Tag Archives: current events

I Am a Rock, I Am an Island

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

These words are a reminder to me that a life of compromise and indecision will lead to life of misery. There is no satisfaction in being a gullible person who rides wagon after wagon, never finding a stable foundation. Without a foundation, a building will not stand long, eventually it will crumble. So is the same as our soul. We need foundation, because without it, there will be no peace or purpose in our lives.

Yet, once this foundation is established, and we refuse to conform to the whims of society, should we separate ourselves and become the island that decides that being alone is better? It does seem that it would be easier to live a non-compromising, moral life if we shut people and their opinions out of our lives. Become a mountain man who lives off the land, chopping wood as the sun rises in the east. I know that I have thought about that life many days when this world is getting the better of me.

Unfortunately, we are wired as social creatures. A healthy, productive human existence requires relationships with other individuals. Author, Erwin McManus, makes a case that humans are designed and wired to love and desire to be loved. Without this need filled, we began to fall apart at the seams and lose ourselves in the process. Community is important. we must find that balance to maintain integrity/morality and stand in the midst of society. This is a tremendous challenge that an individual must face on a daily basis.

One of the largest obstacles that comes from being a part of society is becoming part of an institution. The institution develops from the need to keep people “in line.” It wants to hold them to a standard and a specific set of behaviors, coercing those people to act a certain way. The government pushes very hard to institutionalize us, and we may fall prey to this, becoming robots and “yes” men. Even religion tries to institutionalize us and often with great success. They emphasize the “rules” we are required to follow, which results in people behaving and acting out of fear. Fear becomes their strongest tool, and many religions will exploit and judge the people based on how well they follow these rules.

To reach a higher moral standard, our mindset cannot be based on fear. It is not just about right or wrong, good or evil, lawful or unlawful. Our internal compass needs to be tuned towards what is good. We must desire to be moral and allow it to drive us forward. A heart truly focused on love will lead us to what is morally good and right. It also means that we stand up and resist when we are being forced in the wrong direction. Do not be fearful of doing wrong. A person must resist the immorality surrounding them.

Don’t run towards the mountains and become a hermit. Live within this world and resist fueling the fires of moral compromise. Hold firm as a rock to the moral good. Align yourself with others that have a burning passion for what is good and right. Find community and love with those that share your values and demonstrate to others who do not that a righteous life is worth living. It is worth standing against immorality to achieve life’s greatest happiness.

You do not have to accept society’s “standards” to live in it.

Instead of an island, be a beacon of light that shines bright upon a hill in the center of town.

Into A New Year

We close another year and begin what has been labeled as the year 2025. Resolutions will be made and may last to February. We will promise to lose weight and be a “better” person. All of us start with strong resolve, but it almost always seems to fade.

Many years ago, I gave up on making the New Year resolution. It seemed an exercise in futility, because shortly after they failed (as they always did), the feeling of regret and disappointment took over the remainder of the year. Change can be so stressful, difficult, and nearly impossible. Why is this?

The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word, “institution”, as a custom, practice, or behavioral pattern of importance in the life of a community or society.

Make note of the term, “behavioral pattern.” Society has institutionalized the people to fall into a certain behavior pattern. From birth, people are conditioned to act a certain way. They let this institution mindset bleed into every aspect of life, and it makes a person resistant to change. We are conditioned to conform and set ourselves into a pattern or cycle that is extremely difficult to break. Have you learned to conform and just accept things in your life as they are? Do you find yourself wanting to break out and change everything but feel trapped or ill equipped to accomplish it?

Resolutions to change should not be made at the beginning of a new year. These should be made every day. Make small steps to break free from destructive cycles every day of your life, slowly chip away at the wall of the prison that has you trapped. Over time, you can begin to drop the bad and replace it with the good, getting one step closer to reaching the higher morality.

I have decided to change my cycle and make a resolution for 2025. I know that I just contradicted myself, but for me this is a break from my usual cycle of refusing to make resolutions. Flawed logic? Wouldn’t be my first time. I am going to spend my 2025 year focused on pushing to break from the institutions that trap humanity and control its way of life.

I hope you continue to follow me on this journey. My hope is that you will continue to stretch your mind, question everything, and be a force of change. I am not asking you to agree with everything I write, but I am asking you to a least listen and consider; constantly challenge and explore all options.

That is how we grow. That is how we change.

This is man’s search for meaning.

Misinformation Train

Daily, individuals are bombarded by all kinds of information about people, events, and theories. Currently in the news, there is talk of car-sized drones above New Jersey, a murder/assassination of a healthcare CEO, and the constant fear of what could potentially be called Word War Three. These are just a few examples. This is the age of unlimited communication with the internet and dozens of news stations bombarding us with both useful and, more often, useless information.

How many really care how Snoop Dog cooks his bacon?

Trying to sift through all the pointless articles to find real news can be a challenge. Even when we find “legitimate” news, we are left with conflicting or bias explanations, distorting the facts. The truth is always elusive. CNN focuses on attacking the conservative minded people while Fox News bashes the liberal audiences. It is a media war that continues to rage and become more volatile on a daily basis.

Dispelling misinformation can be a nearly impossible task. Humanity needs to accept that there are always agendas being played out, conspiracies in the works, brutal fights for power and really bad boxing matches on Netflix. Truth is the hardest thing to see through the thick fog of misinformation. Yet it is there!

One must ask themselves, what is good? What is positive? What benefits humanity the greatest?

There are so many distractions that pull us from the truth. Unfortunately, I am not even sure Occam’s razor can cut away all of the garbage that encloses the truth. So why is it so hidden? Humanity wants to shield itself from accountability and conviction. Hide the truth, then make your own morals that benefits you, the individual, not humanity as a whole.

