Faithful Friends

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Auditions for Britain's Got Talent have surprised folks for years. Ever since the plain Susan Boyle surprised Simon and went on to make albums, the show has shown us the importance of giving people the opportunity to show what they can do. Today, I saw an audition that shows us the value of faithful friends.

Shy Guy Jonathan tells us that the only reason he's even out there is because his friend Charlotte is there with him. It's a good thing Simon wasn't his voice teacher, or we might never have heard him sing:

I'm also impressed with Jonathan's retort to Simon when Simon suggests Charlotte might hold him back. Even if that's true, Jonathan tells us that since they came as a duo, they will compete as a duo. That is an amazing story of friendship, and I hope she appreciates what kindness he just returned to her. I hope he continues to give attribution to his dear friend for helping him overcome all the stigma, particularly if he becomes a star as Simon predicts.

People sometimes need someone to believe in them. Since we spend every waking moment with ourselves, we are intimately familiar with our weaknesses. Since we focus on them in an effort to be better, we are acutely aware of where we have need of improvement and do not see the small steps made over many days. Frequently, people who look at us from the outside see most clearly where we are weak and where we are strong. When they lend their activation energy to us, encourage us forward, and accompany us to the fore, many times we find we can do things beyond our expectation because their faith in us multiplies our own. I have accomplished much in my life. Imagine what I might have accomplished if, rather than being a bane on my life, my ex-wife had been a boon.

I thank God for faithful friends. I thank the producers of the show for keeping the clips, the people who upload and share them, and those who pass them on to me. They remind us that one of the major ways in which we make positive change is by being friends with people who need our attention and affirmation. Sometimes, when it's hard to believe in ourselves it helps to have friends who believe in us, support us, sustain us, and help us become what they know we can be if we have the opportunity, the determination, and the assistance necessary to pay the price and win the prize.

I hope Jonathan becomes successful. I hope Charlotte is properly rewarded for her sacrifice and faith. That will encourage more faithful friends and elevate us all as a society and family of man.

Proud in Their Hearts

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As I have previously opined on this blog, many of the people who read what I write, listen to what I say, and interact with me ascribe certain negative traits to me. I find it very odd that we ascribe all positive traits we can to ourselves while at the same time ascribing all negative ones we can to people we do not like. When I saw a video Monday about a congregation of folks headed to FL to make sure Trayvon Martin got justice, I asked if they would do the same thing if it was discovered his killer shot in self defense. We are so vain, so proud in our hearts, that we believe we know everything.

Last night, I pulled my copy of Sherlock Holmes off the shelf. I fell in love with these stories as a young boy, because my parents had this collection of his stories on their bookshelf, and perhaps unbeknownst to them until now I used to take those books and read them. Among those volumes we find the following warning:

"I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." --Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four

We think sometimes that because we have not done certain things or been subjected to certain things that we are better than other people. I remember being in a church meeting where a particular leader made some sweeping generalizations about what he 'knew' he would do in certain circumstances. Knowing there to be more than just one previously married person in the group, I asked him how he was so sure what he would do in a circumstance to which he had never been subjected. He has no data; what he told us was what he would like to think he would do.

Too often, in counting our blessings, we think they make us count for more. We forget, however, not only the source from which these blessings and advantages come but also the reason for which they are given. It can frequently be said of us as prophets warned people of old that "Ye do not remember the Lord your God in the things with which he hath blessed you, but ye do always remember your riches, not to thank the Lord your God for them; yea, your hearts are not drawn out unto the Lord, but they do swell with great pride, unto boasting, and unto great swelling, envyings, strifes, malice, persecutions, and murders, and all manner of iniquities." Although we remember our riches, we do not acknowledge Him from whom all blessings flow, that these things, our talents and time and fortunes, are all on loan. Moreover, we do not realize for what end we have been given them, if we seek them so that we can do good. I have previously written that it's not necessarily about giving away our substance, but it allows us to not worry about our financial status so we can give freely of our time, talents, and attention to those who need our help.

Many people think that because they have more they are better. However, the scriptures teach us that whom much is given much is required. It is not that God expects us to use them wisely, it is a REQUIREMENT, the violation of which brings the judgment of God. Think of Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man was blessed in life, and he had to pay the price in death. Lazarus, who had paid the price in life, was richly rewarded after death. God gives us things, not because we are better, but because there are things for us to do that nobody else can do as well as we. Yet, too many men use those talents to exalt themselves, to set themselves up as a light unto the people that they might get gain. That is however, priestcraft, because it is so vain and proud of us to assume that any man who is fallen can really ultimately be our benefactor.

On a universal scale, man is absolutely inconsequential. For a little perspective on our actual relative scale, play with this tool for a while. It shows just how small we really are compared to the universe. We think we can destroy a planet; well, that really is insignificant compared to the forces that move galaxies, pulsars, stars, ad infinitum. If the universe wanted to, it could render our entire species extinct in less than eight minutes, and there's nothing we can do about it. We, however, remain proud in our hearts and puff up our chests and wear vain ornaments when it is our souls that ought be decked with deeds rather than our chests with medals.

Man has no actual real value. We are made of common elements. We are outnumbered even on our own planet by other organisms that are more successful than we and better able to advance themselves because they are reasonable and never emotional. Humans are the only species I know that actively weakens itself or that favors the survival of another species over its own. We have value because God values us. We have been taught that God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son that whoso believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Our utility and value are directly related to how we use what God gives us to help our fellow men gain external life and exaltation. It's not just Job from whom everything can be taken in an instant; long have we forgotten the hopes that were dashed when the stock market crashed in 1929, all the suicides and apoplexies. Many among us have gone from afluence to poverty in just the last few years. I personally know some folks who were once millionaires who now ask to borrow money from me. All of that can be gone in a moment; what will remain when it does is your character. At that time, the true value of your heart will be apparent and visible to all. Whether you like what you see will depend on how you make use of what is given to you. Use it wisely.

Punny Guy

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I am a fairly punny guy. Years ago, I started posting periodic puns to the internet and actually generated some friendships and memories from the associations those events created. Everyone who knows me knows I'm a pretty fungi.

For the better part of a year, another single fellow and I have been involved in a campaign in our congregation to focus on the difference between doing and becoming. I have written all sorts of posts on this blog about the difference between doing and being as well as other people who have long postulated the connection between them. The department secretary for physical science also commented once to me that she had seen me behave the same way with everyone I met, which led her to believe that was the way I am. What we are comes naturally and is something we do because of something we already are.

I've been thinking about this a lot. This weekend while listening to old music, I came across the following idea for a pun. My friend thought it was funny but didn't like it.

I considered making T-shirts that said "We are the Do-Be Brothers". We could start a band. No? Well, at least if someone else copies it, you'll know you saw it here first.

Emotion over Reason

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Most of the things people pass on are things that give them an emotional rise. This is why we hear very little of Aristotle or Descarte and a lot about current violence, divorce, and the like. Why, just last night on the way home, I was cut off by two stupid drivers. We don't talk about the rest because their behavior is reasonable.

