I continue today from my last posting.
My encouragement today is to read or reread the writings of Confucius (551 B.C.-479 B.C.) He was not religious, meaning theological, but no one I have ever read has given more sage counsel on what wisdom is, how to govern, and what it means to be a gentleman. I aspire to the latter as being a cardinal virtue. Rereading Confucius’ collected sayings, as I am now doing, will help me, I am sure, in polishing up certain areas of my life. I supply for you today a few of his gems as an inducement for you, too, to learn more:
• The Master said, The men of old were loath to speak, for not to live up to their words would have shamed them. A gentleman wishes to be slow to speak and quick to do. A gentleman …puts words into deeds first, and follows these up with words.
• A gentleman is broad and fair; the small man takes sides and is narrow.
• The gentleman is learned in right; the small man is learned in gain. A gentleman has no likes or dislikes below heaven. He follows right. The gentleman cherishes mind, the small man cherishes dirt. Gentleman trust in the law, the small man trusts in favor. Learning without thought is naught; thought without learning is dangerous.
• Care not for want of place; care for thy readiness to fill one.
• Shorn of love, is a gentleman worthy of the name? Not for one moment may a gentleman sin against love. Smooth words and fawning looks are seldom found with love. Tseng-tzu (a disciple) said: Thrice daily I ask myself: In dealing for others, have I been unfaithful? Have I been untrue to friends? Do I practice what I preach? Three branches of the Way are dear to a gentleman: To banish from his bearing violence and disdain; to sort his face to the truth, and to banish from his speech what is low or unseemly.
• A disciple asked: What is love? The Master said, To rank the effort above the prize may be called love. Love is to conquer self and turn to courtesy. If we could conquer self and turn to courtesy for one day, all below heaven would turn to love. Love is to be humble at home, earnest at work, and faithful to all.
• The Master said, A gentleman never strives with others.
• The Master said, By breadth of reading and the ties of courtesy, a gentleman is kept, too, from false paths. Seeking a foothold for self, love finds a foothold for others; seeking light for itself, it enlightens others too. To learn from the near at hand may be called the clue to love.
• Shall I teach thee what is wisdom? To know what we know, and know what we do not know, is wisdom. Hear much, leave all that is doubtful alone, speak warily of everything else, and few will be offended. See much, leave all that is dangerous alone, deal warily with everything else, and thou wilt have little to rue.
• A gentleman that does not seek to eat his fill, nor look for ease in his home, who is earnest at work and careful of speech, who walks with those that keep the Way, and is guided by them, may be said to love learning. Love learning. Do not carry over anger. Make no mistake twice.
• The Master said, Not to be known is no sorrow. My sorrow is not knowing men. Put faithfulness and truth first; have no friends unlike thyself, be not ashamed to mend thy faults. A man and his faults are of a piece. By watching his faults we learn whether love be his. When I first met men I listened to their words and took their deeds on trust. When I meet them now, I listen to their words and watch their deeds.
• The Master said, Of the ways of a gentleman Tzu-ch’an had four: His life was modest; he honored those that he served; He was kind in feeding the people, and he was just in his calls upon them.
• My wishes are: To give the old folk peace, to be true to friends, and to have a heart for the young.
• The Master said, Not making the most of my mind, want of thoroughness in learning, failure to do the right when told it, lack of strength to overcome faults; these are my sorrows. Fight the bad in thee, not the bad in other men, will not evil be mended? Learn as though the time were short, like one that fears to lose.
• To men above the common we can talk of higher things; to men below the common we must not talk of higher things. The people may be made to follow; we cannot make them understand. Tzu-kung asked about friends. The Master said, Talk faithfully to them, and guide them well. If this is no good, stop. Do not bring shame upon thee. A gentleman is nowise careless of his words.
