RIP Common Sense

Someone sent this to me today. I had to pass it on.

"Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

"Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

"His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

"Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

"It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

"Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

"Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

"Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

"Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility and by his son, Reason.

"He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers: I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame and I'm A Victim.

"Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing."

Personal Responsibility

I wanted to talk today about a value that I believe holds the key to really put this country back on track as well as increase the trust people have amongst each other. That value is personal responsibility. It is something that over the last several decades has been on the decline. We have all heard the saying that not only actions, but decisions we make, have consequences. We have also heard the saying, “you made your bed, now sleep in it.” A lot of people are of the opinion that these sayings are cliché and don’t really matter, as they feel anything cliché does not. Interesting thing about clichés, they became cliché precisely because they are grounded in truth. Personal responsibility is the glue that holds so many other principles and values together. As we have seen its decline, we have also seen the decline of other values and a decline in civilization itself.

How do I define personal responsibility? I define it as being willing to accept the consequences of your actions. To know that you are in the situation you are in because of your own decisions. It has not been caused by some outside force or the actions of another person. Even if you find yourself in the worst of circumstances, you have the power to pull yourself out. If you don’t like where you are at in life, be it your career, your relationships, your spiritual life, whatever; recognize that something needs to change and then do what is necessary to improve the situation. I also believe, if you make a decision, you accept how it affects other people and realize that you had an impact, be it positive or negative.

How has personal responsibility been on the decline? I believe it comes to a general feeling of victimhood. Somebody did this to me, therefore my life sucks and somebody should fix it for me. What a load of bull. Victimhood is one of the greatest schemes perpetrated by those in power, be it political or any other type of power. By making you feel like you are a victim and pushing that it is the fault of some other person, group, or vast conspiracy, they keep you hooked on their solution. I don’t want to delve too much into victimhood, because that is a whole topic in itself. It boils down to somebody telling you, you don’t have the power to pull yourself up, and therefore absolving you of any personal responsibility.
The other issue is the feeling of, what I do doesn’t matter. I’m the only person it’s going to hurt, so it’s ok. Everything we do in life has an effect on not only ourselves, but the people around us and our environment. Besides, who would want to do anything potentially harmful or negative to themselves? I know it sounds counterproductive, but some people just get so down and depressed they figure it doesn’t matter. We are ultimately responsible for our decisions; therefore we should accept that responsibility. Here is a case in point; I had a young girl call into my job the other day asking if we offer Plan B Contraceptive and if so how much. I gave her the information, and thought, if you are going to be sexually active or even think you may be and you don’t want to get pregnant, maybe you should be responsible about it before hand.

So, what should we all be doing about it? First, take responsibility for your own life and actions. That involves thinking a little bit before making a decision. If you make a decision that has an adverse affect on your or anyone else, man up to it and claim the responsibility that is yours. If you are not satisfied with a particular area in your life, FIX IT YOURSELF. Don’t sit around hoping that something will happen or someone will come along in your life that will make everything better. We only have the things in our life that are a must, not the things that are just wants or we should have done. To borrow a phrase from Mr. Robbins, some people just should all over themselves. Does that mean we aren’t going to have any pain or disappointment in life? Of course not! What is important is that we take responsibility for our lives, learn from them, make ourselves better, and by extension improve the lives of those around us.

Promised Joke

Below is the email joke that I promised. Remember it goes to shed light on how people are feeling regarding those that represent them and the associated disconnect from principles.

On a Saturday afternoon, in Washington, D. C., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's aide visited the Cardinal of the Catholic cathedral. He told the Cardinal that Nancy Pelosi would be attending the next day's mass, and he asked if the Cardinal would kindly point out Pelosi to the congregation and say a few words that would include calling Pelosi a saint. The Cardinal replied, "No. I don't really like the woman, and there are issues of conflict with the Catholic Church over certain of Pelosi's views." Pelosi's aide then said, "Look. I'll write a check here and now for a donation of $100,000 to your church if you'll just tell the congregation you see Pelosi as a saint." The Cardinal thought about it and said, "Well, the church can use the money, so I'll work your request into tomorrow's homily." As Pelosi's aide promised, House Speaker Pelosi appeared for the Sunday mass and seated herself prominently at the edge of the main aisle. And, during the homily, as promised, the Cardinal pointed out that House Speaker Pelosi was present. Then the Cardinal went on to explain to the congregation -- "While Speaker Pelosi's presence is probably an honor to some, she is not my favorite person. Some of her views are contrary to those of the Church, and she tends to flip-flop on many other views. Nancy Pelosi is a petty, self-absorbed hypocrite, a thumb sucker, and a nit-wit. Nancy Pelosi is also a serial liar, a cheat, and a thief. Nancy Pelosi is the worst example of a Catholic I have ever personally witnessed. She married for money and is using it to lie to the American people. She also has a reputation for shirking her Representative obligations both in Washington and in California .. She simply is not to be trusted." The Cardinal completed his view of Pelosi with, "But, when compared to Senators Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd and John Kerry, Congressman Barney Frank, House Speaker Pelosi is a saint."

Politics and Power

I’ve been thinking a lot this morning about politics and the addictive power that it can entrap people with. Most Americans today are feeling a great separation from those that represent them in the political arena and themselves. It is not only seen on the federal level in Washington, but on the state and local levels as well. An article on the National Review website got me thinking about this as well as an email joke I received this morning. Both hit the nail pretty squarely on the head. The story is linked below. I will post the email in a follow up post.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTY5Yjk2NDlmYzcxYTNkODc3NzExMDk4ZDY2ZGIzNTA=

One starts to think, how can this happen? How can people that are supposedly representing the people that elected them get so seduced by this power? I believe it really comes down to a lack of principles and values. One can go into any endeavor with a good purpose at heart, but if you do not have a conviction in solid principles and values you will lose sight of your original purpose. One sees it in all levels of government and even in other areas of life. I know there is a lot of blame and anger thrown in different directions. It is thrown towards lobbyist, corporate executives, large campaign donors, special interest groups, etc. I believe that even without attempted influence by various groups, whatever they may be, that people will still be corrupted by power if they are not anchored in values and principles. If you do not have a solid anchor you will be blown to and fro. You will end up landing at whatever point benefits you the most personally. A point that allows you to keep the power you have grown to love more than anything else in life.

What is the solution to all of this? You have to seek out and find those people that have solid principles and values along with the conviction to stay true to them. If you do not find it amongst those that are running for office, it needs to be found in other people in your communities. I was just reminded of a sequence of events in a Tom Clancy book. In the story, the entire federal government was pretty much wiped out. The new president told the American people, send me your doctors, carpenters, farmers, etc. Do not send me seasoned politicians to represent you. I believe that truly captures what our founding fathers intended. To have good members of a community represent the people for a period of time and then go back to their lives. I don’t believe it was ever intended for representative positions to become a career. It creates the environment necessary to feel you have to do whatever you can to hold onto that power because you don’t have a life to go back to. If you want things fixed and for this country to move back towards its founding principles, you must elect those that have principles and values themselves. As for those that are currently in power, you need to hold their feet to the fire and remind them of the founding principles they should be following and that they work for you. In order to do that, you have to educate yourself about what is going on, where your representatives stand, and contact them continually