In 1951 Kurt Vonnegut published a collection of short stories. This story tells of an Army Colonel that crashes on the Asiatic Mainland. He is basically forced to play a game of chess with real people. He has to make decisions that will forever alter his live and those closest to him. If you have not read this story, I highly recommend you read it and other by Vonnegut. People should read and learn from others of all genres, eras, and countries. It allows us to make better and more informed decisions.
Over the last 2 years a movement has risen from the ashes. It is called Black Lives Matter. I will use BLM as the abbreviation throughout this post and future posts. This is a movement that at heart has some good intentions. I honestly know and believe there are people out that that fear for their lives when dealing with our police community. They either grew up with a bad experience or have had multiple run-ins with the law. Even as adults who have had run-ins with law enforcement we sometimes are a little fearful of the power they hold. To me this is actually understandable to a point.
We tend to fear the unknown. As adults we want all our friends and family to be safe and taken care of each and everyday. What happens though is we make bad decisions. We have all been there and some will be there again. We learn as we get older that mistakes will happen. Most of us learn from those mistakes and know not to do them again. The problem we have is some people who are not able to see or understand the reasons why they were in trouble. They believe it is not their fault and others are to blame.
This thought process can come from many different areas. It can come from school, home, friends, relatives and the media. For years the way our children grow and learn has changed dramatically. When my dad was a kid he would go to school and after school get his sisters home to help do chores. These chores included taking care of the animals and working in the fields. If you have never picked cotton by hand, you should at least one time and learn from that experience.
During the great depression many people suffered great hardships. They went without food, shoes, adequate clothing and even shelter. People were forced to work at jobs they would have never considered. Older children in the families had to work as well. This was all to support the family unit. This was not for self promotion or your individual rights. You did what you had to so you could survive.
People across racial, educational, and religious lines shared the same hardships during this time. They came together to support one another or their family. They worked together to keep the family in tact. These same people understood a few fundamental ideas that existed in our society. The first was respect the law, next was respect your elders, and the last was respect one another. People who had only 3rd grade educations or no education at all understood the principles previously listed. In the same era there were people with college degrees that could not fathom standing in a bread line for food, wearing hand-me-down clothes or sleeping on a dirt floor.
These are all people who grew up in the same time and era. They came from different worlds. In today's society we have the same division of people. The difference is we seem to have a larger number of people less likely to work for what they need. We have a huge part of society that has been told they will be taken care of in time of need. Not to pull yourself up by your boot straps and get back on the horse.
Since that time our educational system and society has changed dramatically. We use to teach many of life's basic fundamentals. Life skills were taught to every person in school. At first it was segregated by genders. Men went to shop class and women to home economics. That later changed and should have in my opinion. People learned skills that would allow them to be functioning and contributing members of society.
The next problem is media. This maybe one of the biggest problems we have in this country. We should have freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom of religion. Those can exist together as long as one does not infringe on the other right. I think those freedoms are listed somewhere too... the place escapes me.
We are living in a culture that will sit back and allow movies, TV shows, and insta-everything show breasts, butts, and everything else at the click of a button. We expose our kids to indiscretions that they should be clueless about at a very young age. We have video games that allow users to kill and destroy other people. We have groups of people that are advocating the destruction and killing of law enforcement. Our "media" and reporters have taken sides in society and are telling you what they "think" you should hear and read. They are working on a world that they want to see, or more apropos, a world their corporate owners want to see. Mainly to make more money. Sex does sell!
When all of this is looked at as a whole we should be appalled as a society. We should stand up and stand for what is right and wrong. We allow trivial words and statements take a larger role than how we act as a society. I know a lot of people that sit back and do not say anything. They keep their opinions to themselves and get along in life just fine. They let the way they lead their life show who they really are as humans. Most of the time these people are extremely successful. These people make great achievements in their life time.
This country use to have an element of civility taught in schools and even at home. A good chunk of this came from Churches. Traits such as civility goes hand in hand with how we react and treat others. There are bad messages in every part of our society. There are even bad messages in certain churches. I have personally heard those messages myself. The game changer though is that not all are bad. A majority of churches and ministries do good in our society. Soup kitchens exist today because of churches and private charities in the depression era.
When people grew up poor in this country they were humbled by experience and as they grew older obtaining more in life. They understood their beginnings and always did right by others. They treated everyone with respect. With the rise in social media we have caused people to rely on what people post and not the content of reasons behind why. We don't fact check sources. We don't even care a lot of times, as long as it agrees with our beliefs and train of thought. The problem is, we have less morals, and civility to help guide us in life and see through the BS that exists today.