Sensationalism sells. That's why they pass on stories about certain school shootings and why the American soldier who killed civilians is a big deal but not the Afghan who shot some soldiers today. It's very reasonable for soldiers to die, but it's emotionally painful for others to be involved in violent exits from mortality.

However, when we get emotional, we start ignoring facts and bending the ones we have to fit theories. Last week when Trayvon Martin was shot, the President said we all need to do some soul searching. Last night, a UMiss student was shot in his dorm by some non-students, but because it wasn't something he could sensationalize, he will ignore that. This is why they claim the GOP is at war with women, intent on destroying social security, etc., not because it's true, but because it creates an emotional response that precludes the likelihood that people will be rational and reason it out by doing their own research.

Sunday night, I spoke on the phone about some misgivings I have with a person in a position of authority. I told him that "I wish I knew what information they have that leads them to believe it's a good idea, because from where I sit it makes no sense". I wasn't attacking the person. I was attacking the conclusion. I know it's possible he has information I lack that makes his decision better than the one I would make without that information. Consequently, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

We get new information all the time, but if we are already emotional, we frequently dismiss it. On our emotional high, we are invested in a particular outcome or conclusion, and any new information threatens to require us to admit we were wrong and change our minds. So we reject it by rejecting the messengers. Just because someone says something doesn't mean that it's true. I used to go to wikipedia when I was bored and change the articles so that they weren't true. I no longer do that, but other people might.

Today, I heard new information on the shooter both in the case of the soldier as well as in the case of the teenager. Apparently, the soldier was on some drugs and the dead teen was belligerent to the point of escalation. If true, that changes things. I am reserving my conclusions just like I have in the past. I still haven't heard anything conclusive that the allegations that lead to Hermann Cain's withdrawal from the GOP primary were substantiated. Even though I think based on his behavior that he's hiding something, we learned from JK Rowling that Snape wasn't hiding his former Dark Lord master; he was hiding his love for Lilly. Plus, who can forget the Duke Lacrosse case? Apparently everyone but I.

Almost all attempts to rush to judgment are knee-jerk-reactions. They are emotion over reason. Consequently, they are frequently wrong, and yet the retractions and apologies are buried on page F-22 of the paper. The apology does not match the allegation in severity, and it is a huge injustice to hang anyone for a moment. We are human; we will make mistakes. Don't let anyone else make your mistakes make you.

Why God Sometimes Stays Silent

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Segued from a previous post about what people really need, I have been thinking about how to best help people. While most people tell us that money will solve their problems, and while it might solve some of their immediate difficulties, it will not solve all their problems. This is particularly true if the root of the problem lies not in their status but in their behavior.

Tuesday morning, I was rudely awakened by a text message at 5AM. The message came from someone asking me for money because she had been mugged and needed help. I deleted it and rolled over in bed. You see, I have not seen or spoken to this person for over two years, and she did not so much as even attempt to build a relationship of trust before asking for help. There was no pretense at inquiry after how I was. The other reason I ignored the plea was because last time we spoke she also asked me for a loan, and at that time I told her "second loans will be made when first loans are repaid". She has already borrowed $3500 from me and never made even a token payment to settle the debt. You see, it is not money that is the problem; she has a problem with fiscal responsibility. I discovered the next day that she is on a cruise, meaning that although she has money to settle the debt, she decided to spend it on luxuriating rather than pay me off and then had the gall to ask me for more money. If she had paid me off instead, she would not have been robbed. She would have been at home.

I am not convinced that giving people money is the answer. We have all heard stories about lottery winners who quickly squander their winnings and return to a state of poverty. You may also have heard of the woman who won a $500,000 payout and tried to stay on food stamps because she 'had no income'. What we are seeing here is a clash of values and morality rather than a dearth of cash.

I see far too many people using money they do not have to buy things they do not need to impress people they do not like. Back during the housing boom, a member of my congregation unwisely bought extra homes to flip for easy money and ended up with three mortgages he could barely afford. I know a young entrepreneur who, at the tender age of 20, bought himself a Ferrari. Oh, he's very popular, but he's barely scraping by. This is not God's way.

A few years back, while listening to a conference address, I heard the following statement about how God acts in our lives:

Were you to receive inspired guidance just for the asking, you would become weak and ever more dependent on Them. They know that essential personal growth will come as you struggle to learn how to be led by the Spirit.

Likewise, if God granted our every wish like a genie, we would become quickly unable and unwilling to do anything for ourselves. If we are given anything we like at any time for any reason we imagine, we become beholden to and dependent on someone else. Growth comes from struggle. You may have heard the story of the naturalist who tries to help the butterfly or the bird escape from the cocoon or egg, not realizing that the rescued animal no longer has enough strength to survive on its own as a consequence. Too much help makes us weak. Your muscles get strong because you work them not because you sit on the couch watching other people exercise on TV.

We do people no favor when we are codependent with their underlying problems. Although it is true that sometimes people need a little fiduciary help to bridge the gap, if there is an underlying character weakness, then we're basically just hacking away at the symptoms. For every 100 people hacking at the leaves of evil, there is usually only one hacking at the root. Be the one at the root.

This is one reason why most government programs, however well-meant they may be, are doomed to fail. They believe that changing what people do will change who they are. Like most of those self-help seminarians, they believe that doing begets being. God sometimes opts to be silent to our pleas because He knows we do not intend to become better people. We do not desire to change; we desire that He should change things around us to better fit us. Ezra Taft Benson has said:

“The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.”

As I said before, people need our time and our talents far more than they need our fundage. They need us to invest in them, to believe in them, to create opportunities for choice rather than creating a choice environment. The world's methodology is always doomed to fail because it relies on trickle-through, on an ability of some things to penetrate the hard shell of habit and character that surrounds the hardened heart. We do what we are. If our characters reflect slums, we will build slums; if they reflect anger, we will build carnage; if they reflect gratitude, we will share the wealth of our characters, even if we have neither silver nor gold to give.

My biggest concern with all of the world's methodologies, with all the grandiose promises of the intellectual elite around us, is not what they do but how. Too many times, even those who mean well, insist on using the Adversary's methods as a way to implement the Father's plan. If doing leads to being, then why was Lucifer's plan to FORCE men to be good rejected? Self government is difficult, but it is the only way for people to grow. In a letter to PS Dupont, Thomas Jefferson summarized his faith in people's ability to choose their own adventure:

“We both consider the people as our children and love them with paternal affection, but you love them as infants whom you are afraid to trust without nurses and I as adults whom I freely leave to self government”

God stays silent sometimes because we need to learn to choose for ourselves. It has been said that people learn from their mistakes. What will they learn if they are not allowed to make any? What will they learn if every time they make a mistake someone else comes in and makes everything ok?

