Opus 2022-165: Immortal Quotes: Eating Like a Bird

As I was waiting for the sun to show itself I noticed a bird hopping around in the grass.  My mind somehow went to that old bit of wisdom, “The early bird gets the worm.”  We have all heard the clever comebacks but my mind went in a more practical direction, the early bird seems to get more bugs than worms.

I am not writing to elevate the glory of worms or how common bugs are.  I have not accessed the nutritional label of either one so I don’t know what they have to offer.  To my knowledge I have never tasted a worm but I have tried a few kinds of bugs covered in chocolate.  That being said, I don’t think I have ever seen in real life the idealized picture of a robin valiantly trying to tug a worm from the ground.  It may be just another case of romance overwhelming reality.

When you think about it, bugs would be much more bite size appropriate for an adult bird trying to stuff something down a screeching gullet.  Try getting a worm into one of those mouths.  It may be that the adult birds prefer bugs and actually would turn their nose up at a worm.

So we have another bit of popular wisdom written by people in ivory towers with no contact with reality.  Or it could be that I need to get out of the Texas hill country more.

Bon appetit.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-164: To Serve and Protect, Not

I have been informed several times in discussions that the police have no legal responsibility to risk their lives to protect the community.  After the negligence of the Police in the recent Uvalde massacre I decided to look it up.  It seems that they really don’t need to do anything.  The Nevada Independent reports,

“According to the United States Supreme Court, however, officers are not legally obliged to risk their lives for the community they swore to protect — despite the way their department’s motto brags about their duty to “protect and serve.” Thankfully, it seems that most police officers take such a motto seriously and bravely put their life on the line to help others. However, such praiseworthy attitudes among many in law enforcement don’t erase the fact that no such legal duty exists — regardless of the fact that most citizens believe that is precisely what all those tax dollars are being spent to ensure.”

The first line of the paragraph links you to another site called Mises Institute that backs this up.  You can check it out if you want.

So they may be cowards.  They may be incompetent.  They may be lap dogs to supervisors with no right to be in charge.  They should be unemployed.  The one thing we can’t say is that they broke the law.

That in itself is a tragedy.  That is something that needs to change.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-163: The Rot Continues

I have found another book in the library that was recommended to me.  It is Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher.  It is the first book I have read by Dreher.  One of the great benefits of the library to me is that if the book is not worth reading I can return it at no financial loss.  I am going to finish this one.  He is writing about the growing move in our country toward totalitarianism and how it matches what happened in Europe in the 20th century.

One point he made was about how we have a declining trust in our institutions.  You have all seen the results of polls show such things.  These are more general that the downward trend in confidence in President Biden.  Two sentences stood out to me.  The first was,

“According to Gallup, American’s confidence in their institutions - political, media, religious, legal, medical, corporate - is at historic lows across the board.”

You have all seen this trend.  Most of us agree.  What made me sit up and think, though, was the next sentence,

“Only the military, the police, and small business retain the strong confidence of over 50 percent.” p. 34

My feeling is that the elites that are running this country through administrative regulation are out to destroy the country.  Notice the three institutions mentioned in the second sentence and think about what you see going on in the media circus.  Our military is going woke and driving out the patriots who were hanging in there.  The now repeated failure of police to confront murderers on school campuses is working to make more and more people think defunding the police is a good idea.  Small business has been decimated by the government edicts of the last two years.  I don’t think the second sentence is accurate any more.

They are out to get us.  The institutions that we once trusted are working overtime to help them.  I think of the ways that the medical profession has been not only administering the blue pill but seem to have taken it themselves.  Churches are going woke and refusing to confront clear and obvious sin.  Businesses are donating millions to organizations like BLM and Antifa that are out to destroy their customer base.

I mention these three because I think they are the ones we can influence the most.  We need to become more vocal and active in changing our behavior.  Let your doctor know you are unhappy with his dishonesty and ignorance.  Maybe you should not use those words but a good thesaurus or clever teenager could give you ways to say it.  You need to listen carefully to what your pastor is saying and we need to make words like “heretic” part of our vocabulary again.  And people, for eternity’s sake, work on changing your shopping habits.

Speak up and stand up before they invite you to an extended stay in an isolated resort that is very secure.

Dreher, Rod.  Live Not by Lies.  New York:  Sentinel, 2020.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-162: Cornerstone Considerations: NWO, 1787: A Culture of Acceptance

Sunday we were remembering Memorial Day and that brought out what could be called patriotic songs.  As we sang I was reminded that these are not just patriotic, they are hymns that lift up the Christian foundations of our country.  That is juxtaposed to the values of our current junta and cultural elites.  One thought jumped out at me in America the Beautiful.

“And crown they good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!”

It was considered so important that it appeared in the first and last verses and the punctuation is as printed.

One of the Christian concepts that undergirded our country was brotherhood.  We have always been a country founded on an idea, not a race or ethnic group.  We are individuals that are united by acceptance of that great concept of “all men are created equal”.  Not equal outcomes.  That is rubbish and ridiculous.  It called for equal opportunity.  It was an ideal we would strive for, not a standard we had achieved.

You see this idea everywhere you look.  When we say the Pledge of Allegiance we recite the words, “One nation under God”.  No, I did not forget the comma.  If you look at our money you see “E Pluribus Unum” which means “out of many, one”.  We have taken people from all cultures and accepted them as a part of us if they are willing to be accepted.

This came out in an unexpected way in what is called the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.  For those who never took US History from me in 8th grade let me remind you that this involved the area that we call the Midwest today and how that area would be adopted by the new country.  Notice that this is four years after the formal end of the American Revolution and two years before the Constitution will be ratified.  Take a look at a few lines from Section 14, Article 5,

“And, whenever any of the said States shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein, such State shall be admitted, by its delegates, into the Congress of the United States, on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and State government:...”

