A less arresting title for a weblog entry I can hardly imagine. And yet, it is one of those things that compels my attention from year-to-year. I finished my taxes yesterday and really didn’t feel badly about them even though I had to pay out a sizable sum. Why do I not feel put upon? Let me explain.
I am an American. A moment’s reflection reminds one that citizenship comes with a price. A clause in the Constitution notes that government exists, in part, to “promote the general welfare,” an economic as well as a social connotation. Government cannot promote, or more accurately provide, without revenue. My welfare is promoted by the services that are provided for and used by me every day. I’m glad there are roads upon which I can drive, stop lights and traffic laws and road crews to repair the potholes. I’m glad for police and fire protection, national defense, radio and television signals, air traffic control, dams and sanitation services, bridges, public health services and basic education for myself and family. I do not resent paying my fair share for these benefits.
Since we all are beneficiaries of these facilities and services I am in favor of a flat personal income tax (with very limited deductions) for all Americans capable of earning a living. I am also in favor of ‘use’ taxes for consumer items and of what used to be called ‘sin’ taxes. The so-called ‘sin’ tax revenues (on things like tobacco, alcohol, maybe even things like obesity-promoting foods) can be well-used for the medical treatment that is inevitably needed for these users. The reality, I have read, is that a huge percentage of Americans pay no income tax at all—and these are not the mega-rich as the media would have us believe. It is the low to low-middle income individuals and families who take and enjoy the benefits but make no contribution whatsoever to their own welfare or maintenance.
If we have an investment in our own maintenance we will not, if we have any integrity, take these blessings as American citizens as an entitlement (we used to say ‘for granted’) and will better learn, it is hoped, that there is a price to be paid for all benefits. Somebody will pay. The moral question we must all ask ourselves is, ‘Is it right that I should be the beneficiary of benefits that are provided for me by money that is extorted from others beyond what is their fair share contribution for the general welfare or public good?”
I believe in paying our own way, contributing fairly to the public good and then being charitable to others, without being compelled to be, out of the dictates of our own conscience.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Amounting to Something
A recent prophet of God, Gordon B. Hinckley, wrote a book not long before he died, titled 'Standing for Something.' I like that title. A related notion, though I’ve never seen a book with this title, could be 'Amounting to Something.' I remember, as a kid, hearing my dad say something like, ‘if he would apply himself he could amount to something,’ and ‘he’ll never amount to anything.’ If so, how? If not, why not?
I have though a lot about standing for something and amounting to something. A good and continuing education can help with both.
To become educated, we must surrender ignorance. To move forward we often undertake a course of study and yield to teachers who are probably wiser and certainly better educated than we are. When we pay money to go to school we usually don’t balk over the process. When we go to a physician to get healed we usually submit to the treatment. Yet when we are encouraged to voluntarily engage in practices that could help us in our quest to ‘amount to something’ we often do not fully engage ourselves or invest ourselves or discipline ourselves to ‘go the course’ or take the medicine. We may get distracted from our goal, or resent the expectations of our guide or mentor or maybe just get lazy. Self-improvement, for many, is hard to sustain.
Let me suggest that if you want to ‘amount to something’ more than you currently are, you don’t continue to go it alone. Make a contract with another person (or better yet, a covenant) that will make you accountable and then resolve to ‘endure to the end.’ Check in periodically for ‘progress reports.’ Engage another person in the pursuit of your quest. Don’t be afraid of correction along the way. Even the best of athletes, musicians, performers and presidents have coaches, mentors, and advisers to help them.
Here is a favorite metaphor that illustrates this, by a favorite author, C. S. Lewis:
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage; but He is building a palace. He in intends to come and live in it Himself.” (Mere Christianity, Book IV, chapter 9)
If we can come to a belief that we are a child of God, a child of Royal birth, that He wants us to ‘amount to something,’ and that He wants to help us in the school of our mortality, even though some of the courses and tests may be hard, then there’s no telling what great things that can be done with our lives. He can make much more of us than we ever could on our own. If we don’t believe that, then we’ve got a problem with pride.
Usually before we rebuild we must tear down or clean out. In investment language it is called divestiture; in religion it is called repentance.
As a bumper-sticker stated: If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
I have though a lot about standing for something and amounting to something. A good and continuing education can help with both.