I think God stays silent sometimes to see what we will do. In his landmark work, the Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis says this far better than I ever could:

You must have often wondered why the Enemy does not make more use of His power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses and at any moment. But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to override a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo. For His ignoble idea is to eat the cake and have it; the creatures are to be one with Him, but yet themselves; merely to cancel them, or assimilate them, will not serve. He is prepared to do a little overriding at the beginning. He will set them off with communications of His presence which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation. Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs-- to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best. We can drag our patients along by continual tempting, because we design them only for the table, and the more their will is interfered with the better. He cannot 'tempt' to virtual as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

God could override our will, but He never messes with it. He could save us from danger, but sometimes He allows it, not because He does not care, but because it's the best way for us to become the creature He knows we can become. I told a friend several weeks ago that I am grateful for my path because I like who I am and because I know it was the most efficient and effective path God had at the time to help me become what I was born to be. If we do not use it, He will provide us another chance, but it is only in the leap from the lion's head that we prove our worth. I take comfort in the knowledge that God is pleased at that point even with our stumblings.

Anti-Tebowing

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Tim Tebow's treatment and career have shown us that the world operates by a truth that is counter to character, morality and reason. Rather than elevating miscreants, than making bad men good and good men better, the world tells us that in order to survive and thrive in this world, you must lower standards and become a miscreant. This is probably part of the reason why there seems to be a dearth of good men in the world today. Every incentive offered by the world discourages men from rising up.

Every organization venerates the status quo. In an organization where the brutish and boorish of men rise to the top, any man who acknowledges what is good and brave and true runs the risk of being smacked down. I also read on the internet today about how Rihanna won't date and doesn't like "the nice guys, the ones that won't hurt you. They'll pull out the chair for you and the whole nine yards. Everything is perfect and boring." Instead she said, "I like the risk, I like the edge. That's the thrill for me," only to paradoxically be beaten by boyfriend Chris Brown. When we do not defend people of good character, we in essence betray them.

When we do not choose people of good moral fiber, I believe one of two things happens. Some of them quit being good men and become indistinguishable from the rest of the barnyard riffraff. The rest withdraw completely and are no longer "on the market" as it were. They have no incentive to engage in society because it will spew them out of its mouth. These then just try to eek out an existence where they can and vanish ignominiously into history.

Our world constantly and consistently elevates and celebrates the miscreants and malcontents. Media outlets make heroes of protestors who are duplicitous and hypocritical because sensationalism sells. Entrepreneurs generate things to buy that create a rage and get emotions high. Very few people encourage reason and reasonable behavior. I find it highly ironic and entertaining that some of the people who talk most about the import of reason respond emotionally to things without looking at things from other angles than the one from which they are accustomed to seeing the world.

I am honestly not a fan of Tebowing. I don't like the public display of faith. As a child, I was taught to do so in secretly, that "the Lord who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly". What I protest is that a man who openly acknowledges his nothingness and the beneficience of a higher power is mocked, stripped, beaten, and left for dead.

Watermelon at the End

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On a tip from another avid hiker, I adopted a new hiking practice. In the car, I pack along a fresh, cold watermelon in a cooler that we save until the end. After a particularly gruelling hike, most hikers have very little to look forward to. When you reach the peak of the mountain, you are only halfway there, and most hikers look pretty bedraggled when they return to their vehicles.

Psychologically, this packs a lot of power. We are accustomed to taking snacks and refreshment along the way which we consume for strength or on breaks or to rejuvenate as we get tired. However, when the trail is long and dusty, there is also a watermelon waiting our arrival back at the car. Imagine how your mouth screams out with joy at its juicy sweet refreshment after a long trek and how this treat awakens the dry of your spirit with a jolt of thirst-quenching goodness! Imagine the other hikers who see you, themselves just starting out on the trek, how they look at you lustily devouring this dripping fruit and asking themselves why they lacked foresight to do the same.

Having something good waiting for you at the end gives you strength and motivation to push forward. On my hike this weekend, I was already tired and kind of sore by the time we reached the halfway mark. I rolled an ankle, and it was slightly painful until this morning truth be told, but I knew there was something good waiting for me when we finished our trek.

Most of our hope and most of our faith lies in the belief we have that there is a watermelon at the end of life's hike. After a tiresome, burdensome, grueling journey that takes much out of us, we press forward anyway looking forward to some enjoyable refreshment at the end of our travails. It's why this weekend people joked of pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, because we hope that if we go the distance there will be something good at the end. As we incentivize difficult portions of our lives, the ups and downs, the tears and sprains, the sweating and weariness become easier to bear because we know there is a watermelon at the end.

**Permission granted to do this when you go hiking. If you find hikers who don't have one, feel free to share it with them too.**

Act Like An Adult

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I received the following email from a student about two hours prior to class this evening:

Hi, I have been in Florida all spring break and the last few days I have been really sick. I hate missing classes so i'm not sure what I'm going to do today but I was hoping you could get back to me before class and let me know if its worth me being miserable and suffering through class or if I would be ok with missing today? I told my self all day that I have to go, but last minute I am starting to realize that I might want to stay home and rest and save everyone the chance of getting sick with whatever I have. Every class is important but if you could just let me know how important today is :) that would be great.

I responded with the following note:

This really boils down to a question of what YOU value most. If the reasons for missing class matter more than the things you believe you might reap from class, then one choice is obvious. The other choice is obvious under alternative conditions. Every time you miss a class, there is an opportunity cost. Nobody else writes notes the way you do. Nobody else will ask the questions you ask. Nobody else can get the points for you that you might obtain if you were there in person. You are paying for this class. Do not be easily parted from your money. However, I am happy if you decide not to share the microbes you're incubating with the class. I am sure you would bring plenty.

Only you can make this decision for yourself. Only you know what you value most. I value what I value for different reasons and to different degrees, and no matter you decide, this can be a learning experience for you as you move forward with your life and career. If you come, I will look forward to having you in class. If you opt to stay at home, I wish you a swift recovery.

This young lady ended up deciding not to come. As a consequence, she missed a pop quiz (I had already written it before I read her email) and an extra credit assignment I gave. She is also worried about her grade, but I couldn't tell her she was going to miss a pop quiz in an effort to rescue her; that would have been unfair to those who came and came on time.

What she really wanted was to be treated like an adult while she acts like a child. In essence, this email asked me to tell her what she should do. The scary part for me, and the reason why I felt disinclined to acquiesce to her request was because she intends to become a nurse. As a nurse, she will desire the power to tell other people what to do, and I have to ask if you really want a Biochemist who has no actual medical training telling your nurse what to tell you. If you desire power to decide for others, at least learn how first to decide wisely for yourself.

Far too many students come to class with an attitude that demands that I make things easy for them. While I will admit that I work for them, I have standards to meet. When it was suggested that I cancel class, I told them I could not because my supervisors in the college and students who were silent had an expectation that I cover material and prepare them for the next level of their education. After all, we're paying a great price that is more than monetary. If I make things easy for them, I do them no favor.

Many of my lectures, like tonight's post-pop-quiz-lecture, are life teaching experiences as much as they are forays into the world of chemistry or microbiology. As much as I'm preparing them for a career, I'm also preparing them for adulthood. They need to think and act and look like and most importantly become adults. There is a very good reason why responsibility is not given to everyone. Responsibility is something that must be taken and taken seriously. If you wish to be treated like an adult, act like one.