These thoughts, but a few of his which are recorded, ring true to me; if not yet to my young friends mentioned in my previous posting, I hope they at least ring the bell.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Philosophy and Wisdom
In my December 27 weblog essay, ‘On Virtue,’ I ended with a plea for an examination of “the virtues we subscribe to and live by, or live without, and how they line up with the wisdom of the ages.” I have wondered, Have any of my readers done so? Do many people anymore actually care about the wisdom of the ages?
I once asked about ten young adult men and a few young women if any of them have read the writings of Confucius. None ever had. I asked who were their favorite philosophers or the wisest authors they had read. A large majority had none they could identify. One mentioned Jesus. I didn’t ask the others if they could read.
Historically we know that philosophy was the major concern of the classical Greeks (e.g., Thales, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle). Philosophy and liberal arts were once a main focus of our universities. A pursuit of the wisdom of the ages was perhaps my primary private secular focus as a young married adult throughout the decade of 1966-1976. I compared the luminaries of the past with my then new-found religion which I used as a standard (I converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1967). I read a great deal of philosophical and religious literature from both genres and gleaned gems and answers and approaches that have clarified my identity and given direction to my life. My religion proved to provide most of the tools and answers for my on-going education, however, because it provided a education for my eternity, but other wise sources contributed much.
In Ayn Rand’s profound 1957 novel, Atlas Shrugged,for example,she has one of her minor characters being an academic philosopher and a pirate (Ragnar Danneskjold) and her protagonist (John Galt) being a practical philosopher and an engineer. She, herself, as a ‘writer’ was a philosopher of the ‘old school’ and of the highest order. During those years Atlas Shrugged and the corpus of Miss Rand’s other work was highly influential in my life and helped define some philosophical referents for me. Her book encouraged me to continue my graduate education and gave me the desire to pursue a doctor of philosophy degree. Unfortunately, all the ‘doctor of philosophy’ degrees at my university (Brigham Young University) were in fields other than formal philosophy so I settled on a doctor of education degree being closest to my intellectual and professional aspirations. By carefully selecting my courses and professors I gained the degree and a wonderful education, anchored my philosophy, and learned that formal secular philosophy has more questions than answers. As pertaining to my formal education it is not over--and that there is no such thing as a 'terminal degree. My time at the university showed me that a pursuit of learning will never be over.
All this leads up to an encouragement to read, read, read. I have often said that the person who does not read has no particular advantage over one who cannot read. How I love the university setting, libraries and bookstores; what worlds they open up!
I once asked about ten young adult men and a few young women if any of them have read the writings of Confucius. None ever had. I asked who were their favorite philosophers or the wisest authors they had read. A large majority had none they could identify. One mentioned Jesus. I didn’t ask the others if they could read.
Historically we know that philosophy was the major concern of the classical Greeks (e.g., Thales, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle). Philosophy and liberal arts were once a main focus of our universities. A pursuit of the wisdom of the ages was perhaps my primary private secular focus as a young married adult throughout the decade of 1966-1976. I compared the luminaries of the past with my then new-found religion which I used as a standard (I converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1967). I read a great deal of philosophical and religious literature from both genres and gleaned gems and answers and approaches that have clarified my identity and given direction to my life. My religion proved to provide most of the tools and answers for my on-going education, however, because it provided a education for my eternity, but other wise sources contributed much.
In Ayn Rand’s profound 1957 novel, Atlas Shrugged,for example,she has one of her minor characters being an academic philosopher and a pirate (Ragnar Danneskjold) and her protagonist (John Galt) being a practical philosopher and an engineer. She, herself, as a ‘writer’ was a philosopher of the ‘old school’ and of the highest order. During those years Atlas Shrugged and the corpus of Miss Rand’s other work was highly influential in my life and helped define some philosophical referents for me. Her book encouraged me to continue my graduate education and gave me the desire to pursue a doctor of philosophy degree. Unfortunately, all the ‘doctor of philosophy’ degrees at my university (Brigham Young University) were in fields other than formal philosophy so I settled on a doctor of education degree being closest to my intellectual and professional aspirations. By carefully selecting my courses and professors I gained the degree and a wonderful education, anchored my philosophy, and learned that formal secular philosophy has more questions than answers. As pertaining to my formal education it is not over--and that there is no such thing as a 'terminal degree. My time at the university showed me that a pursuit of learning will never be over.