To become educated, we must surrender ignorance. To move forward we often undertake a course of study and yield to teachers who are probably wiser and certainly better educated than we are. When we pay money to go to school we usually don’t balk over the process. When we go to a physician to get healed we usually submit to the treatment. Yet when we are encouraged to voluntarily engage in practices that could help us in our quest to ‘amount to something’ we often do not fully engage ourselves or invest ourselves or discipline ourselves to ‘go the course’ or take the medicine. We may get distracted from our goal, or resent the expectations of our guide or mentor or maybe just get lazy. Self-improvement, for many, is hard to sustain.
Let me suggest that if you want to ‘amount to something’ more than you currently are, you don’t continue to go it alone. Make a contract with another person (or better yet, a covenant) that will make you accountable and then resolve to ‘endure to the end.’ Check in periodically for ‘progress reports.’ Engage another person in the pursuit of your quest. Don’t be afraid of correction along the way. Even the best of athletes, musicians, performers and presidents have coaches, mentors, and advisers to help them.
Here is a favorite metaphor that illustrates this, by a favorite author, C. S. Lewis:
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage; but He is building a palace. He in intends to come and live in it Himself.” (Mere Christianity, Book IV, chapter 9)
If we can come to a belief that we are a child of God, a child of Royal birth, that He wants us to ‘amount to something,’ and that He wants to help us in the school of our mortality, even though some of the courses and tests may be hard, then there’s no telling what great things that can be done with our lives. He can make much more of us than we ever could on our own. If we don’t believe that, then we’ve got a problem with pride.
Usually before we rebuild we must tear down or clean out. In investment language it is called divestiture; in religion it is called repentance.
As a bumper-sticker stated: If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Family Matters
Take the title of this piece either way; I believe strongly in both.
As I have reviewed the titles of the nearly 150 weblog entries I have written in the past 21 months or so I am surprised that I have not written specifically about fathers and families. I have always taken my role as a father very seriously and family certainly does matter. For today’s thoughts let me suggest some things pertaining to fathering that I strongly believe in.
• For a man, being a good father is a great honor and the greatest of all responsibilities. And perhaps the best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. Love at home is the best gift, the best memory, and the best inheritance a child can receive.
• There will never be a journey as important as the one that takes you home. Spend as much time as you can with your family in the knowledge that they will be the only ones that will still be yours when your career is over. The greatest work you will ever do is within the walls of your own home.
• I have learned (a few times by sad experience) that all you’ve really got to do to help your children see themselves as being of great value is to praise them. Sometimes we are too critical and too impatient. They need a promoter, not a critic. Be a positive undistorted mirror for them.
• Almost anything your children get to do with you when you are in a good mood is fun for them—even if it is work. The children are always more important than the activity. If you really want to get work out of them then be with them while they are doing it and work with them.
• Give your children time to talk with you. That means, do more listening than talking whenever possible. Take the time to let them get to what is really on their mind. They set the agenda.
• Teaching doesn’t mean teaching lessons or ideas; it means teaching people.
• Save your best and friendliest behavior for home.
• Let your children know you love them. Tell them in spoken words. Tell them also in notes or letters some times. But tell them often.
Charity suffereth long and is kind. Charity never faileth—especially at home.
As I have reviewed the titles of the nearly 150 weblog entries I have written in the past 21 months or so I am surprised that I have not written specifically about fathers and families. I have always taken my role as a father very seriously and family certainly does matter. For today’s thoughts let me suggest some things pertaining to fathering that I strongly believe in.
• For a man, being a good father is a great honor and the greatest of all responsibilities. And perhaps the best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. Love at home is the best gift, the best memory, and the best inheritance a child can receive.
• There will never be a journey as important as the one that takes you home. Spend as much time as you can with your family in the knowledge that they will be the only ones that will still be yours when your career is over. The greatest work you will ever do is within the walls of your own home.
• I have learned (a few times by sad experience) that all you’ve really got to do to help your children see themselves as being of great value is to praise them. Sometimes we are too critical and too impatient. They need a promoter, not a critic. Be a positive undistorted mirror for them.
• Almost anything your children get to do with you when you are in a good mood is fun for them—even if it is work. The children are always more important than the activity. If you really want to get work out of them then be with them while they are doing it and work with them.
• Give your children time to talk with you. That means, do more listening than talking whenever possible. Take the time to let them get to what is really on their mind. They set the agenda.
• Teaching doesn’t mean teaching lessons or ideas; it means teaching people.
• Save your best and friendliest behavior for home.
• Let your children know you love them. Tell them in spoken words. Tell them also in notes or letters some times. But tell them often.
Charity suffereth long and is kind. Charity never faileth—especially at home.
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