Issues of the Day

It has been suggested that I am a broken record sounding out the same topics, positions and arguments. I plead guilty to all points. I view this is consistency! Hopefully you are not bored by consistency. If we hear the same message enough times we may remember it and live by it day by day. And adaptively. You never know when a curve ball is tossed and we have to change.

To set the record straight here are the primary issues I think we are dealing with:

1.      Personal growth; we are constantly challenged to adapt to the environment but struggle to maintain our footing and moral compass

2.      Educational effectiveness; our society has the key role of nurturing its people; education is one of those primary functions of parental responsibility; society’s nurturing role would include educational systems worthy of our continuing support

3.      Health care and support systems; this is another primary role of family and society; universal health care exists in all progressive societies; this policy is humane and efficient, too. America needs to move in that direction

4.      National governance; the ideology that supports the above while adhering to the tenets of Abraham Lincoln (“…of the people, by the people, for the people…”) gets my support every time. Twisted interpretations of the Constitution are to be avoided. To my way of thinking this makes me a Moderate, not conservative or liberal. I prefer to label myself, thank you!

5.      Freedom of Religion; this allows you to believe what you may and live your life accordingly. It also allows me to live my life by my theological beliefs. Mutual respect and tolerance for our religious differences is inherent in this value statement. Do not legislate your religious values; I don’t need such an imposition; neither do you deserve it!

6.      Economic realities and governance; the role of government includes managing our national economy for the good of its people. That requires fairness so that those who take real risks gain the most reward, while those who need the basics have them available to them. Economics ought not be managed on political grounds but on human decency and real laws of economics.

7.      Live by the Golden Rule; we really are happiest when we do unto others as we would want them to do unto us. It is very simple. Nastiness of spirit and behavior is not welcome or rewarded. Live with respect for self and others. Let your actions demonstrate this commitment.

I’m sure I can list more issues, but I think these are really the basics. Everything else flows from these topics. Science flows from a confluence of education, science and religion. Governance relies on education, economics and people living together with respect for differences of believe and circumstance.

Rocky located this quote on the Internet I thought spoke well to all of the above:

“A teacher was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stomp on it and really mess it up but be careful not to rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty it was. She then told them to tell it they’re sorry. Now ever though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bullies another child. They may say they’re sorry but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home.”

Rodney King asked us: “Can’t we just get along?”  His question still stands. We don’t get along. Maybe if we all tried harder and made sure we made this expectation real in our daily living, others would feel compelled to live up to the expectation? We can only hope. But first we have to try.

August 15, 2012