Jinxed Universe

So, I've been thinking of why everyone is so willing to have someone take care of them? Think of it how many times have we heard during this last election of people so excited that Obama is going to pay their mortgage or crying because once he is elected all their problems are going to disappear?

Everyone is talking about how we need the government to do this and that, pay my mortgage, bailout Detroit, change my diapers. Oh, you didn't know I can't change my own? Anyways, it seems the people in general don't want to be responsible for themselves. That they just want to be a lemming that is following the leader no matter where it takes them.

Now why is that? Well, I've been thinking a lot about this. To maintain everyone's right to choose for themselves, we walk a fine line. Now, if we get off that line, it is a downhill slope on each side, so we have to work even harder to get back on the line. Is it easier to go down the slopes? Yes, absolutely! But we are giving up our freedoms when we get off it.

Once we have given up those freedoms we no longer can succeed or fail. Because it is not our decision to make. So, we don't have to fail any more. But we are giving up our rights to succeed. Now, doesn't that sound familiar? Didn't Satan want us to come down here and be forced to do what is right so we could all go to heaven? But, Christ wanted us to have the chance to decide for ourselves and not all of us would return, but we would have made the choice to go to heaven or hell.

We have lost site of what the government is really here for. It isn't here to tell me that I need to wear my seat belt, or that I can't have a gun because we don't want anyone getting shot by one. We need to put it in its place and tell them to let us run our own lives. But, that will only happen if we can get people to understand how important it is that we are responsible for ourselves and our decisions.

So call me old fashion, but I love Clint Eastwood. I remember growing up watching a ton of old Westerns with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. His personality really comes through in his movies. I have only seen Dirty Harry on TV once, and I like seeing anything that he puts out that I can. Does he have some stinkers, yes! But, if you look at his movies as a whole, I like it.

Come on how can you not like a guy who talks like this;

"I tried being reasonable, I didn't like it.”

"I have a very strict gun control policy: if there's a gun around, I want to be in control of it."

"Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power."

And My Favorite.

"I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I've kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum - the most powerful hand gun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question--Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk!"

A while ago I read an article where Spike Lee started a war of words with Clint Eastwood. Lee took issue with the lack of African-Americans cast in Eastwood's World War II films "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima," saying "Clint Eastwood made two films about Iwo Jima that ran for more than four hours total, and there was not one Negro actor on the screen."

Now Eastwood fired back and said, "I'm playing it the way I read it historically, and that's the way it is; a guy like him should shut his face."

Who wouldn't like this guy?

So, most everyone over 18 considers themselves a man or a woman. Well, generally yes they can. But, to truly consider one a man it takes more than age. Most of you have seen what I am talking about, boys that should be men, but end up shirking their duties and wasting their time.

If we remember the scripture in Mosiah, that says, "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and puteth off the natural man..." Does the natural man like to be lazy and waste their time with video games and shirking their natural duties? Of course!!! Boys like not having to work, being able to watch TV, and not caring about anything but themselves. So, a "boy" is a natural man. We must learn to become less "boyish" and more like men.

Now days we see a lot of these types of "boys". They come in all types of ages and even men can let the boy out occasionally. So, what brings on the man out of a boy? Usually this means there has been an increase of responsibilities that they will fail or succeed. Now, this doesn't mean choosing the type of food I'm going to eat, but life changing decisions. Like going on a mission, getting married, having kids, going to college, etc. These decisions require more than your standard, dang I screwed up consequences, but life altering failures or successes.

So, when these responsibilities come, they either become a man, or fail and stay a boy. "Men" who don't want to take on the responsibilities of having a wife, kids, an education, even to the extreames of having a job, are not "Men" but boys. A person that cannot support themselves cannot be considered a man but a boy. I find that our society likes to find excuses and reasons to call a boy a man. That their reasons for putting of their duties is because of depression, emotional troubles, or whatever. They thing that by making this backdoor into manhood, that one becomes a man. I think that by creating these safety nets , we remove the possibility of failure. It is that pressure of failure that helps us push further.

