rights away. In this case, we are talking about government. It brings about a state of equality by making the dominant class as powerless as the minority class.

Another mindset we need to rid ourselves of is the mindset of viewing government as nothing but a system for governing the people. It is not. Government consists of people. Every form of government does. It is people ruling over society. When we vote, as a society, we are declaring our choice of who will be allowed to rule over us for a certain term in office. That is the power of the ballot box. That is the power of the vote.

It is from this sense of power over the people that we find persons seeking to be reelected time and time again. It is in ignorance of this power that we, the people, elect them over and over again. We, the people, have no one else to blame but ourselves for the state that our society is in for we elected those that helped create it.

Beware of those who promise to give you something without cost. There is no such thing, as any good businessman will tell you. What you get free can only lead to the impoverishment of others. It may not appear that way from the promises made but that is a fact. I will even go out on a limb by saying that any politician who makes these sort of promises is a corrupt politician.

Any person who votes on the basis of getting something free is doing nothing but revealing his own greed. It also reveals his lack of self-respect and respect of others. When this attitude has the blessing of enough persons, a society is effected. A society that has lost its self-respect is doomed to know the contempt of other societies.

Every society should recognize that each individual within it has rights. But, at the same time, every individual within that society needs to recognize that some things should not be expected to be a right but a recognized as being a privilege. It may be a privilege he desires but one he has not earned yet. Most likely he is not viewing it in terms it was meant to be seen. It is when certain groups demand that privileges should be considered as rights that leads to the downfall of the unity of a society. For it demeans the whole purpose and intent of each."

With these words said grandpa sat down. And from the silence of the room I could feel a coldness in the air that comes that only exists when people have heard something they didn’t like of themselves. I knew grandpa would not be very popular now. Grandma, feeling this same coldness just took grandpa’s hand and squeezed it to let him know she was still at his side.

Character Flaw of Politics

A friend of mine in school, who just happened to be a liberal, revealed to me a concept that really left me puzzled in regards to politics and political parties and thought. As I thought about it I could only come to the conclusion that what he said could only be considered an of essence of any group ideology. That concept being, that it was alright for a politician to break his promises to the people who voted him in to office as long as the people believed he will further the ideology itself.

One night at the dinner table I asked grandpa about this kind of thinking and he just looked at me as if he could not believe what he was hearing. He then just looked down at his plate and sliced a piece of roast beef that was cooked by grandma in the way that grandpa liked. Dipping it in the thick beef gravy that she could make so tasty he finally forked it into his mouth. He seemed to be pondering my question as he savored the taste while chewing it. Then he looked up at grandma with a twinkle in his eye and said,

“grandma, if it wasn't for your beauty, I'd have married you anyway for your cooking. This is delicious. You outdid yourself tonight and that is something that I thought impossible”

After he winked when grandma's cheeks turned red he swallowed the tasty morsel and turned to gave me his attention by saying,

“you know boy, you may have just hit on the reason why people continuously vote a man back into office in spite of his record or because of his record. It would also explain why politicians attack each other instead of debating the issues. What your friend revealed was a character flaw, both within himself and of the politician he votes for.

Breaking one's word is something that people detest. For by breaking your word you are declaring that you are not a man to be trusted with responsibility. When you have promised to do something and the other has accepted that promise you have made a contract with that person. Oaths act in the same manner. It is a promise given, usually seen as calling on the Almighty as a witness, and accepted. When a politician does it he has made a contract with the people.

this type of attitude can be understood in terms of a moral principle they abide by. That moral principle being that the end justifies the means. it would be nice if those same folks would use the same principle when it comes to the question of the war in Iraq. That would really unite the nation.

This is a principle where people judge people or things by the end results of what was done rather than by what they did in order to get the end results. And if the end results are perceived as being good then it doesn't matter what they had to do in order to obtain those results. The same is true if the end results are perceived as being bad. In other words, boy, intent is the only basis of their judgment. There is no consideration of the means. And without considering the means used, there can be no just judgment of a person.

The problem with this sort of attitude is that this principle is only applied to one of their own. It is never applied to anyone opposed to their ideas. When judging others the means is the only thing that is used to judge. Intent is never considered or they consider themselves wise enough to determine intent without permitting the other person the opportunity to defend himself in regards to intent. The common thread is a biased viewpoint and the prejudgement of others not of their own kind.

Now, boy, don't get me wrong. Everyone is biased in regards to their ideas. And everyone believes that their ideas are superior to the ideas of others. This is because everyone believes that their ideas are a reflection of the truth. That is the nature of imperfection. That is the nature of mankind. That is why this is a world in conflict instead of unity. Understand boy?”

I just shook my head and with an impish grin said “nope, not completely, grandpa.”

Gas Prices

If you'll notice on my side bar I added a new element, a place where you can check out the price of gas in your home town. It will help you find the cheapest gas stations and save you money on gas. All you need to do is place your zip code in and it will take you to a site that will give you the prices in your area. It might help those budget woes that we all feel these days and as we all know "a penny saved is a penny earned". Hope it helps.