In the end, this student opted to miss class. She missed more than a quiz. She may however still learn from her choice, but that choice is also up to her.

Bicycle Fridays

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This morning I rode my bike to work. No, it wasn't to save money or the environment or because I needed a workout. It was because last night when I got home I felt like crap and went to bed early. This means my car still won't run, but I still had to get to work.

The concept seemed simple enough. Pack up just what I need in a backpack like all the students do, grab a few tools just in case, fill up the tires, and hit the road. I planned a route that would keep me mostly off major roads, at least major roads without shoulders on which to ride. I showered, shaved, and left. It is approximately eight miles from my door to my office.

Almost immediately, I had problems. For the last many months, I have been running, playing racquetball, and lifting weights. Apparently riding a bicycle uses muscles I haven't managed to activate. My midsection is tired and sore. I thought I was in shape, but as I know well from other interactions, being good at running isn't useful when rockclimbing, and being a good swimmer doesn't help you play tennis.

Fortunately for me, the drivers were courteous. I had to cross a street, and the first cars to arrive stopped to let me pass. While riding on the shoulder, people pulled over to give me room (I do hug the side of the road as tightly as I can) as they passed. They were all very patient.

It was a nice morning workout. I'm not sure I'll do it in the summer when it will be in the 90s (Fahrenheit) before I leave for work, but it was nice to know that I CAN do this if I ever have a problem in the future and must rely on a bicycle for transportation.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I was tired. I was also grateful. I know many people who cannot ride a bike because they weigh too much, have no legs, are sick, don't own a bicycle, etc. I thank God that I CAN do this, that I am able as well as have the means to do so. I am richly blessed, and I was pleased to discover that I could do this, even if it did take a few minutes longer than I thought it would.

Supporting and Sustaining

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I do not know who wrote the following poem, but I have known it since I was a teenager:

I passed one day through a lonely town,

and saw some man tearing a building down.

With a “heave” and “ho” and a husky yell,

they swung a beam, and a side wall fell.

I asked the foreman ”Are these men skilled?

The type you’d hire if you had to build?”

“Oh no” he chuckled, “oh no indeed,

the common laborer’s all I need.

Why I can destroy in a day or two,

what builders have taken weeks to do.”

I thought to myself as I walked away,

which of these roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder, who works with care,

making his tools a ruler and square.

Shaping my peers to a well made plan,

helping them be the best they can.

Or am I a wrecker who walks around,

content with the labor of tearing down?

We choose every day to either build or wreck people around us. I have found it interesting to watch people who are wreckers for the most part try to sell themselves as those able to build things in our lives. They are 'common labor'. It has always been easier to destroy than to create.

No matter whom you support in this election cycle, consider how they campaign. Do they build up others or only themselves? Do they admit their human failings or only attack others for theirs? What do they build? What do they wreck? The type of person they support and sustain tells you a great deal about their character. I'm not talking about those whom they claim to sustain, but I mean those whom they actually sustain.

It has been said that when we opt not to support and defend one another we essentially betray one another. I find it odd that the same people who will be the Brutus to the Caesar of your life will then expect you to turn around and enthusiastically support them. Many of them will leverage this on Christian charity, something they have not first shown to you. Likewise, many of our leaders get where they are by stomping on our backs and then want us to back them. Attitude reflects leadership, and when the leadership treats you with disdain it becomes difficult to support and sustain.

Good leaders build things and people. When I was trained as a young man in the principles of leadership, I learned that true leaders train up their replacements. However, most of the leaders I see trample people down and hold them there as long as they can. They think they are smarter and better, but even if they are correct that does not license them to treat us as refuse. They are wreckers- out to destroy in a day or two what takes many months or even decades to build. By contrast, good leaders look to the ruler and square, which are interesting tools to choose. They help you keep things straight, encourage exactness and honor, and maintain right angles. True leaders help the people they lead become the best they can be, even when that means some of their followers eclipse them and become better than the leader was.

For many men, that's a threat. In their arrogance and pride, they love not actually being the best but rather the pleasure of appearing to be the best. One thing they should remember is that a facade is easier to tear down than a building built upon a rock made of rocks. Good people are supported in the end by the earth itself, for they are grounded in truth.

Lifetime of the Opportunity

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It has been almost two years since I ‘expired’ from the YSA program in my Faith, having turned 31 and become too old to be with the young single people. Shortly before this matriculation, my bishop, who is also a relative, took me aside to give me some advice and inspired counsel. Among what he told me was this: “Although it is important to ‘be ready to act on the opportunity of a lifetime during the lifetime of the opportunity’, the lifetime of the opportunity will not be so short so that we cannot make a thoughtful and prayerful choice.” When he told me that, I felt that it was true. The energy of that notion resonated within me so that I knew that at least for me it was a true statement.

It is Satan and his carnival barkers who tell us that if we don’t step right up and call in the next 30 minutes that we will lose out on every chance to have what everyone must have. According to him, if we don't act now, everything will fall apart and be lost! He is the snake oil salesman who says the chance will never come again, for he comes this way but once. The Great Deceiver tells us that we must act now before we lose out forever and ever on something that we desire and that others ostensibly have. This is why so many choices I believe are made for expediency, because at least then we got out of the moment what we wanted in the moment. This is also however why so many people are unhappy, because the chief cause for failure and unhappiness in this world consists in trading what we desire most for what we desire in the moment.

As I have advanced from one relationship to the next, none of which have ever actually been ended because I decided to end them, I have seen that each subsequent one is an upgrade in total over the previous one. Most young people, however, think that if they don’t snag someone soon, they will miss out entirely on the opportunity to spend their lives with someone they love. By this notion, the adversary of truth has planted the misbegotten notion of soul mates, and many a young person has wasted away trying to win back someone who was wrong for him for fear he might have no other chances. Even worse, myths such as the notion that any man over 26 and single is a ‘menace to society’ encourage people to do the right things for the wrong reasons. Why we do a thing matters at least as much as what we do.

We ostensibly believe in a God of mercy who extends second and third chances until seventy times seven in some cases. How can we possibly believe that if we miss this one chance all hope is lost? That kind of a notion betrays that we do not have faith in our Faith. God is also faithful, and if something is removed from us despite our best efforts, it is because He intends to bless us with something better. If the chance passes by quickly and we have not been able to reason it out, make a choice, and ask God to certify that choice, the chance was probably to help us pay attention to and prepare for a future eventuality so that next time we are ready, able, and inclined to act upon that window of opportunity, even if it’s not with the exact same circumstances or people. As consequence of some of these small windows, I have considered what I will choose in certain situations and am ready to act if and when they present themselves again.

My friends have chastised me for not availing myself of the opportune moment and getting phone numbers of intelligent, athletic, and attractive girls I meet in my journeys. I tell them that if those people were important, I will see them again. When I was serving as a missionary, there was a young lady also serving to whom I was attracted. I had however read “Lock Your Heart” and determined that if she were important I would meet her somewhere else afterwards and be able to move forward. By the time I reestablished contact, she was long and happily married to someone else, and so I knew I had done well. I do not do what I do for the ulterior motive of getting a date. I spend my life living happily and ask God to help me recognize the opportunities when they present them. If I were to meet one of these young ladies again, I would act upon it. Years have literally passed in some cases, and I have not seen them again, but each one of those has prepared my mind for what I will do at the time when someone or something arrives that seems good and wise. When the time comes, I trust I will either be ready or that God will be merciful and give me another chance.