Today's schools are filled with computers, TVs. Wifi, and many other distractions that take away from learning. Even I am old enough to have gone through all of my grade school years without the use of computers on a daily basis. We had computers in college that were mainly used for research and writing papers.
There are a lot of traits and qualities that our country has lost and continues to loose. I believe we can attribute this to the fact that we are losing our religion. We are allowing elitism to flow like water and teaching that to our children. That means you believe you are entitled to more than you have in life. You feel you are owed what others have in life. People are taught by organizations and certain political groups that they have been oppressed and it's not their fault.
There is a lot to be said for taking responsibility for your own actions. Accepting that you are in your current situation due to your own actions. Good or bad, you are there and you have to deal with the results. We no longer teach our kids to pull themselves up by the boot straps. We no longer teach our kids that we don't do or say certain things because it's morally wrong. People from the depression era achieved great tasks in life. They literally grew form the ashes stronger and rose like a Phoenix.
All of this has allowed a level of dis-respect to rise in our country. We now feel and see it's okay to dis-respect anyone that does not agree with our ideas. If we yell loud enough about that dis-respect we will get our 15 minutes of fame. The next problem to follow is lawlessness. People and groups are no longer taking to peaceful protests. They are taking to killing, looting and destroying communities. We feel it's okay to do all this because someone was "wronged".
We as a society are now forced to choose between 2 evils. This is a choice that has come down for generations. We have allowed our government step in too many times and tell us what is right and what is wrong. In the past a community would decide it's moral compass. Now we have courts telling us what that compass should read. We have POTUS, Congressman and Senators preaching to us about the right and wrong in our communities. When for decades they have worked to only line their own pockets.
Revolution is a natural step when society looses its path. We have a few revolutions rising in this country. The question is which will succeed. Will it be the BLM movement? Will it be the rural communities? Or will it be the christian movement?
A fight has come to our country. It has now been decades in the making. We need to purge D.C. We need to stop listening to groups of people that have a moral compass that is flawed. We also need to start getting back to basics. Hand written words, less social media and more time with families will be a great start. We start treating each other at home with respect and that will eventually bleed out into other parts of society.
All the Kings Horses seems like such a far stretch of a story. When you read it you feel like, how can this happen? The problem is we are in the middle of the chess match now. We all are starting to make decisions that affect the lives of ones we care for dearly. Some people have no problem with the responsibilities it takes to stay alive. The question now is which ones will stay alive to win the match?
"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe." ~ Frederick Douglass
Over the last 2 years a movement has risen from the ashes. It is called Black Lives Matter. I will use BLM as the abbreviation throughout this post and future posts. This is a movement that at heart has some good intentions. I honestly know and believe there are people out that that fear for their lives when dealing with our police community. They either grew up with a bad experience or have had multiple run-ins with the law. Even as adults who have had run-ins with law enforcement we sometimes are a little fearful of the power they hold. To me this is actually understandable to a point.
We tend to fear the unknown. As adults we want all our friends and family to be safe and taken care of each and everyday. What happens though is we make bad decisions. We have all been there and some will be there again. We learn as we get older that mistakes will happen. Most of us learn from those mistakes and know not to do them again. The problem we have is some people who are not able to see or understand the reasons why they were in trouble. They believe it is not their fault and others are to blame.
This thought process can come from many different areas. It can come from school, home, friends, relatives and the media. For years the way our children grow and learn has changed dramatically. When my dad was a kid he would go to school and after school get his sisters home to help do chores. These chores included taking care of the animals and working in the fields. If you have never picked cotton by hand, you should at least one time and learn from that experience.
During the great depression many people suffered great hardships. They went without food, shoes, adequate clothing and even shelter. People were forced to work at jobs they would have never considered. Older children in the families had to work as well. This was all to support the family unit. This was not for self promotion or your individual rights. You did what you had to so you could survive.
People across racial, educational, and religious lines shared the same hardships during this time. They came together to support one another or their family. They worked together to keep the family in tact. These same people understood a few fundamental ideas that existed in our society. The first was respect the law, next was respect your elders, and the last was respect one another. People who had only 3rd grade educations or no education at all understood the principles previously listed. In the same era there were people with college degrees that could not fathom standing in a bread line for food, wearing hand-me-down clothes or sleeping on a dirt floor.
These are all people who grew up in the same time and era. They came from different worlds. In today's society we have the same division of people. The difference is we seem to have a larger number of people less likely to work for what they need. We have a huge part of society that has been told they will be taken care of in time of need. Not to pull yourself up by your boot straps and get back on the horse.
