Freedoms

Some might wonder what I was thinking when I posted the video regarding the Bundy controversy in Nevada; and to be completely honest it was because I have been thinking a lot about our freedoms lately.  I believe that what is going on in Nevada right now screams out to the people of this nation to step up and reclaim what is ours.  Our government (both parties are to blame) keeps taking away from the people all in the name of  "keeping us safe". 

What is freedom?  Be definition freedom is the power or right to act, speak or think as one would like without hindrance or restraint.  With this in mind, why is it when someone doesn't agree with what you have to say one party or another forgets that you have the freedom, that basic right to speak your mind without hindrance or restraint?  I recently attended a Constitutional Symposium where Elder Dallin H. Oaks (a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) spoke.  He did not speak in a religious capacity but spoke from his many years and vast knowledge in the legal field.

He touched on several things, but the one that stood out to me the most was how intertwined our Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion really is.  With his he talked about simple disagreements, and how often times when we might not agree with someone (my example would be politics) we get labeled as a bigot or a racist.  Do you not find it sad that in a nation of supposed freedoms we are labeled a particular way because we don' see eye to eye with someone? This goes hand and hand with censorship and politically correct speech.  Elder Oaks stated that far too often we see that the marketplace is used to punish those who may say something  that is unpopular in popular culture or how people are criminalized for so called "hate speech".  How often does someone say something and then the media only plays a small clip taking a comment completely out of context.  Far too frequently in my opinion.  Along the same lines we can also see how popular football player Tim Tebow was criticized by many individuals and media outlets for speaking out about his Christian beliefs.  I actually stumbled across an article that harshly criticized him for speaking at a Christian University because the university held to a strict belief of no premarital sex.

 First off, there are several Christian schools that teach this and uphold this moral code and it is their freedom to do so.  The only reason it became controversial is because the lame stream media made it so.  Why does someone with morals not have the freedom to voice their opinion?  I guess because it isn't the "cool" thing to do, but it is their right to exercise their freedoms!  Come on America, there needs to be more Tim Tebow's in the world! He is that rare gem in a garden of weeds! Could we really ask for a better popular role model?

Personally when I think of freedom the word agency also comes to mind.  In the beginning God (or whatever higher power you choose to believe in) gave us all agency, the ability to choose good or bad for ourselves.  In today's world some may call this personal responsibility.  My belief is that I am responsible for the choices I make, no one else...ME!  If I choose to do something bad, I am not free from the consequences of that bad choice.  I have to stand up and take responsibility for the choice I made. In the society we live in we see parents constantly taking away their kids' freedom by not allowing them to reap what they sow.   A prime example happened in 2013 when teens trashed an ex-football players home and the parents instead of being mad at their kids got made at the man and actually threatened to sue him.  Excuse me?  What in the crap is this world coming too?  Many parents do this in the name of "helping" their child, but really what are they teaching them other then they can do whatever and mommy or daddy will be there to clean up the mess. They are not helping them, they are hurting them!  Freedom doesn't mean that we are free from taking responsibility for our actions!

Freedom means different things to different people, so I thought I would take the question to my friends and family on Facebook.  The responses were great!  Here are just a few I thought I would share!

From my good friend James who is currently serving our country and stationed in Afghanistan...

    "Freedom is not being free from consequences.  This is the great lie.  Every decision we make has consequences, especially the private ones.  In fact, I would argue that on an eternal scale it is the decisions we make when no other earthly soul is looking that will have the greatest ramifications on us. So Freedom certainly is not being free from consequences as such is both impossible and immoral.  I would say that Freedom as we have come to define is comprised of three essential parts, First equal opportunity. Everyone in this country has the same opportunities available to them.  Sure some get a leg up the ladder because of birth into wealth or fame, but birth alone does not disqualify anyone in this country from pursuing the desires of their heart. Second would be consistency of consequence for those who are accused of violating our laws.  It is absolutely imperative that the rights of the accused are feverishly protected.  Our Founding Fathers knew this, and that is why the majority of the Bill of Rights deals specifically with this issue.  Third is freedom to change our government.  Looking back through history, examples can be sited were the system failed the first two points I discussed.  No system of government can be perfect because it is both designed and operated by imperfect people (some more than others).  We however, must remember governments are instituted by the people for the sole purpose of protecting its citizens, and when it fails to do so, it is the peoples responsibility  to find out why it failed, and then if necessary change it so it doesn't fail the same way again.  As soon as the people become so complacent that they lose the desire to protect their own freedoms, those freedoms will no longer be theirs to protect."