Wokeness thrives on hiding and distorting the truth in order to move its own agenda of denying accountability. Even if you take God out of the equation (theoretically), humanity cannot survive without a moral structure. For example, there are people who want pedophilia to be a “sexual orientation”. Unbelievable. This act is detrimental to children and emotionally damages them for the remainder of their lives. Nobody would benefit from this behavior if it was accepted. Instead, it drives humanity down a road of self-destruction.

I understand this is an extreme and disturbing example, but the same case is truth for rape, murder, enslavement, theft, genocide, etc. These acts push society closer to chaos and has no benefits to humanity as a whole. Within the philosophical ideal of utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill puts forward the “Greatest Happiness Principle.” In this, actions are “right” in proportion as they tend to promote happiness and “wrong” as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.

This “happiness” is not based on the individual, but rather on humanity. Moral actions will benefit all people while immoral actions are the ones that hurt people, even if the person or persons acting benefit from it.

Our goal should be to strive to reach the higher “good” for the human race as a whole. The less suffering, the more we will find happiness in living. The “anything goes” attitude will lead to the destruction of civilized society. Cut through the garbage that the misinformation train dumps on your doorstep.

Be the insurrection.

Difficult Motivation

This is a day and age where we can easily dive into a pool of hopelessness and depression. Everything around appears to be crumbling at the seams and spiraling out of control. People are faced with inflation, war, hate, weather disasters, and crime filled streets.

Motivation can be hard to come by. In reality, many have already given up, retreating to quiet corners and closing their eyes, hoping it ends. Others stand up and try to make a difference only to be crushed under the weight of conformity and wokeness

Will you continue to let society control you and your life? It is very easy to just sit back and complain that the world is a mess. You can say, “there is nothing I can do about it.” Yet, we can do something about it. Dig deep find that motivation to make a stand for what is right and moral. Righteousness will always shine in the darkness of adversity.

In a world of darkness, we must rise up and say that we will not be imprisoned by the corrupted values of our society. Be the ones who will not conform and live in fear. Our faith must always be uncompromising and barbaric. There is right and wrong; moral and immoral, and we need to eliminate the moral “grey” area including these fluid ethics this country waves around at us like a cheap carnival prize. Society loves that moral grey area, planting their feet firmly in its mucky ground, looking to suck you down into its putrid stench.

It is time to fight back and make a stand! Be prepared to be resisted. Making this moral stand will make enemies and could label you an outcast. It is a hard road if we choose not to conform and enslave ourselves to this compromised existence. How do you know if you are travelling in the path that is right? You will face constant opposition.

I will close with a quote from Winston Churchill:

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

Nothing is more powerful than raw, focused motivation. I challenge you to be the difference and don’t bow down to the woke idols.

Climb Aboard! We Will Show You the Way.

Once again, we are at that time when our lives are bombarded by politics. Every four years, we elect a president who is always preceded by a vicious campaign of personal attacks and name calling. Each candidate has a plan to “help” the nation’s citizens.

Is anyone else tired of the exhausting circus? I know that I am.

We become obsessed with our politicians, wanting them to make changes and improve our lives. We are so focused and dependent that we also look to them for moral direction. Don’t forget, they are humans like you and me. They have no authority to give moral direction. Human thinking is flawed and corrupted with power and control being a huge temptation.

There is the old saying; absolute power corrupts absolutely.  It seems almost cliche to the point that we state it like a punchline to a joke. Yet, I like to state that with more power comes more temptation to abuse that power.

Putting our faith and moral direction in the hands of our politicians is a huge risk; dare I say, an easy way to trick ourselves. The trick is that we let another flawed individual or group guide our ethics as we travel through the raging river of existence. Why risk trusting a navigator who may drive the boat into the rocks or even toss you over to make the boat lighter?

Don’t get into the doomed ship and be chained to an oar, hoping to see the light of day as you row the vessel to an unknown destination under the command of a control hungry monger.

Buy the kayak and direct your own way through life. Be an individual, not part of an enslaved collective rowing under the monotone beat of a drum.

One response to “Climb Aboard! We Will Show You the Way.”

  1. dutifullygrande0152c653d Avatar
    dutifullygrande0152c653d

    Yes I am tired of all the lies and bashing.Human thinking is flawed and for me I will not get on board the boat of destruction , I choose the kyak for the moral direction through this life. My faith is in the One who made me!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment

Tightening the Grip

How do we curb the violence that plagues our streets? Each day, we are bombarded with reports of assaults, road rage, gunshot victims, and even attempts to assassinate a presidential candidate.  It spirals worse and worse each day. I should not have to worry everytime I leave my home that my life could be in jeopardy.

So, what is the response? The first thing I always hear is, “Take guns away.” OK, but it is not guns doing the violent behavior. It is people. If you take guns away, it’s like sticking a large rock in a flowing stream. The water will find a way around it. People will continue to find a way to act out this behavior, not to mention expanding the black market

What about more police? Flooding our streets with more police gives a sense of martial law. Unfortunately, the police forces are already stretched thin thanks to budget cuts and the lack of willing people to take up the task. Even now, in Pittsburgh, there will be no police presence on the streets from 3am to 7am.

Jails are overcrowded and are just holding people for their crimes. In most cases, there is very little effort to reform prisioners with the hope of being able to give people a chance to change their lives for the better. Prisons are not correcting the problem. Instead, they are like a petri dish developing a culture of deep-rooted immorality and violence.

This is NOT what prisons were meant to accomplish.

There is no “quick fix” to the expanding violence across this country. We need to push for reform and a re-establishment of morality in our country. This “anything goes” attitude is driving us deeper and deeper into chaos. We need to focus on the disease, not just treat the symptoms.

“The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.” – Princess Leia

May be a quote from a movie, but a truth proven throughout history.