Random Reflections Pt17

71. The local elementary school was displaying artwork at my store today. One of the biggest displays was a set of “Death Day” dioramas. A cardboard box with a picture of a deceased loved one inside, surrounded by a few of their favorite things and – get this – paper cut-outs of dancing skeletons. I thought it was rather morbid and disturbed.

And then I dug a little deeper.

My tax dollars are going to fund tweens making low-quality art projects about a very personal matter, the design of which is based on a holiday not even belonging to their culture! What did this teach them? What did they take away from this exercise that will benefit them at any time in the next 80 or years that they’re alive? How could, in a free market, anyone sell this a good expenditure of money to a rational adult?

72. One of the many things that few people understand is that you can’t CONTROL anyone. No threat, law, words, restraining order, plea, or request can control another humans’ actions if they decide not to obey.

Sure, you can threaten them with dire consequences. You can convince them to do something. You can punish them at threat of violence if they do not do your bidding. But the honest truth is every human being chooses what they’re going to do. Whether they go along with laws or not, societal conventions, little niceties, proper etiquette, it’s all a matter of choice. We make this choice because deep down, we want everyone else to (whether we want to or not), and a majority of people sharing this opinion has decided to hurt us if we don’t follow some basic (and a whole lot of not so basic) principles. But ultimately, we still CHOOSE to play along.

You can’t make someone play if they don’t want to. You can do any number of horrible things to them, up to and including taking their life, but you can’t force them to do anything they do not choose to.

73. If their signs are to be believed, according to the Salvation Army, Need Knows No Season. Despite this, they only appear around Christmas. What gives?

74. A person can still be good and do bad things. The federal agents who bankrupt a family for possessing endangered bird feathers they picked up at the bird feeder can still have husbands and wives and kids and can still love their cats. The judge who sends a guy to prison for having a smoothbore .22LR rifle 16 inches long can still buy his grandkids Christmas presents and sit on his back porch and watch the sun go down. The youths marching off to die for the Fuhrer probably didn’t believe that the only people who deserved to live were blue-eyed blondes. They probably had dogs when they were kids and went to school and hugged their parents before they left for the war.

Evil is a description we like to place on those who oppose us. The problem is, the majority of the people who get that title don’t deserve it. The majority of them are good people. But they still do evil things.And evil should always be punished, even when performed by good people.

75. What is permissible in the quest to survive? What can legitimately and justly be done to remain on the green side of the grass? Is there anything we cannot justify for survival?

Can we apply what we justify for our survival to the survival of others?

Can we apply what we justify for our survival to the defense of liberty?

A wiser man than I once said "Extremism in pursuit of liberty is no vice, and moderation in defense of tyranny is no virtue."