"Freedom is being able to do what I feel is best for our family." ~ Katie

"Freedom is not the absences of external restrictions but rather the recognition of personal discretion." ~ Mark

I wholeheartedly agree with all what all three said and would even go as far as to point that "We the people" have become to be complacent.  When our government is allowed to spy on us and people say "who cares, I have nothing to hide" they are failing to see that the government is taking away basic freedoms. 

My hope is that as Americans we will wake up before it is too late!

At least for now....

I have every intention to keep the blog up and running (at least for now).  Its finals week so please have a little patience with me as I won't be posting this week, but do have a little something in the works after finals are all over! :)

Bundy Controversy video

I saw this video on Facebook and felt that she sums several things up very nicely so I wanted to share. The last minute (though we all know it wasn't the National Guard that was sent in) she says something important "we don't have to agree" and I believe that several of my posts try to make that point.

The Bomb

Recently, I was having a conversation with a friend and we started to talk about my blog.  As I explained the point of my bog to her, I shared with her that there was one particular word that I had been wanting to write about because you hear so many people using it for shock value.  Without even telling her, she knew exactly what I was talking about because she too knew many individuals who dropped it in for shock value.

The f-bomb!!!

How many times a day do you hear someone use it? "F" this or "F" that.  It has become one of those words in society that people use so interchangeably that the meaning of the word has gotten lost!  I have always understood it to be slang for sex, when I dug around I found more than a few humorous explanations. First, way back when, you needed the King's permission to make babies. Once you had his permission, you were given a sign to hang on your door (cause we all know how important it is for everyone to know your business) "Fornication Under Consent of the King".  Another site linked its beginning to Colonial times and the oldest profession (for those of you who do not get that...prostitution). Stating that it stood "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge"  and a sign was hung on the stock where the prisoner was held.  What's my point, it boils down to this: it is just slang for sex! So next time you let it drop, replace it with the word sex and see how much sense you are making! NONE!

Yes, I am completely aware that people use it in all kinds of context.  I however, through the course of writing my blog have come to a different understanding and look at roots of words and their original meanings, not the meanings modern society has given to them.  I use to be one of those people who dropped it in there (just about every other word), but it has been well over 20 years since I have last uttered the word and surprisingly my vocabulary gets along fine without it!  So, if you are around me and drop it in there for whatsoever reason, don't be surprised if I start to laugh!  After all, it's about having the smarter mouth!

Family

Fam·i·ly

1          1.     A group consisting of parents and children living together in a household

            2. All the descendants of a common ancestor

While these are all well and good, I would like to add another;

            3. Those people who through whatever reason you were brought together and you have bonded with them on a deeper level.  Through thick and thin you will be there for each other.

      I have been married for almost 19 years and the oldest of my four children will be 17 later this year, but I can honestly say that the past 10 years have best shaped my definitions of family.

     Ten years ago, we lived in a four-plex that lovingly became known as "the compound" to those who lived within its walls.  The families that lived here became extremely close after a serious of tragic events.  Within 2 months one family lost their grandparents and the other family lost a child. 

Handen and Elaine

     Elaine was born with congenital heart defects and had to endure more than any sweet child should ever have too.  Elaine was my son's best friend.  I am a firm believer that you always tell the truth; no matter what.  So when Elaine went into the hospital in heart failure, I sat my little Handen down and told him the best I could that Elaine's heart had an "ouchie" and she had to go to the hospital to see if the doctors could fix it. Come this Saturday (April 19th) it will be 10 years since I had to do the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life; I had to sit down and tell my son that his best friend went to Heaven.  With tears streaming down his face, he looked up at me and told me that it would be ok because "Elaine's heart was all better now!" I will forever be amazed at the tender mercies of a 2 1/2 year old boy.

   

             We started out as four individual families willing to help out the neighbors who needed help in a time of need, but we ended up as one big family. There are no words to describe what exactly took place, but we all know that regardless of where life takes us, we will always be there for each other.  As one of the members of the “compound” would so eloquently put it we are “brothers/sisters from another mother”.  I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I am closer to these individuals then I am some members of my own "blood" family.

     Nothing hurts worse than knowing that you have an entire family who wants nothing to do with you.  Just a few short years ago, I learned that I had an entire tree of family that I did not know existed! For years I had a name and had been trying to find out more but came up continual brick walls. Than one day I received an email that blew all those brick walls down!  Attached to this email was a family tree that was given out at a family reunion and written on it was acknowledgement of a child and wife that for many years everyone had denied. (It isn't me).  I found a lot of information from that simple email and have even made contact with several individuals.  Someday, I hope to meet all of them.  It might never happen but I am pretty stubborn and I refuse to give up hope.