All this leads up to an encouragement to read, read, read. I have often said that the person who does not read has no particular advantage over one who cannot read. How I love the university setting, libraries and bookstores; what worlds they open up!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Weighing in on the Health Care Crisis
More than we probably want to hear has been said about the government’s role regarding health care issues and spending—about 18% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product or over 36% of Federal Government revenues for 2011. What I want to address in this brief commentary is the individual person’s role in their own health issues and resultant health costs. I want to argue for personal responsibility and against entitlement in treatment or involvement in socialized medicine. I contend that it is morally wrong for me to be expected to pay for others’ gluttony, addictions, and generally poor food and health behavior choices.
Don’t misunderstand. I am not talking about unpreventable accidents, illnesses or conditions. I am not talking about little children’s health issues. I am not talking about a ‘good Samaritan’ situation where a victim is placed in our path and we have the moral responsibility to render immediate and temporary help.
I am talking about irresponsible teen-agers and adults and an overburdened health-care system that has to take care of smokers and drinkers with their cancers and cardio-vascular conditions, of drug addicts, of obese and overfat type-II diabetes patients (this condition was virtually unheard of 70 years ago before our population became so fat) and I am talking about those who find they cannot pay for treatment for their own self-induced ill health and who expect the ‘government’—actually meaning healthy and productive tax payers, to pick up the tab.
Just as automobile insurers raise their premium rates or won’t insure bad drivers, health-care insurance carriers—including government health insurance—should have steeply increased rates or refuse health care (except for cash paying patients) for those who smoke, are obese, or who have otherwise abused their bodies. Let these individuals face the consequences of their own poor choices. Having a healthy body is not an ‘inalienable right’ guaranteed by the Constitution.
I feel strongly that personal responsibility for one’s health choices could do much to lessen the burden on these people’s own pocketbook and the tax and health insurance bills of responsible people when others are irresponsible. It isn’t that people don’t know how to take care of themselves. We all learned how in school if we were paying attention. If we didn’t pay attention then, pay attention now:
Just following these four simple practices would save us billions upon billions of dollars and untold misery:
• Stop eating ‘fast-foods’ and junk food. (Tax these foods heavily as a deterrent for those who have poor self-control.) Some say that healthy food costs too much; the fact is that unhealthy food will end up costing the person much more.
• Cut back on food portion sizes and increase water consumption if one’s body mass index is higher than the acceptable range.
• Don’t smoke or take illegal drugs.
• Do some type of sustained physical exercise for at least 30-minutes per day.
People who have health problems or who are on the road to having preventable health issues who don’t take these measures are either lazy and indolent or are ignorant. Having not followed these simple guidelines will not be an acceptable response when the crisis comes.
We’ve got to get serious about getting healthy and staying healthy. Each of us has a responsibility to ourselves, our families, and our country. Nearly fifty years ago a president of the United States said: “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” (J.F.K.) What you can do is stay healthy. Those who aren’t serious are contributing in a big way to the downfall of this country. A sick populace is a sick country. The crisis is escalating.
Don’t misunderstand. I am not talking about unpreventable accidents, illnesses or conditions. I am not talking about little children’s health issues. I am not talking about a ‘good Samaritan’ situation where a victim is placed in our path and we have the moral responsibility to render immediate and temporary help.
I am talking about irresponsible teen-agers and adults and an overburdened health-care system that has to take care of smokers and drinkers with their cancers and cardio-vascular conditions, of drug addicts, of obese and overfat type-II diabetes patients (this condition was virtually unheard of 70 years ago before our population became so fat) and I am talking about those who find they cannot pay for treatment for their own self-induced ill health and who expect the ‘government’—actually meaning healthy and productive tax payers, to pick up the tab.
