On the Subject of Disrespect

This is the beginnings of a list of disrespects that I see perpetrated on a daily basis. I believe these seemingly insignificant acts are only a symptom of our selfish society and that if one were to take the time to avoid participating in these disrespects, respect for fellow man would improve. Then maybe one day promoting morals and Christian values will be the popular thing (I know, that's a far-fetched dream).

#1. When in a traffic jam- of vehicles or bodies- pushing, budging, creating new lines, etc to get to the front and get out, not caring what happens to those behind or that those behind may have been waiting longer. (How many times have you waited in a parking lot line longer than you needed to because people kept driving to the front to budge their way out?)

#2. Taking up the entire breadth of a sidewalk and not scooting over for oncoming people.

#3. Throwing your gum anywhere but the trash. For that matter, throwing any trash anywhere but the trash. (How disrespectful to those that have to clean up after you.)

#4. NOT PUTTING YOUR CARTS AWAY WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED USING THEM. (I think prices could decrease if stores didn't have to pay people to clean up after you!)

#5. Going through the express lanes when you have more items than the limit.

Only One Did That For Me

Awesome lyrics from Downhere.

How many kings stepped down from their thrones,

How many lords have abandoned their homes,

How many greats have become the least

For me?

How many gods have poured out their hearts

To romance a world that is torn all apart,

How many fathers gave up their sons

For me?

Only One did that for me.

Merry Christmas!

On the Subject of Healthcare

Those in favor of a single-payer, government-run healthcare system claim that such an institution is better--more considerate of its patients and their health. The site these reasons (for starters):

• There are only 3 major insurance companies in the industry and they are monopolizing it.
• Insurance companies are raising prices and changing their policies unfairly.
• The companies are dropping customers for 'petty' reasons and to the detriment of the patient's health.

Interestingly, if you seriously look at what a single-payer, government-run healthcare system will actually look like, you will see:

• A monopoly
• A monopoly that can raise prices and change policies however it sees fit
• A monopoly that will drop customers for 'petty' reasons because it can't afford to cover minor treatments, all to the detriment of the patient's health

The claim that an insurance company is monopolizing its industry attempts to cast monopolies as evil--in the interest of profits rather than the greater good. However, one of the basic rules of economics states that when governments enter into an economy with legislation, true unfairness happens--via unequal prices for value. An industry that has a LEGISLATED monopoly equals the real evil, not the industry with the capitalistic monopoly.

So in their quest to make healthcare better for the common good, proponents are actually destroying the best healthcare option and proposing one that does not have patients' best interest in mind.

On the Subject of Abortion

I am pro-life-pro-choice. 

 

Pro-life: I believe life begins at conception and anything done to terminate a baby is murder.

 

Pro-choice: I believe the choice is in the actions, not in the consequences. I believe your choice was to have sex. Pregnancy is a consequence (good or bad) of having sex, and if you want to risk that consequence by engaging in sex, that is YOUR CHOICE. I believe that once you are pregnant, you have many choices about what the child's future will be, but murder is not one of them.

 

The 'what if' questions are always raised in debates, and while 'what ifs' in any debate are always possible, they are almost always rare. "What if the woman was raped?" "What if the woman's life is in danger because of the pregnancy?" Again, these instances are very rare. But no matter the circumstance of the conception or the events during pregnancy, the child is still a child and to terminate would still be murder. A rape does not make a child a non-child and pregnancy problems do not make one life more important than another. No, it is not fair that a man rape a woman and leave her pregnant, and no, it is not fair that a woman could die because of the baby inside of her, but LIFE IS NOT FAIR. It isn't fair that my dad was almost killed and is now disabled because some guy was careless. It isn't fair that my husband has to take care of his mother. But unfair circumstances do not justify murder; unfair circumstances show true character. 

 

The fact that these questions are even raised shows a shift of our society in fundamental beliefs. Firstly, we have lost the value of life. We do not see life as precious and have become elitists to think that one life is more important than another. Secondly, we have lost personal responsibility. We engage in activities we know the consequences of, and when those consequences happen we blame everyone and everything else to justify the absolving of those them. The Pro-Choice movement is, at its core, a belief that one can choose his or her consequences. What a ridiculous notion! In promoting the idea of consequence choices, we have pushed our society even farther away from people accepting personal responsibility.

 

 And thus, I believe the abortion problem in our society is a result of our lack of valuing life and our lack of personal responsibility.

On the Subject of Perfection

Francesca Batistelli has a song in which the chorus says, "Perfection is my enemy". I understand that she is trying to say she struggles very hard with becoming perfect: "...I got a couple dents in my fender...On my own I'm so clumsy..." But stating that perfection is an enemy is a very strong statement!
 
Jesus is the definition of perfection, just as He is the definition of truth and God is the definition of love. To say that perfection is your enemy is saying that Jesus is your enemy.
 
It is not lost on me that lyricists, poets, and other writers try to express their feelings in metaphor-free, unique ways, but I think sometimes we try so hard to sound original that we aren't aware of what we are saying. Whether your content is 'theologically thick', doctrine is still important, and ignoring the doctrinal foundation of Christianity is reckless, to say the least.

On the Subject of the Word "Public"

This is my current list of things in our culture that have the word public in them that are NOT government-funded.

• Public golf course
• Public restroom (not rest areas)
• Certified Public Accountant
• "open to the public"

It is an interesting, and tragic in my opinion, fact that this list is so small and that the word public has come to be synonomous with government-funded in the USA.

On the Subject of Google

Do you ever try to Google your name or username? It's quite fun, and sometimes a little scary, to see articles and pages that include and/or are about you and those that are about other people with the same name.