That is the fundamental principle of my Faith, that we are humans, that we make mistakes, and that we have a Savior to make up for the fact that we will be foolish and rebellious. In essence, Christ saves us from ourselves, and there are times when that knowledge brings me great peace, joy, and hope for the future, even if that far green country is distal in space and time from where I am today.

What They Really Need

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Everybody hurts sometimes. There's a homeless man who lives in the bushes right beside the gas station closest to my house. In the summer, I try to remember to bring bottled water with me to hand him when I get stuck at the light. He doesn't press for anything. Sometimes he stands in the median with a sign, but mostly when I drive by he's sitting in the shade of the bushes consuming whatever liquid or solid calories he has procured. I feel bad for him, I'm just not willing to risk doing what he might really need. I am not equipped for rehab or job placement or the like, and if that's what he needs I'm not the man for whom he's looking.

Contrary to what people think of me, I actually live to the left. Over the course of my life, I have given away an amount of money approximately equal to my current annual income that I did not write off as a deduction because it wasn't to a place that gives receipts. However, I'm not a subscriber to the notion that more handouts and money is the answer to the plight of people on the street. While in college, I used to go down on the river on Sunday mornings armed with bagels and fruits I took with me from the dorm cafeteria and sit and chat with the homeless people. I learned a significant amount from them spending time among them. I think I was protected because I brought them things and spent time with them and went dressed in a suit. I think I was protected because they wanted me to come and pay attention to them the next week. Very few people treat needy people as people. We walk away from them as if they were lepers, as if association with people suffering from problems will somehow transfer their plight to our lives. We sometimes shy away from friends with substance abuse problems or profanity problems or other things for fear of guilt by association. We care too much about our reputation and too little about our character.

At the time I made these weekly visits to the homeless, I had very little to give. I suppose I could have invited them back to use the showers or sleep on my floor, but I have always had a distrust of people I do not know well. I did like most other people what was comfortable. I chose to give them food or money or clothing because of the easiness of the way. I work now with a man who describes himself as a bleeding heart liberal, which is fine as long as that's the way he chooses to live. I have no desire and he has no right to force me to live that way. He is agnostic; he cannot leverage my Faith and faith to join him in something that is a different belief system even if the principles in theory are shared. As I have started saying, it matters more why we do a thing than the what the thing itself is that we do.

Bleeding Heart Liberalism is a very convenient religion. People who live this way like the notion that they can give money because it's easy and it slakes their guilt. They 'did something'. Nevermind if it was useful, helpful, or right. They did something. It just feels to me too much like the sale of indulgences- where people who believe this way, religious or not, can pay a fee and feel better about themselves. In giving away money, especially if it's not theirs, they feel less guilty. Most of the people who are in tough circumstances don't need money. They need our attention, our time, our help and more than anything our love. They need someone to pay attention to them long enough for them to either get the medical help they need or the opportunity to prove themselves to get back on their feet. We assume that they all want money; we assume they want the money so they can waste it on booze or drugs. Some of them do. Most people who suffer however suffer in ways we cannot see. They are lonely. They feel unloved. Maybe they were in part of a bad relationship, burdened at work, or something else we have not imagined. Liberalism and the left like to just throw money at things. You cannot buy real companionship or hope or opportunity. It is after all more about who you know, and how many of us really know any of those homeless people?

I'm not sure we can really help people we do not know. Last night I unexpectedly spent five hours visiting an elderly woman who lives alone. She seems normal enough, but I can tell that she is at least as lonely as I am. All she really wanted was for someone to pay attention to her and visit with her. As I got to know her better, I realized more about her situation and what she might really need. Of course, she'd probably accept a wad of cash, but cash never gives good advice, hugs you, keeps you warm or converses with you. Cash is an easy answer but not always the correct one.

When we give them what they really need we actually help people. Life is more than meat and to live more than raiment. That's fine if you do something. Do you want a medal? You see, the pain of giving money lasts only a few moments while the money is felt as a loss. Working with troubled teens, down-syndrome children, disabled veterans, and other similar groups requires a huge commitment of time and capacity. I admire friends of mine who work with homeless teens, teach welfare recipients to grow gardens downtown, and who assist the handicapped to do projects so they can at least eek out a meager existence. Most people are unwilling to make that sacrifice and give money to those who will; liberals especially like to pat themselves on the back for their giving. However, the thing you give is only valuable if the person to whom you give it values what you offer them.

Rather than giving of our fiduciary means, I think it does far better to give of our time and talents. After all, we can always get more money. We can never get more time. Anyone can give money, even the poorest of men. Not everyone can teach a child to read, engineer a well in the right place or administer dental care to the deprived. There are things that each of you can do that nobody else can do as well as you. Money is fine. Giving them what they need is better. Do not allow yourself to be caught up focusing on what is good when there is something better and something more that can be done.

Duplicitous Modelling

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I've done a lot of thinking over the last few weeks about behaviors and modeling. Partly, I owe gratitude to these thoughts for a series of lectures to which I'm listening that deal with how to be a good parent. No, I am not expecting any children, but I figure it's never to early to learn what you can about things that interest you. I found some interesting general principles about role-modeling and why people do what they do as a consequence of the rolemodels they see.

Basically, most of the modelling out there in the world is duplicitous. We demand things of people that we are not willing or able to do ourselves. We learn that duplicity is the way the world works based on what adults model to us. The same parents that sometimes tell us to be celibate, temperant, patient, and compassionate, are themselves people who were promiscuous, addicted to chemicals, demanding, and selfish. Take for example the parent who tells us to love our neighbor while yelling at us or who impresses upon us the importance of respecting the law while speeding on the freeway or cheating on their taxes.

It has been said that "I cannot hear what you're saying because your behavior drowns you out". There is a good reason why people doubt the faith of certain people or why they do not take counsel, because the behavior must match the rhetoric. Many of our leaders demand behaviors of us they are not able to do; the rules don't apply to them, which is why we resist their premise, and some of them decide to become tyrants and force our hand and hearts.

Then there are parents who do not attempt to encourage proper behavior because they are not good examples. I disagree with this. Just because you have made a mistake does not mean you have not or cannot learn from it abnd become a better person. If your past always dictates and forces future behavior, then people cannot be made better because they cannot make themselves better, in which case all of the models for utopia are also impossible.

This is where religion comes in. In the lectures, I heard scripture broken down into two words: True Scripts. Scriptures tell us what true behaviors or models we should follow. They know that we won't be perfect, which is why we have need of a Savior, but they are there to show us how we ought to be and encourage us to do so by telling us about people who were true to the truth. The scriptures also show us the folly of forcing behavior. Too often, we attempt to enact the Father's will using the Adversary's methods. We try to force people to live well, or to live the way we think they ought to. Any time we treat people as objects rather than agents, we risk becoming proud, and we open ourselves to be treated with reciprocal disregard for our will as we suppress the will of others around us.