Failure is okay, In scouting we are taught that we are to let the boys fail, but to control the type of failure. If a boy doesn't setup his tent when he is told and then it starts to rain, we have to let them get wet and cold to learn, but to make sure that they don't die. This way they can fail and understand why they must do what they are told. I know people that love to bring extras of everything so the boys can rely on their leaders to have brought what they need. I don't, I feel this is another safety net, if they don't bring their utensils, or whatever, they can survive without it, it may not be pleasant, but they will remember to bring it the next time we go camping.

Work and responsibilities are an important product in making a man. We must prove ourselves in some difficult situations before we can come out better when we came in. Think of refining a metal, we take the unrefined ore and put it in the smelter to separate the slag from the pure ore. If we can stand that fire and remove the "natural man" we can become men and better than when we entered the smelter.

President Faust talked about how his father gave him the responsibility of taking care of a lamb and when a storm came, he didn't put it in the barn, so when the day came, it had died. His father told him how disappointed he was in him. So, we see here he was given responsibilities and he was able to fail and was able to learn a great lesson as a youth that has stuck with him throughout his life.

So, Justin was telling me the other day that he was watching Dave Chappelle on TV and he was talking about a girl dressing sleezy and making the statement, "Just because I am dressed this way does not make me a whore." Then he makes fun of that statement by saying that if he was dressed in a cops uniform that it doesn't make him a cop. Technically yes, but everyone is going to think otherwise.

Think of that statement, "Just because I am dressed this way does not make me a whore." Now, if you aren't a whore, a slut, a trap, or whatever. Then way are you dressed that way? How many times have you seen someone dressed in anyway provocative? Why would they want to dress like that. Because it gets them attention. Now, when someone dresses like that, what do you expect to go through everyone else's mind? Well, some will start to slobber, others will not even notice and then there are those that will brand you a tramp. Sorry people, I am one of those that will pull out the branding irons and burn it into your hide.

Just like the beer ads that show everyone having fun drinking. Our society has slowly creeped in the crap on TV, in movies, everywhere we see. All the time you see scantily dressed women on TV. I was talking to some of the girls at work and one of them was telling me how a Victoria's Secret ad came on TV while she was at her in-laws house and she just happened to be sitting next to her father-in-law and how embarrassed she was. These ads subliminally tell us that it is okay to be dressed like this or that. That men will fall for you if you are dress in this.

Since, getting married and living on my own, I just don't watch as much TV as I used to. What TV I do watch is usually PBS or the type. One, day there was a movie on one of the other channels that I sat down and began watching. In the first few minutes of the show I was amazed at all the crap that came on my TV. I seriously couldn't watch it. Now, you may think I'm being a little extreme, but it is amazing to see how desensitized we have become with all the stuff we are exposed to on a daily basis.

Anyways, I find that when a girl dresses like a slut, that she attracts those who are looking for someone that is "easy". Why, because you are putting off that message by dressing like that. DUH!! So, if you don't want some slimy person coming after you then dress modest. Remember the phrase Modest is Hottest.

Warning, I am a hard one when it comes to lazyness and lack of dicipline. So, if you don't agree with my thoughts, then shame on you and get off my site.

As most people know, I love animals. I have had everything from a dog, and a cat to chickens, turkeys, geese, and a goat. Of all of these my favorite is a dog. They just are so much more intelligent than most other animals.

When we had our dog, we had someone come help us train him. Anyways, the dog trainer was able to train us and our dog. It was fairly easy, but we just had to be consistent. If we didn't follow through for one time, we had to start all over. It was very important to let the dog know if what he was doing was good, where we would encourage him with a "Good Boy!", or when he would do something wrong, we would tell him, "No." Sure enough, he was able to learn quickly and was a wonderful dog.

One day I heard a story where a woman had just got a dog. A while into getting this dog, it started to poop on the carpet. So, when she saw this she would open the door going outside throw a dog biscuit out the door and tell it to go outside. It would then proceed outside while she cleaned up its mess. Day after day, this dog would poop on the carpet and she would throw a biscuit outside to get it to go out while she cleaned up after it.

