Ramblings of a High School Drop Out

I have always said that one of the most dangerous things you can do is put me in a room by myself and let me think. And I have been thinking, I have never written on my own blog.... so if I did, what would I write? Well, I don't know so I thought I would just ramble a little. I have been thinking about the last four or five years and all the people I know, and people I have been involved with. Friendships I have tried to create and friendships I have made ( some very good friendships by the way). And those are so worth it! Anyway, in my vocation I run into a great many people from all walks of life and all age groups. And I have developed a habit of observing people over the last three or four years more than ever before, and as I observe people, I have noticed that large majority of them claim to be conservatives. But how can that be, I have wondered? And so I have thought about it alot. So here are some of my thoughts.

I have always considered myself a conservative, but how so? And by what standard. or should I say who's standard? To who or what am I comparing myself? and I ask you the same question. Because you compare yourself to today's liberal doesn't make you a conservative. Conservative by today's standard doesn't make you a conservative by the standards of days gone by. I have observed that it is the younger conservatives ( my age and under) who tend to think with their heart rather than their heads. This is largely because of how they were raised. Reared by parents who did not train them against their " liberal thinking and natures". "which we all have" These young people have grown up to call themselves conservative, yet unbeknownst to them, they are in fact liberal.

My grandfather was a conservative. He didn't want credit or a hand out from anyone. He went to work when he was sick. I'm talking about vomiting and running a temperature. He went anyway. He kept a large garden and canned all they could eat and sold the rest. Kept the temperature in the house very low in the winter. He had a good job but lived below his means. And would have it no other way. Compared to my Grandfather I am a flaming liberal. But some of my friends who consider themselves conservatives have found me to be conservative to an extreme, but I know I am not. And I bet you're not so conservative either. I propose that liberalism is, in fact the natural condition of the human heart. It is the duty of parents to train liberalism out of their children, and that is where the rub begins. Left untrained, children bu nature become liberal. For one to become conservative, that is if your parents didn't do their job, takes a couple of things. First, you must realize your natural liberal nature, and second, it will take hard work and a change of attitude. For us to grow into conservatives, we must be trained against our nature. And the same is true for our children. Because our children are born liberal. To be born liberal means that we are born emotional. all of us. We come into the world determined to survive, and we express ourselves to get what we need: Waaa! and Mom feeds us; Waaa! And our diaper is changed; as infants, our strong will can keep us alive and the more outspoken we are, the more our needs are met. And so it continues, unless you have a wise parent who stops it. I have been observing my son training his son ( my grandson) and much to my delight he is in fact training out the liberal nature of my grandson. Some have said " I don't think you Drapers need to be so hard" to which I sometimes answer, "This boy has some of my genes and you have no idea how big of a favor we are doing you." My dad was hard on me, but in my opinion he would have done me a favor if he had been twice as hard! And I don't konw for sure; but if you ask him, I'll bet my son yould say the same thing. So let us clear this up. From birth, we are all driven by passion. We want what we want, when we want it, and we refuse things we do not want. As young children we beg or more often scream for what we want and turn up our nose at what we don't want. By nature we hate having to wait and demand immediate gratification it is in all of us. And we throw fits when we do not get our way. We want to gratify ourselves and loathe the idea of reaping consequences for our actions. Thiat is liberalism. We must fight it. If we don't who will set the example for our children? It is a parents' job to train children to have self control. Incidentely, the happiest two year old I have ever seen is my grandson. You know, the one some think my son is being hard on. children need boundaries. a society whose children are not raised to have self control will be out of control and reprehensible! And we must set the example. We must lead by walking in the truth ourselves. But if you're liberal, this won't be easy, because it takes self discipline. You will have to say no to self. To walk in the truth is more than to give assent to it. It means to apply it to one's behavior. He who "walks in the truth" is an integrated Christian in whom there is no dichotomy between profession and practice. On the contrary, there is in him and exact correspondence between his creed and conduct. And that will lead to what it means to wlak in the truth and being honest with the scriptures.