Many people labor under the misbegotten notion that they can talk their way out of a situation caused by their behavior. Several years ago, a girl I really liked who rejected me harshly attempted to reboot a friendship with me. The problem was that she wanted to pretend as if nothing bad had ever happened, or in other words she wanted me to license her bad behavior. I knew that would only hurt both of us. I told her to prove that she really wanted me as a friend, which she never did, and that is why I treat her today as the stranger she has earned the right to be. People want their aberrant and abhorrent behavior to be ok.

Sometimes, even as they seek permission for their behavior, they attempt to deny you the reciprocal right to live as you please. People like this don't want anyone telling them what they can or can't do, regardless of subject. However, they want to be able to tell me that I have to deal with whatever they desire to do. They want to be free to fornicate in public but be allowed to deny me the right to pray publicly privately. They don't care about me or what I think. I have to suck it up, but they may do whatever they like whenever they like for whatever reason they imagine.

In reality, what this means is that children learn that the way to succeed to to live duplicitously. We learn that it's ok to be expedient, as prophesied of old:

And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.

They also talk about Karma, but Karma only round trips to the detriment of people who offend them. It's not ok in their minds for Karma to exact retribution for their duplicitous modelling.

This is really the root of why it is important to live well. We live in a world where the New Morality says, "You only live once, so live it up" rather than "You only live once, so live well". Our morality has become like our gas stations, and everything has become self-service. It is no wonder that there is war, confusion, hatred, selfishness, and all manner of lasciviousness. We learn to say one thing and do another, and too many people are rewarded or at least protected for it. In the end, you reap what you sow; wickedness never was happiness; it was never intended to be left to chance. That wouldn't be 'fair' or 'equal', something the same people who demand license absolutely insist apply to them. If they are right, it also applies to us, no matter how duplicitous they may act.

Pursue Every Option

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Most people have their own agenda, their own sacred cows, and their beliefs about what ought to be done about X or Y. However, good leaders surround themselves with people who can help them find what really is the best option, not just those who parrot their own beliefs, particularly if their pet plan proves poor. Our President demonstrates a foolish adhesion to a narrow field by refusing to pursue every option available.

It is clear that Obama prefers some things over others. What is perhaps unsettling is that he prefers those things to the exclusion of all others. In anyother arena of choice, that's termed discrimination, but Obama calls it 'progressive thinking'. Obama says he’s for cheaper energy while he resists the cheapest forms of energy, and the energy policy of his administration seems predicated on teh notion that some day soon we won't need oil.

He will force ‘green energy’ down your throat whether you like it or not, whether you can afford it or not, and whether it works or not. Solyndra is just one of a growing list of environmentally friendly initiatives into which he has pumped billions in taxes that have paid high sums to executives and then collapsed. Although Obama talks about lowering the cost, his own energy secretary talks about matching europe's gas prices. Even though technology has made it cheaper, the prices of energy continue to rise, at least partially due to government intrusion. Despite his claims to have increased domestic energy production, Obama has pened up areas that are isolated and remote, where companies are unlikely to go there or places where there is unlikely to be any oil, and his bureaucracy slaps lawsuits and regulations on that are so expensive to meet that companies won't go looking for oil.

Obama's pro-environmental policy is even a sham. They fight a pipeline from Canada while they tout independence. It cost us lots of domestic jobs and forced Canada to put it on ships and sail it to distant markets, putting the environment that he so richly treasures.

I am not saying things like wind and solar and algae are never going to work or be affordable. They are not feasible options NOW. What is however cheap and easy and plentiful is carbon-based fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas. In spite of his administration we are producing. When the oil rig went down years ago, it came to light that the rigs approved by his predecessors were fine. They always talk about how oil is five years away if we drill, but if we’d drilled, it would be available now as opposed to the so-called green energy sources that for all of his expenditures have yet to factor in in any significant way. Also, they tell us that oil is evil, but they have not banned it. They ban other things that are bad, but notice that cigarettes, french fries, and schnapps are all legal despite their links to horrible human health. It's duplicitous; it's a crusade.

Furthermore, Obama talks about how we can’t drill our way to energy independence on one platform and then in another breath claims credit for all the new drilling that has relieved us from reliance on foreign powers. I cannot imagine how you can be fooled by these contumelies. On one hand, there’s no quick fix. On the other, he claims that he has a quick fix.

It seems to me that if you are serious about fixing a problem that you focus on everything that might work as a solution. We have oil in this country and coal and natural gas. I know they claim we have 3% of the world's reserves, but that depends on how you estimate that. Have the people who came up with that figure explored the entire face of the earth or for that matter every inch of the nation? People continue to buy cars that run on gas, heaters that run on oil, and cooking appliances that either directly burn propane-based fuels or depend on coal for electricity. Plus, our military depends on fossil fuels. The last time a major military power relied on the wind was the British Navy over a century ago. Pursue every option. Get us oil now, and work on the other options, but ignoring oil just shows how foolish the president really is.

Because They Lie

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The abandonment of Rush Limbaugh's program by some of his advertisers has been an interesting thing to watch. It really reflects capitalism at its finest, that just as they are free to leave, so too are the customers they reached via Rush are free to abandon the service. Yesterday, Carbonite stock fell almost 12% as investors fled and users cancelled their service. This freedom of association is how decisions ought to be made.

However, there is a lot of miscommunication in this as well. Politico reports that Rush lost not just 15 advertisers but 39, which apparently isn't true. Thirty-nine sounds better than fifteen, being more than twice the number, and for a media excited to create an emotional impression this is a perfect storm. However, it's not true. It was done to disspirit people and create an impression, which is the modus opporendi for the media.

The media gets away with this for two reasons. First of all, they lie all the time. After all, we all know Dewey did not beat Truman. Secondly, they get away with it because people don't do their own homework. Far too many people sit there and take in what is fed to them without asking whether it is true or questioning the motives of those who report it.

In class, I talk a lot about presentation of information and care when drawing conclusions. I point out to my students that everyone has an agenda; I even tell them my agenda is to make them skeptical of what people say, including me. Many things are true only if you see them narrowly. Monday night, we discussed the ideal gas law, which I like because it is a law for an ideal gas, of which we know none. At least they were clear in defining for what kind of gas and under what condition their observations and rules apply.

Most people however, want to create an impression. They want you to believe that elves bake cookies in oak trees, that women play basketball in high heels, or that bringing a particular brand of beer to a party will suddenly make you more popular, especially with attractive women. Even today, I read an article that first attributes our warm winter to Global Warming, and then cites a quote that "Mother Nature or weather patterns have a way of evening themselves out." These people are hoping to make gains with you and persuade you to think like they do. It validates them and affirms their worth.