Just as automobile insurers raise their premium rates or won’t insure bad drivers, health-care insurance carriers—including government health insurance—should have steeply increased rates or refuse health care (except for cash paying patients) for those who smoke, are obese, or who have otherwise abused their bodies. Let these individuals face the consequences of their own poor choices. Having a healthy body is not an ‘inalienable right’ guaranteed by the Constitution.
I feel strongly that personal responsibility for one’s health choices could do much to lessen the burden on these people’s own pocketbook and the tax and health insurance bills of responsible people when others are irresponsible. It isn’t that people don’t know how to take care of themselves. We all learned how in school if we were paying attention. If we didn’t pay attention then, pay attention now:
Just following these four simple practices would save us billions upon billions of dollars and untold misery:
• Stop eating ‘fast-foods’ and junk food. (Tax these foods heavily as a deterrent for those who have poor self-control.) Some say that healthy food costs too much; the fact is that unhealthy food will end up costing the person much more.
• Cut back on food portion sizes and increase water consumption if one’s body mass index is higher than the acceptable range.
• Don’t smoke or take illegal drugs.
• Do some type of sustained physical exercise for at least 30-minutes per day.
People who have health problems or who are on the road to having preventable health issues who don’t take these measures are either lazy and indolent or are ignorant. Having not followed these simple guidelines will not be an acceptable response when the crisis comes.
We’ve got to get serious about getting healthy and staying healthy. Each of us has a responsibility to ourselves, our families, and our country. Nearly fifty years ago a president of the United States said: “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” (J.F.K.) What you can do is stay healthy. Those who aren’t serious are contributing in a big way to the downfall of this country. A sick populace is a sick country. The crisis is escalating.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Spring
In law there are ‘substantive’ as contrasted to ‘procedural’ issues that must be dealt with. If you have read Omnium-Gatherum with any regularity you will have observed that for the past month or so I have been sporadic in my output of essays or commentaries.
Consider this as an explanation of this ‘substantive’ issue: I have read admissions by even seasoned syndicated columnists and writers that events in their personal lives or fatigue or wintry times or something as inexplicable as ‘writer’s block’ temporarily dries-up the wells of creativity or wisdom or opinion and it becomes a chore to produce anything of value. Following the death of my father last month it has become temporarily that way with me. The ‘substantive’ has essentially been on hold while I have sorted out family issues dealing with this major life event as well as experiencing a protracted cold and rainy season, my wife out of town for a couple of weeks, birthdays and births and health issues in the family, a round of golf with 37 putts, and income tax time. Having a world in geophysical as well as political revolution hasn’t helped either.
I think that with Spring about ready to spring I will be over it. I feel it in the air.
So, if you have ever felt that way take it on faith—on my faith if not your own—that the night of darkness never wins out, for the dawn and the Spring is irresistible. It will come. Hope springs eternal.
Consider this as an explanation of this ‘substantive’ issue: I have read admissions by even seasoned syndicated columnists and writers that events in their personal lives or fatigue or wintry times or something as inexplicable as ‘writer’s block’ temporarily dries-up the wells of creativity or wisdom or opinion and it becomes a chore to produce anything of value. Following the death of my father last month it has become temporarily that way with me. The ‘substantive’ has essentially been on hold while I have sorted out family issues dealing with this major life event as well as experiencing a protracted cold and rainy season, my wife out of town for a couple of weeks, birthdays and births and health issues in the family, a round of golf with 37 putts, and income tax time. Having a world in geophysical as well as political revolution hasn’t helped either.
I think that with Spring about ready to spring I will be over it. I feel it in the air.