Since that time our educational system and society has changed dramatically. We use to teach many of life's basic fundamentals. Life skills were taught to every person in school. At first it was segregated by genders. Men went to shop class and women to home economics. That later changed and should have in my opinion. People learned skills that would allow them to be functioning and contributing members of society.
The next problem is media. This maybe one of the biggest problems we have in this country. We should have freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom of religion. Those can exist together as long as one does not infringe on the other right. I think those freedoms are listed somewhere too... the place escapes me.
We are living in a culture that will sit back and allow movies, TV shows, and insta-everything show breasts, butts, and everything else at the click of a button. We expose our kids to indiscretions that they should be clueless about at a very young age. We have video games that allow users to kill and destroy other people. We have groups of people that are advocating the destruction and killing of law enforcement. Our "media" and reporters have taken sides in society and are telling you what they "think" you should hear and read. They are working on a world that they want to see, or more apropos, a world their corporate owners want to see. Mainly to make more money. Sex does sell!
When all of this is looked at as a whole we should be appalled as a society. We should stand up and stand for what is right and wrong. We allow trivial words and statements take a larger role than how we act as a society. I know a lot of people that sit back and do not say anything. They keep their opinions to themselves and get along in life just fine. They let the way they lead their life show who they really are as humans. Most of the time these people are extremely successful. These people make great achievements in their life time.
This country use to have an element of civility taught in schools and even at home. A good chunk of this came from Churches. Traits such as civility goes hand in hand with how we react and treat others. There are bad messages in every part of our society. There are even bad messages in certain churches. I have personally heard those messages myself. The game changer though is that not all are bad. A majority of churches and ministries do good in our society. Soup kitchens exist today because of churches and private charities in the depression era.
When people grew up poor in this country they were humbled by experience and as they grew older obtaining more in life. They understood their beginnings and always did right by others. They treated everyone with respect. With the rise in social media we have caused people to rely on what people post and not the content of reasons behind why. We don't fact check sources. We don't even care a lot of times, as long as it agrees with our beliefs and train of thought. The problem is, we have less morals, and civility to help guide us in life and see through the BS that exists today.
Today's schools are filled with computers, TVs. Wifi, and many other distractions that take away from learning. Even I am old enough to have gone through all of my grade school years without the use of computers on a daily basis. We had computers in college that were mainly used for research and writing papers.
There are a lot of traits and qualities that our country has lost and continues to loose. I believe we can attribute this to the fact that we are losing our religion. We are allowing elitism to flow like water and teaching that to our children. That means you believe you are entitled to more than you have in life. You feel you are owed what others have in life. People are taught by organizations and certain political groups that they have been oppressed and it's not their fault.
There is a lot to be said for taking responsibility for your own actions. Accepting that you are in your current situation due to your own actions. Good or bad, you are there and you have to deal with the results. We no longer teach our kids to pull themselves up by the boot straps. We no longer teach our kids that we don't do or say certain things because it's morally wrong. People from the depression era achieved great tasks in life. They literally grew form the ashes stronger and rose like a Phoenix.
All of this has allowed a level of dis-respect to rise in our country. We now feel and see it's okay to dis-respect anyone that does not agree with our ideas. If we yell loud enough about that dis-respect we will get our 15 minutes of fame. The next problem to follow is lawlessness. People and groups are no longer taking to peaceful protests. They are taking to killing, looting and destroying communities. We feel it's okay to do all this because someone was "wronged".
We as a society are now forced to choose between 2 evils. This is a choice that has come down for generations. We have allowed our government step in too many times and tell us what is right and what is wrong. In the past a community would decide it's moral compass. Now we have courts telling us what that compass should read. We have POTUS, Congressman and Senators preaching to us about the right and wrong in our communities. When for decades they have worked to only line their own pockets.
Revolution is a natural step when society looses its path. We have a few revolutions rising in this country. The question is which will succeed. Will it be the BLM movement? Will it be the rural communities? Or will it be the christian movement?
A fight has come to our country. It has now been decades in the making. We need to purge D.C. We need to stop listening to groups of people that have a moral compass that is flawed. We also need to start getting back to basics. Hand written words, less social media and more time with families will be a great start. We start treating each other at home with respect and that will eventually bleed out into other parts of society.
All the Kings Horses seems like such a far stretch of a story. When you read it you feel like, how can this happen? The problem is we are in the middle of the chess match now. We all are starting to make decisions that affect the lives of ones we care for dearly. Some people have no problem with the responsibilities it takes to stay alive. The question now is which ones will stay alive to win the match?
"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe." ~ Frederick Douglass
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