For many months now, I have been talking about how most people, rather than looking for truth, secretly hope the truth will corroborate that which they already happen to believe. They equate their value with how many people agree with them. Now, I'm less worried about that than most. My biggest concern is my state of grace with my Maker, and if He is pleased, then the rest weighs less on my mind. I don't even really care if you agree with this blog as long as you think about what I say. I do not have all the answers. I'm 32 years old. I haven't had enough time to convert knowledge into wisdom, and I'll be much wiser hopefully when I'm 60 than I am today. I try to keep four words in mind when I write these things, "I might be wrong". However, if they make you think, then I have accomplished my goal.

A few posts ago, someone posted a different opinion as a comment. It was however not directed at the substance of my post. After I responded, I reread what I had written and found that the comment was only tangentially related, and hence it was really a new topic. It was also emotional. Words don't always convey well the emotions of him who wrote them, so please don't read what I write as if you were writing it, especially if you don't know me. When you elevate it to emotions, you can no longer have as effective a discussion.

Last night, I watched TV for the first time in a long time. I caught wind of a new show on ABC called GCB or "Good Christian Bitches". The premise of the show is to showcase hypocrisy of Christians in this show, as if Christians are the only people whose behavior and rhetoric are incongruous. Yet, ABC will get away with it because they lie and then because enough people will believe it. I have learned that people believe a lie because they think it is true or because they are afraid it might be. Educate yourselves. That way, you control what you disregard as a contumely and what you retain as valuable. That way, it won't matter if people lie because you are looking for the truth.

Because We Can

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Last Saturday, I told my microbiology class that I believe in them. By the time they got to me, they had applied, passed other difficult courses, and outlasted their classmates. I reminded them that we live in a time of greater possibility than ever before, and that more things will be available to them than ever before. However, just because we can do a thing does not follow that we must or that we should.

People with a smidgen of knowledge like to assume they know what's best. Politicians and scientists, blessed with a new scintilla of power, like to engineer things for everyone else. However, few of them seem willing and able to stop and think about whether what they are doing should be done, let alone whether they can.

As the media attempts to distract us, remember that the real issue of Obamacare is whether or not government can do this. Maybe you think they should, but even if they can, remember that other people don't think they should. It is no sign of maturity to say "give me what I want or I will be a miscreant". Anything that can be used for good can also be used for evil. Even if you mean well, some mean person will mean to do otherwise with that opportunity than to be wise.

When Sandra Fluke 'testified before Congress', it wasn't really a testimony. It was a press conference staged to look like a hearing. It was to distract people from the issue of whether or not the government can do what they have decided to do against our will.

There are many things we can do. We can turn the middle east into glass today if we like. We can make everyone a millionaire by printing money if we like. We can do many things, but they all come eventually with a price, a price that someone has to pay. The real victim in all of this is children, who will be prevented access to this world and lives of their own because of the things for which Sandra has chosen to become pluripotent spokesidiot. So much for 'life is an inalienable right' or 'liberals love women'. Statistically speaking, more than half of the aborted fetuses have been women, because male embryos are much more fragile. Furthermore, Obama has spoken of how he doesn't want his daughters 'punished with a baby'. Claiming that a baby is a punishment makes one sound as if one has great disdain for the sanctity of life itself.

Most tyrants consider your life to be very cheap. What Obama's administration really intends is eventually to take away freedoms and rights. Oh, they talk about rights to health care, home ownership, and the like, but if you don't have life, liberty or an ability to pursue happiness, those things don't amount to much. They think they are our superiors, that they know how to do things perfectly, when we all know that they are humans just like you and I. As for me, I don't mind that people know I am human. It allows me room for growth and reminds me of my dependency on my Savior. They are trying to convince you that if you tell them that they can do a thing that they will be able to deliver on it in the way you imagine in your head it will be. They have their own vision, and they will be our rulers, even if they mean to rule well, for no other reason than because they can. Trust no man to be your king. If you would be free, govern yourself and elect those who do likewise.

Not Wrong, Just Different

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As I listen to politicians, pundits and people talk about how they desire equality, fairness, and the like, I realize it begins with a similar misconception. We have been convinced that anyone who is different is wrong. Different opinions, different style, different beliefs, different perspectives, all combine to compete with what we know works. The trouble is that it works for us just fine but won't work necessarily as well if at all for someone else.

One of my biggest criticisms of the foreign wars in which we're involved is the notion of 'nation building'. There seems to be this misbegotten notion that we can and should spread democratic government to other nations, irrespective of whether their beliefs, values and norms are compatible with Constitutional government. Like it or not, the Constitution was written largely by men of a Judeo-Christian moral persuasion, and so it fits that particular creed the best. Without the same values, I do not see how it can work as well for anyone else if it works at all.

We all know that 'men are from mars and women are from venus'. I do not think there is anything wrong with the differences between men and women. We are different for a reason. If it were wise or God's point to make only one form, there would only be one gender. That is true of other species that are hermaphroditic, because their physiology and intelligence is of a different category than ours. What works for men does not necessarily work for women and vice versa, and I do not want them to be the same. I have a few close friends with whom I get along well, but I do not want one of them to be a woman. There is a reason men and women are different: we are complementary. Her strengths may counter my weaknesses and vice versa. Also, it has been said that two heads are better than one, and I have been willing in previous posts to admit I am prone to mistakes because there's no other human mind at home with whom to consult about what I do or think.

Last night I felt prompted to jump back into the discussion of science versus creation. I come at this with a different attitude and perspective of many people because I am a scientist who also believes. I do not see that the two are incompatible or competitive. I believe that ultimately they can and will prove to be complementary to each other, assuming of course that we're 'open-minded' to that eventuality. There are lots of quotes flying around the internet right now being propagated I suspect mostly by people looking via ad populum to validate their beliefs by associating them with famous people. Even if these speakers are correct, it doesn't mean the Bible isn't also true. We are prone oft to speak in absolutes, that if A then B cannot possibly be, but they are not always mutually exclusive. Sometimes the answer is 'all of the above'. Even though I rarely have that on my exams, mostly because they're not multiple guess, sometimes there is more than one right answer, and people cannot seem to wrap their heads around the notion that science and faith might and can be complementary to one another. They are different ways of looking at the same questions; neither one is wrong; they are just different.

The funny thing I notice is how people who study their genealogy like to point out how they are related to this or that famous historical figure. Well, I am too, but I am also descended from King John Lackland, the tyrant, brother of Richard II, and if we ignore the bad in favor of the good we are foolish. He who does not look has no advantage over him who cannot. We see what we choose to let ourselves see. When I was in high school, there were lots of things that happened in the hallways of which I wanted no part. I remember focusing on an emergency exit sign that hung from the ceiling, walking with my gaze focused on it so I wouldn't notice things I chose not to see. What you choose to allow yourself to see changes very much the way by which you live your life.