So, if you have ever felt that way take it on faith—on my faith if not your own—that the night of darkness never wins out, for the dawn and the Spring is irresistible. It will come. Hope springs eternal.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Violence in 'Entertainment'
I was talking with my brother-in-law the other day about our respective experiences in college physical education class boxing. We both enjoyed it as participants but I, at least, soon began to take no interest in it when in my twenties I watched televised matches and became aware of the reaction of the television crowds. They were thirsting for blood. I also enjoyed closely supervised school-boy wrestling and taught it and coached it for a number of years but when I happened upon the televised spectacle of ‘big time’ or ‘pro’ wrestling I was repulsed ‘big time.’ This was not a sport, such as NCAA college or Olympic Games wrestling, but was staged and glorified mayhem, and again I looked at the crowds who found this staged violence entertaining. Seeing and hearing them I lost all interest in professional mutations of these activities. There are other much more wholesome sports.
At the university I studied educational psychology and took classes in sport psychology and the sociology of sport. I came to learn that the viewing of and glorifying of violence desensitizes people and contributes to violence in their own lives. I found this especially to be true with children and youth who are very impressionable. As a public school teacher I came to learn that a number of my boys were involved in gangs; sadly, a couple of them died in gang-related shootings. One of the gangs, the Nortenos had as a slogan, ‘UNLV’—Us Nortenos Love Violence. I did what I could to counter the developing trend in the lives of the boys I taught.
In recent decades we have witnessed terrible tragedies where deranged youth and young adults have gone on shooting rampages. To a lesser scale this happens weekly in the city in which I taught with drive-by and gang turf battles.
I place much of the blame on the viewing and participation of our young people with television, movie, and video game violence. And, of course, the drug culture is a big contributor.
The cinching argument, for me, came with maturity and internalizing and resonating to a scripture found in the Book of Moses: [In the times of Noah] “the earth was corrupt before God, and it was filled with violence…for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah: The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence….” (Moses 8:28,30)God had enough and had to clean house.
Man reveals himself through what he entertains himself with. I am pleased to say that violence in any form no longer holds any entertainment value for me and ashamed to say that it once did to a small degree. Repentance is a wonderful thing.
Maybe our culture would be healthier and retain the favor of God that our wisest presidents, Washington and Lincoln, prayed for if it didn’t glorify or capitalize on violence for entertainment value or for an increased slice of our economic gross domestic product. We can become acculturated to the positive as well as the negative.
At the university I studied educational psychology and took classes in sport psychology and the sociology of sport. I came to learn that the viewing of and glorifying of violence desensitizes people and contributes to violence in their own lives. I found this especially to be true with children and youth who are very impressionable. As a public school teacher I came to learn that a number of my boys were involved in gangs; sadly, a couple of them died in gang-related shootings. One of the gangs, the Nortenos had as a slogan, ‘UNLV’—Us Nortenos Love Violence. I did what I could to counter the developing trend in the lives of the boys I taught.
In recent decades we have witnessed terrible tragedies where deranged youth and young adults have gone on shooting rampages. To a lesser scale this happens weekly in the city in which I taught with drive-by and gang turf battles.
I place much of the blame on the viewing and participation of our young people with television, movie, and video game violence. And, of course, the drug culture is a big contributor.
The cinching argument, for me, came with maturity and internalizing and resonating to a scripture found in the Book of Moses: [In the times of Noah] “the earth was corrupt before God, and it was filled with violence…for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah: The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence….” (Moses 8:28,30)God had enough and had to clean house.
Man reveals himself through what he entertains himself with. I am pleased to say that violence in any form no longer holds any entertainment value for me and ashamed to say that it once did to a small degree. Repentance is a wonderful thing.
Maybe our culture would be healthier and retain the favor of God that our wisest presidents, Washington and Lincoln, prayed for if it didn’t glorify or capitalize on violence for entertainment value or for an increased slice of our economic gross domestic product. We can become acculturated to the positive as well as the negative.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Unmarried Men
“And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2)
Every Christian young adult man has read or heard that more times than he probably cares to acknowledge. The problem he will one day have to face if he doesn’t resolve the situation is that there will be an accounting; it will be brought to his attention that he has ignored a divine directive, that there were reasons for its issuance, and that there will be serious consequences.