Fishing for Phish

I just found a new site that can be of help in spotting PHISHING sites. They use a cute little game to teach you what to look for. It may be a site for anyone but especially parents to check out and not only play themselves but also to teach the kids what to look for also. To play the game requires Flash 8 and if you do not have it there is a link on the site to upgrade. The site is
Carnegie Mellon University

Those not to be Forgotten

A memorial was dedicated on the day of Independence

in Grapevine Texas

to honor the men and women whose lives were lost

on 9/11, a day not to be forgotten.

A monument meant not only to honor who they were

but also to honor what they were as it says here.

A stone column rises to support a large globe,

as we all know the aviation industry spans the world.

The impressive eagles, a national symbol of freedom,

represent both airlines, American and United

that lost flights that morning.

“The captain stands at the highest point,

his copilot to his right,

as it is on the airplane.

The captain is charged with the responsibility

of protecting passengers, fellow crewmembers and the aircraft.

The first officer is alert, his safety manual in hand,

pointing to the western horizon,

the intended destination of all four flights.

Back-to-back placement of the flight attendants to the cockpit crew

shows the teamwork of all flight crews, especially now - post 9/11.

The young girl with her teddy bear represents the traveling public.

She is the family on their big vacation,

the newlyweds on honeymoon,

the grandmother on her very first flight,

the weary businessman

and unfortunately now …

she is the soldier off to war.

“The role best known by the general flying public

is portrayed by the male flight attendant.

He drapes a blanket around the small child.

His duties show a commitment to passenger care and service.

Indicative of her role as a safety professional,

the female flight attendant stands in the protected position:

her hand held in the International sign for “stop”,
shielding her passenger from harm.”

The "Good News" declared

For those out there who adhere to the theory of “Intelligent Design” greater evidence has been declared to support the theory. And guess what? This evidence comes from the very source that demeans the theory, science itself.
“A multi-national team of biologists has concluded that developmental evolution is deterministic and orderly, rather than random, based on a study of different species of roundworms.”
Story is here.

But I warn you of one thing. Remember this is not proof, it is only added evidence. We still need to hear from the opposing side yet as to any argument against it.

The Poor and the Rich

I once heard someone say that if businesses were run more like a family and families were run more like a business both would be better off. This sounded good at first but after thinking about it a while I realized something. That something was that if families were run more like a business they'd realize just how much a business is already run like a family.

Money management is the key to the success of both. People have no idea of how to manage their money. A successful business is guided by a budget. How many families have a budget? I would hazard a guess that not many do. And, in my opinion, this is what separates the rich from the poor. If the working poor were to place themselves on a budget and only spent within the guidelines of that budget poverty would be nearly eliminated on its own.

It isn't so much about the amount of money you earn that determines how poor or rich you are, it is how you distribute the moneys you earn that does. The rich are rich because they have unearned income. The poor are poor because they only have earned income. And as long as the poor rely on earned income alone they will remain poor.

And all of the government programs for the redistribution of wealth in the world will not change this. Governments cannot create wealth, it can only deny wealth to the people through regulation and taxes. And taxes are paid to take care of the needs of government not the needs of those who pay in the taxes.

A man once told me that he felt that every person has a right to a college education even if the government had to pay for it. Well, I say that every person does not take advantage of the education that the government pays for now. In fact there is a growing movement by parents to take their children out of these state run schools. So, why should it pay for something more than it already does?

It was this same man who said that he acknowledged that happiness was not guaranteed but he qualified that by adding that it was the duty of everyone who attained happiness to ensure that everyone in the world attained it also. I'll leave it up to you to understand how something not guaranteed to anyone can be ensured to everyone.

But, of course, there was a time when an act of pity was rejected also. It was a declaration that man would not accept being looked upon or treated as a victim. It makes me wonder who it was that turned this nation of people who had a can do attitude into a nation of people with a can't do attitude. It is the person who has a can't do attitude that is a victim of life for they have had their spirit killed. And those who preach that attitude are the killers of spirits.

We have become a nation where a standard of living is the most important thing in a person's life. We no longer realize people need to make adjustments to that standard at times. It's as if they are afraid of starting over again when the unexpected occurs. It is as if the need to start over again declares you a failure in life rather than recognizing it as a very real part of life. People are afraid of the word failure these days. Failure is an inevitable part of life. It is how you deal with failure that is the real determinant of whether or not you are a success.

Life is filled with rich people as it is filled with poor people. It is how you measure it that is the difference. There are those who you might think as being very poor yet they would consider themselves the richest people on earth. There are those whom we'd think as being very rich yet they'd consider themselves as impoverished. How rich one is or how poor one is can only be dependent upon what a person values most. That is something no man can decide for another nor should he have the right to make that decision.

So, for you who think that taxing the rich and giving it to the poor is being charitable, remember this. You may be taxing the poorest of this nation and giving it to the richest. You are determining for another what he should value most. And that helps no one and hurts everyone.

