I’m not for taking unnecessary risks, particularly as a husband and father with responsibilities bigger than myself. But if you find yourself often saying or thinking, “better safe than sorry”, it’s time to loosen your grip on whatever it is your are clutching.
“The true soldier fights not because he hates whats in front of him, but because he loves whats behind him” – GK Chesterton
“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” - Jim Rohn
Wow! Pastor C.L. Bryant is calling Americans who are black to reconsider what he views as a commitment to a modern form of slavery known as government dependency.
Call it political. Call it courageous. Call it gripping. It is all of that and more. Above all, it’s truth.
While Pastor Bryant is speaking directly to blacks, he is doing a service to all Americans by shining light on the darkness of collectivism.
When a culture begins to depend on government …
… to care for the sick and elderly
… to provide for the poor
… to teach our children right and wrong
… to determine what beliefs are acceptable and which are not
… to manage the size of population
… to decide how much success is appropriate for each person
… to ensure equality of outcome
…well, when we allow the government to make these determinations, to take these actions and to control these decisions — we become worse people. It discourages excellence and benevolence. It makes personal responsibility meaningless. It deteriorates personal character. Ultimately, it transitions the central unit of society from the family and to the state.
Why should I care for my neighbor? The government will do it for me. Or at least, they’ll do it in a manner they see fit.
Why should I take risks and aspire to reach great heights? I will be rewarded in the same manner as anyone else.
Can I teach my children about my faith, my beliefs, my values…? As long as they don’t conflict with what the government tells me is ok.
In a government-led quest for fairness and social justice: our liberty is placed on the altar of sacrifice. The size of government is nearly always at odds with the liberty of its citizens.
The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.
The bigger the government, the smaller the freedom of thought.
The smaller the religion.
The smaller the family.
The smaller the innovation.
The smaller the civil rights.
The smaller the passion.
The smaller the arts… and it goes on and on.
When we yield our rights and responsibilities to the state, it is then that the cultural deterioration begins.
It is this unique focus on liberty that has given the United States a singular place in history. It is a country founded in principles and values that provide hope and opportunity to people around the world. It isn’t that there aren’t great places to live all over the world — and it certainly isn’t that America is in any way perfect — but it is the values that shaped American society that embody the hope and opportunity that people around the world yearn for.
If you look at the most prosperous, safe, tolerant, harmonious societies around the world you will see that they more closely embrace these same types of values. The further you get from a society focussed on liberty and move towards so-called equality … the more you find oppression, poverty, social-class resentment, multiculturalism, etc.
I’m not an idealist. I don’t believe the United States Constitution, capitalism, democracy and the melting-pot society are flawless. But liberty allows for these flaws to exist — and liberty allows a society to resolve these flaws how it sees fit.
The more we depend on government to be the answer, the more we embrace personal irresponsibility. We turn over our responsibility to care for ourselves, our responsibility to care for our family, our responsibility to care for our neighbors.
It is these responsibilities that make us better people. And better people make better societies… and better governments.
My business partner sent me this article called, The Inside Story: 5 Secrets To Pixar’s Success. A brief and enlightening read. Point number 5 is the one that really floored me, though. I’ve pasted it below:
Hire for Excellence.
When Pixar is evaluating potential hires they look for three traits: humor, the ability to tell a story, and an example of excellence. These aren’t unique qualities to assess in applicants, but how excellence is defined is not that common. It doesn’t matter what you are excellent at, just that you have reached a level of excellence. It’s important that you know what excellence feels like and what it takes to achieve it. It could be gardening, jujitsu, or cooking. The main thing is you’ve had a taste of excellence and will know how to get there again.
I suppose if you read this blog frequently, it makes sense that this appeals to me. But that being said, I sometimes don’t think I really get the taste of excellence often enough. So many things get in the way of tasting that in my day-to-day life. Why do I allow that?
What does excellence feel like? And when is the last time I felt it?
Another brilliant video from Prager University. The general question this video asks is, “are we addicted to gossip?”
Think about it for a second. Can you go 24 hours without saying anything bad about another person? If I asked you if you could go 24 hours without having a drink of alcohol, would you be able to? If not, then we’d say you were an alcoholic. So what about speaking ill of others…
Food for thought. Control over my words is a key to our character.
More girls are killed every year in India and China than are born in the United States. This is an unbelievable genocide.
What can be done? How do we protect these girls? How do we prevent this from happening elsewhere? These are all big questions that I don’t know how to solve. However, these types of things happen when governments are allowed or force themselves on the lives of citizens.
As Dennis Prager says, “The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.” Add to that, the bigger the government, the smaller the church. The bigger the government, the smaller our liberty. The bigger the government, the more likely a society is to create laws that abort baby girls.
Show me how I’m wrong about this.
Husband, father, son and friend. I like my sacraments Catholic, my humor dry and wine Chilean. Professionally I help lead a team of fantastic minds at Ascendio. Overall, I'm just another guy trying to impress his girl.