After a month of this she was talking to the friend and telling of her dog and how she couldn't train the dog to go outside. The friend asked what she did when the dog pooped on her carpet. The woman told of how she would throw a treat out the door and get the dog out of the house while she cleaned up.

The friend laughed as she heard this. She told the woman how the dog was viewing pooping on the carpet as a good thing because it gets to go outside and is given a treat. So, it corresponds the pooping on the carpet to the double rewards.

Now, the real purpose of my story. I can't tell you how many times I have seen kids, from infant to 18 doing this kind of behavior.

When I got home from my mission my mom would ask my brother to take out the garbage. She would do this a couple of times in an hours time. Then after he blew her off, she would turn to me and ask, of course I would do it. After a month of this, I had figured out what was going on, my mom had trained my brother that if he would balk at taking out the garbage, she would leave him alone, and it worked. To this day he doesn't do any chores. Because he knew he would just moan and not have to do it.

How many times do we reverse train our kids. We don't have to tell them what they are doing is wrong, they know that. But, we don't enforce the rules. If we let our kids run our lives then we are the ones being trained by our kids. Look at how my brother trained my mom. She now knows that if she tells him to take out the garbage it won't get done, so don't ask him. Ask someone else.

Here is another example. I know someone who fell on hard times and now doesn't have any employment. So, having a good family, his family began to help him out by giving him money for rent and food. All they had to do was report to the family on how things were going. Things went fine for the first few months. Then the reports stopped coming in, nobody could find out what was going on. So, the family went over and found them not looking for a job, but lounging around and doing nothing worthwhile.

So, according to the rules, they were supposed to make a report on how thing were going, they would continue gettting help. But, they couldn't even do that. According to the rules that is a breach of contract and therefore they shouldn't get any assistance.

Continuing on with this story, a year has gone by and the family is still "helping" this individual. They still don't have a job and the family is still supporting them. They are making no effort to change their situation. So, you can see here that the family has trained their child that they can do what they want and the family will financially support them even if it means doing nothing.

Ideally in this situation the person should be left alone. Since, they don't want to do anything. They should be free to suffer the consequences of their actions. Instead, they are a burden on their family and no end in site. If they were left on their own they would come to the harsh reality that I've got to work to eat, I've got to work to have roof over my head. Hmmm, maybe I should get my act together and do something. Otherwise as it says in Galatians, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Also, in D&C 42:42 it says, "Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer."

Some may call me heartless, but I'm all for giving a helping hand to those who truley need it. But, if they don't really need it. No stinking way. Tough love people, that is the best training. Sometime they force you to do this, and you shouldn't have to feel bad.

This really puts things in perspective.

"This is a VERY simple way to understand the tax laws," says Professor Davies. "Read on, as it does make you think!" Here's his analogy:

"Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

the first four men, the poorest, would pay nothing;
the fifth would pay $1;
the sixth would pay $3;
the seventh would pay $7;
the eighth pays $12;
the ninth would pay $18;
and the tenth man, the richest, would pay $59.

"That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement --- until one day, the owner threw them a curve (in tax language a tax cut).

"'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I am going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20.' So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00.

"The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six--the paying customers?

How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

"The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, Then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay:

as before, the first four men paid nothing;
now the fifth man also paid nothing;
the sixth man now paid $2;
the seventh paid $5;
the eighth man paid $9;
the ninth man paid $12;
leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59.

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.

"But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. 'I only got a dollar out of the $20 reduction,' declared the sixth man, but he, pointing to the tenth. 'But he got $7!'. 'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man, 'I only saved a dollar too; it's unfair that he got seven times more than me!' '"That's true,' shouted the seventh man, 'why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!. 'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison, 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!' "The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what was very important. They were now Fifty-Two Dollars short of paying the bill. Imagine that!"

Next time you lazy poor people complain about taxes. Re-read this story to understand what is really going on.