On a sociological level the pre-adulthood phenomenon of delayed marriage represents a momentous demographic event. In a new book published just this month, Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys, author Kay S. Hymowitz presents a stinging critique of today's ‘pre-adult’ generation of male 20-30 (and beyond) year-olds. She writes: “Today, most men in their 20’s hang out in a novel sort of limbo, a hybrid state of semi-hormonal adolescence…. But it’s time to state what has become obvious to legions of frustrated young women: It doesn’t bring out the best in men.” “For these women, one key question won’t go away: Where have the good men gone?” “Single men have never been civilization’s most responsible actors; they continue to be more troubled and less successful than men who deliberately choose to become husbands and fathers. So we can be disgusted if some of them continue to live in rooms decorated with “Star Wars” posters….” “Relatively affluent, free of family responsibilities, and entertained by an array of media devoted to his every pleasure, the single young man can live in pig heaven—and often does.”
Forced to a feminism response, reminiscent of the ‘70’s, Hymowitz concludes the essence of her argument with: “Women put up with him for a while, but then in fear and disgust either give up on any idea of a husband and kids or just go to a sperm bank and get the DNA without the troublesome man. But these rational choices on the part of women only serve to legitimize men’s attachment to the sand box. Why should they grow up? No one needs them anyway. There’s nothing they have to do. They might as well just have another beer.”
From my more religious perspective and experience I would have to say that there is more truth to those indictments than we would like to admit. In defense of the young man there are anxieties about education, job, and career and being able to support a wife and family, about being able to purchase a home and even about the prospects of a happy marriage itself, seeing the high incidence of divorce.
But I think too many young men want to get all their ‘ducks in line’ and then find the ‘perfect mate’ before they take the critical steps. Many live in a fantasy world of unrealistically high expectations for women without looking at their own deficiencies. In their own protracted adolescence and timidity and self-centeredness they fail to realize that they, themselves, are not becoming any more attractive to the opposite sex through their age, their critical expectations, their childish lifestyle, their dependence on mom or grandmother, their puerile recreations or their guy roommates. Rather than disqualifying innumerable candidate women because of physical attractiveness or other superficialities (‘She doesn’t fit my needs’) perhaps he needs to take the focus off of himself and start to be what he was put on earth to be: a help meet himself.
Just because young man can’t own a Ferrari doesn’t mean that he should walk or skateboard throughout his life; he could drive a Toyota and be happy. An old short film titled Johnny Lingo drives this point home very well with the metaphor of seeing in a backward girl a ‘five cow wife.’ I used to smile when I heard the 1970’s song by Jimmie Soul: “If you wanna to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife; so for my personal point of view, get an ugly girl to marry you.” Maybe she wouldn’t be ‘ugly’ if he brought out the beauty in her. One can aIso be very happy with a pretty woman—I have had three pretty women as wives—so I guess it’s easy for me to make these suggestions.
Maybe happiness comes from what the young man brings to the marriage at least as much as what the woman brings to him. Hmmm….
Every Christian young adult man has read or heard that more times than he probably cares to acknowledge. The problem he will one day have to face if he doesn’t resolve the situation is that there will be an accounting; it will be brought to his attention that he has ignored a divine directive, that there were reasons for its issuance, and that there will be serious consequences.
On a sociological level the pre-adulthood phenomenon of delayed marriage represents a momentous demographic event. In a new book published just this month, Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys, author Kay S. Hymowitz presents a stinging critique of today's ‘pre-adult’ generation of male 20-30 (and beyond) year-olds. She writes: “Today, most men in their 20’s hang out in a novel sort of limbo, a hybrid state of semi-hormonal adolescence…. But it’s time to state what has become obvious to legions of frustrated young women: It doesn’t bring out the best in men.” “For these women, one key question won’t go away: Where have the good men gone?” “Single men have never been civilization’s most responsible actors; they continue to be more troubled and less successful than men who deliberately choose to become husbands and fathers. So we can be disgusted if some of them continue to live in rooms decorated with “Star Wars” posters….” “Relatively affluent, free of family responsibilities, and entertained by an array of media devoted to his every pleasure, the single young man can live in pig heaven—and often does.”
