November 16, 2011
Ask Mikey
An old TV commercial for Life Cereal has three brothers getting ready
to eat breakfast. Because the box on the table looks ‘healthy’, the two older
boys want their little brother Mikey to taste test the cereal. “Let’s get Mikey to eat it. He won’t eat it,
he hates everything.” A group of citizens recently circulated petitions for
the recall of three elected officials, but the effort failed because they lacked
adequate signatures. As I read over the petition signatures I was surprised to
find that some of those calling for the ouster of the elected didn’t even the petitions
they were circulating. It sort of reminds me of the Chief Priests stirring up
the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead of Jesus. ‘Let’s get Mikey to do it…’
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2 comments:
Gail;
-----It’s kind of like Obama’s national hellth care bill. Nobody read it before they voted on it. Worse yet, those who supported it were in support of what they hadn’t read. Pelosi even told us we had to pass it to know what was in it. Of course, we all know these things. We are just not supposed to let on like we know them.
-----Where did we go wrong? Was there one corner we turned to get lost, or many? Does the answer really matter now? I think yes. The answer is stronger than the problem. And it doesn’t take deep intellectual learning and sophisticated logic to perceive it. Simple life observations and common sense will do.
-----Look at Occupy Wall Street (OWS). Here is a rally protesting greed. That’s good isn’t it? I mean, the Bible lists greed as one of the vices precluding you from entering the kingdom. Pack your bags! Get your tent! Let’s go! Greed has got to be where we went wrong! After all, it is about self, not others. In fact, it extracts as much from others for as little in return as possible. That sounds like the banking system! Pack your bags! Let’s go OWS! So, those who are greediest will do the least amount possible while expecting the most be given them for their survival and comfort. It almost sounds like a land flowing with milk and honey. A place where sustenance is available just for the effort of raising a hand to pick it from the branches. A heavenly place where eating will no longer be by the sweat of the brow. An utopian place promised by collectivism for over a century.
-----Why hasn’t it worked? Greed is not a component of any economic system. It is a component of the human heart. With pure hearts, collectivism or capitalism will both work sufficiently well (though one better than the other.) But this is not a world of pure hearts. Granted, some are closer to pure than others. And at times larger proportions of populations have had more hearts closer to pure than not. At one time this country had hearts freed in a laissez-faire form of capitalism. Not all of them went to church, of course, or even worshipped the Lord. And not all who did go to church were more upright than vile. But in those times, they were proportionately more pure than today. And of those who did not worship the Lord, more at least felt a semblance of respect towards Him than is felt today. And capitalism generally worked better in those days than today, when it wasn’t being sabotaged by greed.
-----Amongst every population are at least a few hearts far more vile than pure. By greed and cunning they amass fortunes. With fortunes they buy power and position. With power and position they suck up most of the wealth, leaving an impoverished mass ingratiated to them for its very survival. That survival will be a collectivist one, for collectivism best serves greed, because it is the most controllable by the few vilest of humanity.
(continued...)
Love you all,
Steve Corey
(...continued)
-----Now, how did we go wrong? Compare the Tea Party rallies to the OWS protests. They both clogged streets and blocked traffic. The former because it was so massive they did not fit into the parks and onto the sidewalks. The latter because their intention is to disrupt and damage the affairs of others by creating a nuisance. The former rallied to support everyone’s right to work hard, enjoy the fruits of their own labor, and to leave their neighbors free to do the same. The latter protest other’s rights to earn much, insist those earnings be distributed out to themselves, and demand their neighbors agreement (or else they will continue blocking the streets.) The Tea Party made its point by presenting facts and displaying logic, then going home. OWS demands its point by sophistry and the passive bullying of being a nuisance until everybody else gives up.
-----This comparison is just one of multitudinous examples of how we’ve gone wrong. We’ve excused bad behavior to present its sophistry, and we have mistaken this sophistry for good points. We’ve failed to understand that being and doing good does not seek to make everyone the same, it seeks to care about everyone simply. Being good is patient, it does not expect what can’t be fixed now to be fixed now. It is kind, not harsh, unpleasant, or likely to cause destructive effects. Being good is not jealous because some earn more or have more say, and it does not set itself up as a point of reference. It does not frustrate, accuse, or damage others to get its own way; it doesn’t get cantankerous and bitterly despise those who do get their way. It does not greet crisis as opportunity, seizing more control from other‘s troubles, but it takes pleasure in everyone’s genuine well being. So, doing good will tolerate what does not do well while making efforts towards what will do better, because it knows good produces more good and that some good can always be done. So being good does what good it can looking for good’s burgeoning effects while it continues in goodness regardless of how much badness is all around. We’ve failed to understand that being good to one another is simply loving one another, and love tells one another the truth. We made one turn away from good. It’s an easy turn around to make.
-----So, if his love had been more genuine, Mikey - the masses - would not have been silenced by vile people co-opting the fact that no one is all good nor can know all good. We would have talked about the Good One regardless of the bad one’s accusations. We certainly would have taken that talk into the schools regardless of the bad ones’ threats, fines, or jailhouses. Had we continued in goodness even though bad was all around, Mikey would now better know what is actually good and would even know what the meaning of the word “is” is, too. So, what’s Mikey going to like? Will you help Mikey like what’s right? Just go do good, knowing its basically love.
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