A Baby's Prayer

Thank you, mommy, for suffering through the pains of Hell that I might be born.
Thank you daddy for instilling the seed that I might be as I am.
Thank you God, for giving me to two parents that believed I have a right to life.
This I promise, this I beg,
to honor each for who you are in my tiny life.
To know the love of each so that I might love in return.
This be my prayer, this be my promise.

Friendship and its Value

After supper one night I took a book out of grandpa's library, laid down upon the carpet in the living room and began reading it. I came across a passage about a third ways through that made my face turn red. I quickly looked around to see if anyone caught my embarrassment. I caught grandma quickly look back at her knitting but with a grin on her face so I knew she caught me but she said nothing. I went back to reading and reread the passage once more because it didn't seem to read right. This is what it said,


“She had been used before but never felt this way. The first time was by a man who her father had called friend. He had found her alone at home one day and took her by force after she invited him inside the house. She was doing the chores that her father assigned to her. Her father had gone to town for supplies. Her mother died in childbirth. She thought of her father then and knew within herself that he had never gotten over her mother's death. It had made a bitter man out of him.

When her father returned home that evening she told him what happened. Her father just looked at her, said nothing, and just started to put away the supplies. She felt she had lost something very precious that day but not another word was said about it between the two of them.

One day, while in town with her father she overheard talk. They had found the man beaten to death. And from the looks of him, he had taken a long time to die. his face was unrecognizable and from the marks on his body it could be seen that he died of internal bleeding. The man who did it knew exactly what he wanted to do and did it methodically and slowly. When asked, her father's only comment was,

"he was and still is my best friend, but, you are and will always be my daughter."

She then stole a glance up into this man's face. This man was a lot like her father in this way, "once a friend always a friend" was their motto. And each dealt with friendship as the situation demanded of them, her father with his friend, this man with his friend back in town. In that instance she knew that both men felt they had lost a very special gift.”

I was mystified by this passage and asked grandpa if he understood what it meant. He took the book and read the passage silently and when he finished he handed the book back to me and just sat there quietly for the longest of time it seemed. Then he got up and answered in a whispered voice, “yes, I do.” then without saying more he walked away. I was about to ask more when I saw grandma shaking her head out of the corner of my eye. I kept quiet realizing that I had drudged up old and painful memories.

Grandma and the Flag

One day in town with grandma we came across a few hippie types of characters on the street corner. As we walked by them, all of a sudden I heard grandma yell out to them. Here is what she said,

Who am I to argue with the woman?

The Insignificant Vote

“Grandpa, I heard today that the individual vote is insignificant because, statistically, it has no effect upon the ultimate outcome of any election. Is that true?”

Grandpa just looked down at me, smiled, and said “No, boy that is not true. First of all, it is a fallacious argument because it is a conclusionary argument rather than a evidentiary argument. Let's look at their argument and see what conclusion or conclusions must come from it.

Those who declare that their vote is insignificant because it has no effect upon the ultimate outcome are those who see the ultimate outcome in terms of winners and losers. From this point of view the only significant votes would be those votes that determined the winner. Any vote over and above that is insignificant because it has no effect upon the outcome. That would also mean that every vote for the loser was also insignificant. This would also mean that the vote of the non-voter had greater significance than the voter because if the non-voter, as a group, had voted it might have had an effect on the outcome by the ability to change the outcome.

What people don't understand is that the use of the democratic process is the means that is used to make a group decision not an individual decision. In order to ascertain what decision a group makes it requires that individuals make a decision first. Since the individual must make the decision first that means that no person can ascertain just how important his vote may be at the time he must decide. It is only after every person has voted and the winner declared that any voter can say his vote was insignificant to the outcome.

And this can only be determined on a statistical basis where numbers are all given equal status and no number is given greater significance than any other number. That is not true in regards to voting. Winning requires a certain number of votes and each one of those votes are significant for there to be a winner. So, for a person to declare that his vote was insignificant is to assume that his vote was not among those that determined the winner and no voter can know that. In fact, to carry this one step farther, no voter can be sure that his vote was even among those counted. And if this was the case then the question of the significance of his vote is an irrelevant question. You follow me, boy?”

I just nodded, a bit confused, and I could see by grandpa's smile that he knew.

“the point being, boy, is the fact that by this theory no voter can determine if his vote was significant or not to the outcome until after the outcome has been determined and a winner declared. In other words no determination of significance can be made until after a conclusion was determined. People vote because they believe that their vote is important to the outcome so the only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that they are assessing their vote in regards to the wrong conclusion or outcome.

Every man's vote is very significant. It is the fact that people vote that gives democracy any significance. That means that in order for democracy to have any significance then the vote of the individual must also have significance. How much we, as individuals, value our individual vote is determined by how much value we place upon the use of the process of democracy to choose our leaders. The effect people should be thinking about when voting is not how it will effect the outcome of the election but how it effects our value of democracy. When this is understood then no man can declare his vote as insignificant. It is only in a dictatorship where a man's vote is considered insignificant and without any meaning.”