Notice the words, “on an equal footing”.  Even in the politics of the era there was an understanding that new states needed full acceptance, the same as people.  

We need to be reminded of the idea that was America and understand that the current Social Justice Warriors and their commissars want to destroy that idea with group politics expressed through things like Affirmative Action and Critical Race Theory.  They want the law to apply to you based on some non-American measure such as race or gender instead of treating you like an individual under God.

Be aware that we need “brotherhood from sea to shining sea”.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-161: The Importance of Lug Nuts

One of the quotes that sticks in my mind from my college days comes from a man named Rueben Welch.  He was sharing how one day he came to the realization that he was not going to be God’s Golden Boy.  In case you don’t get the point, he was saying that he realized he was going to have a bit part in the Movie of Life.

I would imagine that there is a bit of the Big Dream in all of our lives.  When we watch a movie or read a book we identify with the protagonist.  We put ourselves in the leading role.  It is escape from the mundane lives we live.  I know in my childhood I had many roles.  I became Robin Hood and The Lone Ranger.  I was Zorro.  I never wanted to be Friar Tuck, Tonto or Sergeant Garcia.

Life is not a game we play in the back yard or a dream we have during a nap.  Life has a way of bringing us down.  I remember someone pointing out that we will never be the leading man but we will be one of the spear carriers that fill up the rest of the screen.  Someone has to wear the red shirts.

Many of us are not even spear carriers, we are just nails on the set.  When you think about it, how many nails are there for each board?  How many boards for each extra?  How many extras for each star?  We have support roles at different levels.

I don’t think we should be discouraged by that.  Where would your house be if all the nails decided they wanted to be lawn mowers and left the scene?  Or think of the lug nuts on a car.  They don’t get a lot of thought unless you have the fancy wheels that need locks.  One of my idle fantasies is to get back at someone who has really wronged me by sneaking in some night and removing all their lug nuts.  If I was careful enough the car would look good until they started to drive away.

So be a good nail.  Do your part.  Step back, figuratively of course, and take a good look at the whole structure.  They could not exist without you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-160: Truth Seekers

One of the frustrations I have is seeing so many people who should know better living the lie of Progressivism.  It is like they have disengaged their brain or can’t find the switch to their baloney-meter.  I believe I have stated it before but these people have to be one of three things:  Ignorant, stupid or evil.  

Having said that I also know that such a condition does not have to be life long.  I am seeing more people who seem to fit into a category that I am calling Truth Seekers.  They are ignorant because they have been trained and brainwashed by others who live in one of the three spheres I mentioned.  Since they are not stupid and don’t want to be evil they have their intellectual radar on and are trying to find their way out of their caves.

The first one that made me start thinking this way was Jordan Peterson.  I had heard his name but never paid much attention until I saw a video clip that was labeled something to the effect of the Video that Made Jordan Peterson Famous.  From their I watched a few of his longer lectures and could sense that there seemed to be a desire for truth and a courage to express that search.  I watched some presentations recently made at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, whatever that is, and still feel he is making real progress.  He will always speak as a psychologist and revere his gurus but he uses it to find truth.

I added Joe Rogan to my list.  Yes, that Joe Rogan.  I did so after I watched him interview Jordan Peterson.  One clue that gave me a heads-up was when he mentioned his ten year old daughter.  It could be that he takes parenthood seriously enough to be willing to acknowledge truth when he sees it.  

Recently there has been a string of memes involving Elon Musk talking about going Republican.  I had already added him to my list of truth seekers based on his interview with the staff of Babylon Bee.  I am under no illusions that he has left the left but I do sense there is a genuineness about him that makes it possible his eyes may be gradually opened.  

I am hoping to find others with a thirst for truth.  I believe there are others out there.  Those who have an understanding of truth need to be courteous and willing to dialogue.  Yes, I know it is a bit arrogant to assume I have a sense of truth but as I pointed out to someone years ago, being right is often confused with arrogance by those who have an ax to grind.

You may have seen the snip of Bill Maher questioning transgenderism.  It was interesting, even funny at times, but I am a long way from adding him to my list.  I think in his case it is more a change that comes in order to attract attention rather than a real quest for truth.  I hope I am wrong.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-159: Boring into Eternity

I sometimes think of heaven as sounding boring.

Not that I am interested in the specter of hell.

The idea of sitting around singing “Hosanna” does not sound too exciting.  Perhaps it is time to make a short note that our final destination will not be heaven but we will spend eternity on the new Earth with a centerpiece of the New Jerusalem.  It will be the focal point of our resurrection.  I don’t see evidence that we will be floating around on clouds in robes, playing harps.  That is part of the “boring” I spoke of.  In spite of that I will use the term “heaven” to describe where we will really be.  It is more convenient.

It is a matter of maturity and perspective.  Right now we are not ready for eternity.  I imagine that will be part of the incorruption that we will experience in our new bodies.  Our minds will put together reality in an exciting new way but there will always be a sense of rightness to give us comfort.

I can remember sitting for long periods of time looking across a tree carpeted valley in the High Sierras.  I don’t remember getting bored.  I remember noticing new stimulants constantly.  The new focus could be a smell, color, a sound or even just a thought.  It would be infinite renewal.  That is a preview of heaven.  If you are more into beaches or sunset then make the appropriate substitutions.

Or try to picture what your first bite of ice cream was like.  I would hope you can’t remember in reality but use your imagination.  Try to picture the delight that overwhelmed you.  You wanted more.  Heave will be different because there will be no satiation.  Although it is hard to believe, it is possible to get bored with ice cream.  Heaven will be so beyond our conscious ability to embrace that it will be constantly a new bite.  

I am also sure that I don’t have any idea of how glorious it will be.  I can live with that, for now.

homo unius libri