Deeds, not stones, are the true monuments of the great. — John L. Motley
In my youth I had a problem I didn’t know I had – I was a liberal.
Yes I can still hear the words of my teachers telling me how evil the rich were and how horrible they treated everyone, stealing all their money, dignity and self-respect. Of course this was over fifty years ago, but what are a few decades among the faithful? So it was I grew up believing that my thoughts of self-reliance were horrible and misplaced. According to my teachers it appeared I had no feelings for the unfortunate among us, none at all.
I could not have that, no sir, I had to prove my critics wrong, I had feelings, lots and lots of feelings. And I proved it on more than one occasion. Then I wondered why some of my classmates laughed at me. Well by golly the students of today aren’t laughing, no sir, instead they have learned to walk the liberal line. Do you doubt sir? Why just look at the Occupy movement and all your doubts shall be removed. If these souls aren’t first class liberals then who is?
In my day self-reliance was the key to success but my teachers they told me just the opposite. It appears that only feelings, the ability to feel good about something was the only thing that truly mattered. Of course being of young age and a mind full of mush, I consumed their words with glee and satisfaction. Yes sir no more self-reliance for me, from now on only my ability to feel someone’s pain was all that mattered. When asked what I was going to do about it the only answer I had was: Nothing, why should I, what do you expect me to do? After all I have compassion for their pain, what more can I do?
It appears my teachers of the day forgot to tell me that having feelings also required coming up with solutions. Hum, what’s a young child full of worthless mush to do?
So it was I traveled through childhood and into adulthood feeling sorry for the mice, rats, and animals I encountered along the way. And humans? Well forget it! Humans were the scourge of the earth especially Republicans since it was they who wanted to embrace the evil rich.
Then something happened to me – I almost starved to death. It appears that my feelings failed to put food on the table or provide me shelter. And I was fully employed in the United States Navy at the time! It appeared that budget cuts for the Department of Defense were having more of a negative impact than the major news media was letting on. The President and Congress of the time, you know the one in the mid to late seventies who became more interested in controlling the citizens than actually trying to help the citizens, decided the military was not worthy of their time or any real compensation. So it was food stamps became the normal source of currency for a family.
We were told that high unemployment, high gas prices, and high interest rates were actually great for us and if we didn’t embrace the policies of the leaders, those who knew best, well then, we had no feelings, and we were actually very heartless. Hum, seems like déjà vu all over again.
As the years passed I got married and life hit me straight between the eyes with reality, which I of course totally ignored. I remember just how hard it was in those early days to feed the family and pay the bills. Of course it didn’t help that I had a big spending problem, oh how I loved to spend money. I could not keep money because money was evil and I by golly was not evil, because I ensured myself that I would never have money.
My wife, bless her soul tried desperately to break me of this insidious belief but I would have nothing to do with common sense. After all feelings were the only thing which truly mattered in the world. Savings? Why I scoffed at the notion. Not me, I had to spend because my feelings required me to feel good about myself. And feelings were all that mattered, not the reality of the situation. I just closed my eyes and drifted off into never-never land of feeling good knowing that I had just wasted a ton of money on trash.
I was young and I was the only thing that mattered! I was a liberal! I felt good!
Yet time can be a cruel and brutal master and servant. As the years passed I began to realize that I had nothing, nothing but bills and more bills. The reality dawned on me that feeling good can and often is a man’s downfall. Feelings don’t feed the family. Feelings don’t put a roof over your head. Feelings can turn you into a stupid and useless idiot. Don’t believe me; I refer you back to the Occupy movement.
I learned that feelings require more than just emotion to be effective; they require commitment to self, family, country and God. Feelings require thought followed by dedicated positive action to be effective. Sometimes feelings require being cruel, a concept referred to as tough love. Handouts never solve problems, hand-ups do.
The liberal establishment truly believes that feelings alone can solve the world’s problems. They believe that only government is the true savior of life. Liberals believe, with all their heart, mind and soul that individuals who take the initiative and create a great life for themselves are evil for they have stolen from the poor. Self-reliance and self-improvement are words for the evil and must be condemned at all costs. After all only the feelings of the Ivy League graduates can calm the stormy seas, raise the dead, heal the sick, and reverse man-made global warming. Yes only the feelings of the elite can save our planet from the evil of individualism.
I’ve heard this for sixty years and I see the damage embracing only feelings can do to a person. Without positive action doom and despair become the norm for the population. How many of us are still living in the same poverty today that existed for us thirty years ago? Did not the same politician tell us then how if we re-elect them they will solve all our problems? Did they not tell us the same words thirty years ago? What has changed for us in all those years? Is your life any better today than it was then? So what do you have to show for your loyalty? A much better life or only more gray hair?
We get older but we don’t seem to get wiser. We still believe the lies because it makes us feel good. We refuse to believe that it is we, as individuals, who control our own destiny, our own future. As long as we let feelings alone dictate our actions we will always live in the trash others demand we live in.
It took me a long time to wake up, but I did. I now control my own future, my own destiny, my own existence. I no longer let feelings alone dictate my mood but rather I inject positive action into those feelings and the results are amazing for I have discovered that feelings mixed with strong, powerful, and positive actions result in freedom and a much, much better life.
G.