Forced to a feminism response, reminiscent of the ‘70’s, Hymowitz concludes the essence of her argument with: “Women put up with him for a while, but then in fear and disgust either give up on any idea of a husband and kids or just go to a sperm bank and get the DNA without the troublesome man. But these rational choices on the part of women only serve to legitimize men’s attachment to the sand box. Why should they grow up? No one needs them anyway. There’s nothing they have to do. They might as well just have another beer.”
From my more religious perspective and experience I would have to say that there is more truth to those indictments than we would like to admit. In defense of the young man there are anxieties about education, job, and career and being able to support a wife and family, about being able to purchase a home and even about the prospects of a happy marriage itself, seeing the high incidence of divorce.
But I think too many young men want to get all their ‘ducks in line’ and then find the ‘perfect mate’ before they take the critical steps. Many live in a fantasy world of unrealistically high expectations for women without looking at their own deficiencies. In their own protracted adolescence and timidity and self-centeredness they fail to realize that they, themselves, are not becoming any more attractive to the opposite sex through their age, their critical expectations, their childish lifestyle, their dependence on mom or grandmother, their puerile recreations or their guy roommates. Rather than disqualifying innumerable candidate women because of physical attractiveness or other superficialities (‘She doesn’t fit my needs’) perhaps he needs to take the focus off of himself and start to be what he was put on earth to be: a help meet himself.
Just because young man can’t own a Ferrari doesn’t mean that he should walk or skateboard throughout his life; he could drive a Toyota and be happy. An old short film titled Johnny Lingo drives this point home very well with the metaphor of seeing in a backward girl a ‘five cow wife.’ I used to smile when I heard the 1970’s song by Jimmie Soul: “If you wanna to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife; so for my personal point of view, get an ugly girl to marry you.” Maybe she wouldn’t be ‘ugly’ if he brought out the beauty in her. One can aIso be very happy with a pretty woman—I have had three pretty women as wives—so I guess it’s easy for me to make these suggestions.
Maybe happiness comes from what the young man brings to the marriage at least as much as what the woman brings to him. Hmmm….
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Revolution
What is happening now in the Middle East, with minor shock waves even here in the USA with union protests against state governmental financial reform may be the opening scenes of a cataclysmic turning point in our lifetime. Or, it may be akin to the social revolution of the 1960’s that never quite materialized; if it was the ‘dawning of the Age of Aquarius’ I guess I missed it.
Living on the Big Sur coast, as my wife and I did in 1969-‘72, we saw the hippies walking and hitch-hiking down to this supposed Mecca and then walking and hitch-hiking back to wherever they came from even more dirty disheveled and disillusioned than before. The ideals of the New Left proved to be so vacuous and unsupportive of even life itself that these disenchanted ones came crawling (or hitch-hiking) back to the society that had earlier supported them.
Here, I think, is the difference between today’s incipient revolutions and the moral turbulence, even nihilism, of the ‘60’s. I do not think that the cry for the dismantlement of the tyrannical regimes of the Middle East is related in the least to the ideals of Nietzsche, or Marx, or Herbert Marcuse, but rather to the universal desire to be free: free from bondage, free from political tyranny, free to pursue happiness and economic stability, free to express one’s voice and pursue one’s destiny without undue restraint. In short, free to pursue the values of democracy which seem to resonate with all who have been exposed to them. Modern social media has made that exposure possible. But anarchy is not the solution to freedom, stability, and peace. Social order, quickly put into place is absolutely necessary. And social order is built on a solid foundation.