When my parents started to build their house, I began to understand what work was. Before then, we rarely did our chores, weeded the garden or anything. But, the second my dad purchased the land his house sits on, we had to start working. The land was covered in trees and garbage. We spent weekends there cutting and burning the overgrowth. Then, when our house started to go up, we were there again installing the heating. Then when the house was finished we spent every free day landscaping the yard. This was not an easy feat. When you had to dig the sprinkler trenches out another 6" that the trencher couldn't do, or spending the 4th of July building a block wall taller than you are, you find out what you are made of.

A few years later I quit my janitorial job of work 2 fast hours and get paid for 4, for a full-time job as a hodtender for a mason. Boy, did I make more money, but did I ever earn it. As hodtender, my job was to be at the site before the mason, to get everything setup so when he showed up he would just lay brick. Then as the day goes on, to keep his supply of mortar and brick going and do any odd jobs to keep him doing his job. Then when the mason is done doing his job and leaves, I'm still there cleaning everything up and preping for the next day.

When I would come home I would be dyed various colors from the mortar and absolutely worn out. I would be putting in 8-10 hour days. I would be so tired from lifting mortar and brick up scaffolding and just generally moving it around that I was so physically tired that I would fall asleep the second I got home.

Then at lunch one day I was talking to my boss and he explained that the more I was able to do to keep him laying brick and do everything else, the quicker we were able to get jobs done the more money we made. Because we make the same amount of money whether we take 1 week or 2 months. So, of course the faster we did it the more he made and the more he was able to pay me.

So, with this in mind we went back to work. I worked with this guy for three months, and I gave him everything I had. By the end of those three months he had started me at $7.50 an hour and at the end I was making $10.50 an hour. He even at one point started showing me how to lay brick.

I have kept these two experiences in mind my whole life. I can't tell you how much people are lacking a good work ethic now days. I have tried to give my whole to everything that I take upon my self. But, now days I don't see many hard workers. I see a bunch of lazy farts that think that want their cake and to eat it too. In my business there is a TON of learning involved. We have to be able to diagnose a problem and solve it. Most problems are fairly unique and so you have to be very careful in fixing things that you don't make the problem worse. Especially when you could take down a company at the click of a button. Anyways, in the last year we have hired five different people and all of them found that it was too hard to learn all of the stuff we were asking. We were just trying to get them familiar with a product and not even do anything beyond just knowing what it does.

The only reason higher taxes for the "Rich" are so popular is because everyone wants to work less and get paid more. Since I've been in scouting in this ward I have found that everyone wants to hand the Eagle Scout award to everyone. We have a boy that will be 19 in Feb. He isn't even a Life Scout, but all of his leaders keep telling him that they are going to help him get his Eagle. I have had to help these guys understand that there is no way he is going to get it. That because this boy at one point just dropped off the face of the planet and at the last second wants his Eagle, him and his mother feels like we have let him down. His younger brother was in my troop and we went on a "hike" along Legacy Highway and the last mile I was trying to encourage him and motivate him into going faster than a snail's pace. He kept telling me he was going to call his mom to pick him up because this was too hard. I just kept telling him that the end was is site and to just keep going.

Our stake puts on once a month a required merit badge class. Where the boy just shows up and does what he is asked and can come home with a required merit badge class. I tried to convince my boys into going, but they said it wasn't any fun and that it was hard. So, they didn't go and I told them they will be taking all of the required merit badge classes our scout camp has to offer so they understand that what the stake is doing is nothing compared to what they really need to be doing for these merit badges.

We are loosing our work ethic. How many times do we see people looking for a handout for nothing. Seriously, how many bums do you know who will actually will "Work for Food". They are just looking for an easy buck. How many men do we know who are still attached to their parents for money, shelter, because it is too easy to take it from them.

The only good thing about this recession is that those who really suck at working and need a hard wakeup call will be without a job here. If they are truely hardworkers and can perform they will get jobs and the lazy bums that need to be on the street will either wake up or end up on the street.