I keep telling people that creationism doesn't belong in science. Science is the realm of the testable, the measurable, and since we cannot design experiments that would help us with that end in 'proving' God, religion belongs in philosophy and not in science. Consequently, I resist and protest efforts to teach creationism as science or evolution as truth, because I cannot conceive of a way for humans to measure that either. I also remind my students every semester that "Science never proves anything. It removes all other possibilities until only the truth remains," and that is a VERY long process. It presumes that we are smart enough to conceive of all the ways to test a hypothesis, inventive enough to build the apparati by which to accomplish those tests, and good enough to manage all the unexpected variables that inevitably arise. I really like the following graphic that illustrates our feeble attempts to understand things far beyond our poor power:

http://xkcd.com/638/

Like the ants, we assume that our ability to measure includes all the possibilities or at least the right ones. Humans do not make ant pheromones, and some humans don't make any at all. Our inability to detect their signals does not mean there isn't life more intelligent than we are. We're measuring things from our perspective, and even scientists confess that we live in the 3rd Dimension. How many more beyond us there are they are not sure, but people insist based on lack of evidence that there is no God. If we insist on evidence, then there are likewise a lot of people out there who have no brains, and there are a lot of people who speak one way and live quite another. We take a lot on faith, even people who worship at the altar of science.

I find it funny that people who believe in aliens disbelieve in God. If beings from another planet can hide themselves from us, the Being that created those planets can certainly do in kind if He chooses. The painting does not comprehend the artist any more than the hammer comprehends the smitty. I believe that time will show as our ability to answer questions improves that science and faith are complementary to one another. They are two different roads that arrive at the same source because they are both ways by which men search for truth. If you are really open to what is true, no matter which road you take, you will at least reach the outskirts of that distant emerald city. Most of all, it is important to be open. As long as you insist you are right and know everything, you cannot be taught, you cannot be corrected, and you cannot accept new direction to help you arrive where you claim you desire to be. Rather than those who secretly hope the truth will corroborate what they already believe, consider that the manner of investigation you opt not to choose might also be right, just different.

Encouraged to Be Chickens

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I had a great day yesterday until it came time for lab last night. There is a young lady in that class who, at the tender age of 21, already thinks she knows everything. Since the class includes students from the age of 19 up to 46, when she acts like she knows everything and shows up late and interrupts, it annoys them almost as much as it annoys me. Apparently, she wasn't paying much attention the first day of class.

Torn by what to do, I'm trying to decide before I see her again Monday for lecture how to handle this. Last night, she interrupted me several times, and so I told her that if she wanted to dominate the conversation she could talk to herself in the hall. I do not wish to be part of the problem; I wish to be part of the solution.

Many people in positions of control and many people who believe themselves to be better would actually encourage us to be chickens. Although as I said yesterday we are really eagles, these elitists discourage excellence and achievement. They desire to make us 'equal' and render things 'fair' because eagles are 'birds of prey'. To them, an individual is a villain, that he has virtue only when he is part of some movement larger than himself, unless of course that movement is Christianity or Judaism. The motives of the movement are assumed to be altruistic and the motions of the individual are assumed to be selfish and debilitating to society despite what they do. In their minds, life would be better if we all scratched around in the dirt with the rest of the barnyard rabble.

When you have phony masterminds in charge, we see a great effort to render people all the same. The assumption is that when everyone's the same, that we will have peace and happiness. Supposedly there is virtue in this, but I cannot think of a single instance or reference in which 'chicken' is associated with anything noble. There are however legion of examples in which 'eagle' is associated with the virtuous and noble, pardon the pun.

I feel fairsure that these masterminds would have me beat down this young lady. There are some vagueries in her attitude, but I am torn how to handle those without discouraging her. She could be great, you know, and I do not wish to hamper her progress, should she be destined to be the next Rosalin Franklin or Clarissa Barton. As I wrote yesterday, I desire for men to be eagles and soar.

At this point and on her own, this student has very little value. Compared to professionals in my field and in hers, she is a fledgling at best. Throw her into the workforce now, and it will shake her off to fall to her doom. Since she believes she already knows everything, it is extremely difficult to talk to her let alone teach her. She insists on talking over me, talking to others whilst I am talking, and tallying the times she is right (which is kind of the point of the lab- to get the right answer; do you want a medal?). The trouble is that she is not altruistic, and I fear that she will continue to usurp leadership and act as conscience and thought for the group entire. Her lab group is already resisting because she comes across as a know-it-all, and they have picked up on how condescending she acts. Note- I am not saying she IS arrogant and condescending; she merely comes across that way. She keeps intervening and manipulating, doing the work for them rather than letting them reason it out for themselves, which means neither she nor they will grow as much as possible from the experience.

The current political movement does not want us to excel. They give out 'participation medals' and encourage sameness of outcome regardless of input. They discourage excellence or free thought under the auspices that this is noble because it won't hurt the esteem of other people. In truth, man is naturally independent and inclined towards self-reliance. My students understand full well that after this course, they will no longer be in the same groups or even with the same classmates, and by the time they become professionals, they may have to rely on themselves. This young lady isn't doing them the favor that she believes she is.

Wittingly or not, these great planners are endorsing oppression. They do not want individuals to be agents or sovereign of their own lives. They might even reach out to this young woman, project altruism onto her, and invite her into their ranks to plan things for everyone else. America however was built by a combination of wisdom and virtue, and although this young lady might have great knowledge, she has not demonstrated wisdom or virtue. Wisdom is knowledge rightly applied (Hyrum Smith), and altruistic though she may believe herself to be, the way this young lady comes across is anything but virtuous. It has offended her group mates and members of other groups who actually asked me to deny her application to join their group.

Central planning destroys the nature of man. Like the farmer in yesterday's post who insisted that the eagle was a chicken, these elitists insist that we are chickens, that we should scratch out a meager living in the dust with the rabble, and that anyone who says we are more than human chattle is completely nuts. However, natural law says that men are eagles unless they corrupt themselves and become subject to nothing else than despotic government.

At the end of the Constitutional Convention, two prescient comments describe the new Animal Farm in America today. Benjamin Franklin said in a statement read by James Wilson, "Thus I consent because I know no better and because I am not sure that it is not the best." James Madison said "The Constitution was written for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Last week, I wrote about how I still believe in the people and their virtue; this young lady is the exception to the rule. Liberty is essential for individuals to rise to their potential while it allows the devious to combine against them to their detriment. All that stands between success and failure as people is whether we possess enough self-discipline such as will direct us to choose to be choice.

Consequently I find myself in a delicate position. If I allow this young lady to project her will and her pavlovian attitude towards her classmates onto such, I hurt them and condemn them to scratch with the chickens. If I do not reach her, then I may hamper her ability to in and of herself rise with the eagles. Her group's current troubles arise from her intervention and intrusion in the learning process necessary for the growth and success of her group. I do not wish to limit her to small dreams or small accomplishment. I fear that unless I handle this well, she might be so condemned or that, if I do nothing, the group might be condemned to ignominity. I told someone yesterday that my intent is for my students to be better than I am; I get no ego boost in beating them down and proving myself wiser. As they improve, America and society on the entire globe will advance concurrent with their advances. That is what I desire even as others of my colleagues dumb down education to make the previous generation seem smarter than the rising one. I pray God to inspire me how I can take all of my students up on that mountain top, point their eyes to the sky and convince them of this truth: "You are an eagle. Fly!"