The true revolutions of the recently concluded millennium that changed the world—the revolution of John Locke and the English or ‘Glorious’ Revolution of 1688; of Thomas Jefferson and the American Revolution of 1776, and of Napoleon and the French Revolution of 1789 (as well as the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century) all had a driving philosophy, a foundational focus ,and each had spokesmen or recognized representatives that people resonated to. And many revolutionaries would sacrifice all they had to achieve their goals: “Give me liberty or give me death!”
My take on the matter before us is this: The greatest revolution was the Christian Revolution of two millennia ago, begun by one man, Jesus Christ, that gave a germinal voice and rise to the very ideals that are being sought by the oppressed of our day—freedom, dignity, opportunity, civil rights, with life as the highest value—indeed, Eternal Life as the quintessence. Though the players are Muslims, they are resonating to the ‘inalienable rights’ so well articulated by the Foundational documents of our own democratic republic—a republic founded on Christian, and I submit universal, ideals: civil and economic rights and responsibility and a respect for the dignity of man and of women.
If we, as a Christian nation without apology, are to continue to be a beacon to the oppressed of this world we must let our light so shine that it does not reveal a dirty mirror. We must clean up our own act, and then we can unhypocritically encourage the new acts that are in the process of birthing and trying to come on to the world stage. Let us pray they do not become aborted or stillborn and that if they are born alive and well that they have dedicated nurturing and a clear vision of what it will take to get them well-established. I support the effort.
‘Let Freedom Ring…!”
Living on the Big Sur coast, as my wife and I did in 1969-‘72, we saw the hippies walking and hitch-hiking down to this supposed Mecca and then walking and hitch-hiking back to wherever they came from even more dirty disheveled and disillusioned than before. The ideals of the New Left proved to be so vacuous and unsupportive of even life itself that these disenchanted ones came crawling (or hitch-hiking) back to the society that had earlier supported them.
Here, I think, is the difference between today’s incipient revolutions and the moral turbulence, even nihilism, of the ‘60’s. I do not think that the cry for the dismantlement of the tyrannical regimes of the Middle East is related in the least to the ideals of Nietzsche, or Marx, or Herbert Marcuse, but rather to the universal desire to be free: free from bondage, free from political tyranny, free to pursue happiness and economic stability, free to express one’s voice and pursue one’s destiny without undue restraint. In short, free to pursue the values of democracy which seem to resonate with all who have been exposed to them. Modern social media has made that exposure possible. But anarchy is not the solution to freedom, stability, and peace. Social order, quickly put into place is absolutely necessary. And social order is built on a solid foundation.
The true revolutions of the recently concluded millennium that changed the world—the revolution of John Locke and the English or ‘Glorious’ Revolution of 1688; of Thomas Jefferson and the American Revolution of 1776, and of Napoleon and the French Revolution of 1789 (as well as the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century) all had a driving philosophy, a foundational focus ,and each had spokesmen or recognized representatives that people resonated to. And many revolutionaries would sacrifice all they had to achieve their goals: “Give me liberty or give me death!”
My take on the matter before us is this: The greatest revolution was the Christian Revolution of two millennia ago, begun by one man, Jesus Christ, that gave a germinal voice and rise to the very ideals that are being sought by the oppressed of our day—freedom, dignity, opportunity, civil rights, with life as the highest value—indeed, Eternal Life as the quintessence. Though the players are Muslims, they are resonating to the ‘inalienable rights’ so well articulated by the Foundational documents of our own democratic republic—a republic founded on Christian, and I submit universal, ideals: civil and economic rights and responsibility and a respect for the dignity of man and of women.
If we, as a Christian nation without apology, are to continue to be a beacon to the oppressed of this world we must let our light so shine that it does not reveal a dirty mirror. We must clean up our own act, and then we can unhypocritically encourage the new acts that are in the process of birthing and trying to come on to the world stage. Let us pray they do not become aborted or stillborn and that if they are born alive and well that they have dedicated nurturing and a clear vision of what it will take to get them well-established. I support the effort.
‘Let Freedom Ring…!”
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