             

     These two events have truly shaped what I believe family is and what it can be.  A family is tough, loving, friendship, valuable, amazing, forever,caring, difficult, comfortable, crazy and I wouldn't trade any of them for the world!

            

  

Dumb, Jack, Kick, Fat and Smart

Thought I would touch on a very common word, that I hear uttered many times throughout my day on campus, ass!  To be completely honest when I hear the word,this shirt flashes in my mind.  (This belongs to one of my teenagers.)  If I am called a smart ass I usually quip back a snarky thank you.

I think that most people think of the 6 things when they hear the word ass; the five listed on the shirt and the one that we sit on. When you look ass up in a dictionary three things come up, the animal, the slang and stupidity.


A type of donkey or mule
Slang for buttocks  (don't worry its a cake!)

A stupid or dumb person (Since Ancient Greece the word has typified stupidity)

According to oxforddictinaries.com a  racist is someone who believes that a particular race is superior to another.  Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. Doing a little digging I found that the first time (that is cited) racism was uttered in this country was in 1902 by Richard Henry Pratt who was railing against the evils of racial segregation.  He said “Segregating any class or race or people apart from the rest of the people kills the progress of the segregated people or makes their growth very slow.  Association of races and classes is necessary to destroy racism and classism.” Ironic isn’t it?  For those who are not familiar with Richard Henry Pratt, he is seen as the father of the boarding schools for Native peoples to assimilate them to “white life” and is famously known for saying “Kill the Indian in him, save the man.”

What I find particularly interesting is how one-sided racism in America seems to be. Unfortunately we live in a society in which the media outlets help feed the problem.  The door called racism swings both ways, yet the lame stream media (this is my preferred name for CNN, FOX, etc…) have a tendency to only see one side of the picture.  Are the people of this country so blind that they don’t see how horribly one sided it is?  Since I could not say it any better myself, I took this little excerpt from urbandictionary.com “If you're a white man, this is what you are. It doesn't even matter if your wife is black and you have an adopted child from India, or how many black friends you have, somehow you're going to end up being a racist according to how the media portrays the white man as "racist whities".  

 Is this not hypocrisy at its best? The white man is the one that is stereotyped as being racist; it is hypocritical to assume that only white men can be racists?  So digging right in to this hypocrisy; let us examine a few individuals who I believe are fine examples of this….Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.  In recent history both of these men cried foul when a black kid was killed by a Hispanic. (Regardless of the color of skin it was a tragedy.)   It was they and the lame stream media who made the issue about race!   Where are they and where was their outrage when two black teens beat a WWII Vet to death in Seattle? What seems typically of them, they stay silent because it doesn't serve the agenda they promote.  I truly believe that these two men (and many of their followers) are themselves extremely racist!  Why, because when you listen to them talk they belittle everyone who does not see their particular agenda.   If they really cared about the betterment of the inner cities why are they not crying foul regarding all the black on black violence in Chicago?  If they really cared about the people’s equality they should be greatly concerned and using their influence to get these issues out into the public.  I was surprised to see recently flashing all over the internet that Nick Cannon dressed up in “white face” to promote his new record.  I was not surprised to find that people

 were angry about this, but I was surprised that not one main lame stream media reported it.  All the reports I could find came from online sources like the Huffington Post.  Only when looking for a response from Cannon did USA Today bother to report.  I believe that this only proves my point that the organized lame stream media only reports per an agenda.

In an organizational behavior class I learned a little bit about the Implication Associate Test (IAT).  When people took the race IAT, many found that they have a biased one way or another.  I thought, hey why not take this test and see if maybe deep down I do have a bias.  (I grew up pretty isolated on an island in Alaska…so maybe!)  So I began the test.  The way it works is that on the left and right side of the screen there are words, in this case the words were European American and African American.  First pictures of people flash across the screen and you are to place them into the appropriate category (pressing E for the left side and I for the right side).  Next two words are added to either side; in this instance it was good and bad.  Good was paired with European American and bad was paired with African American.  My first inclination was “this is just biased in the first place” obviously if African American and bad are paired together you are going to put any word that is “bad” in that category.  However the next round did a flip flop and African American was now paired with good.  My guess is that for one reason or another; a lot of people struggle to put those words together.    I will have to admit that I was a little worried at first when my results were being figured because I had read via the classroom chat that many of my fellow students had taken it and much to their horror found that deep down they did have biases.   Finally, the results………the test showed that I have an automatic preference for African Americans compared to European Americans!   

 If you are interesting in checking out this little test click on this link  https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatest.html .

Personally, I feel that we are all created equal and should be judged by our merit not our ancestral background!