In a matter of days the Christmas holiday will be over and we’ll be left to face the new year and the challenge of either doing for ourselves…or trusting the judgment of those who say, “We’ll do it for you.” Thoughts you, too, might consider before another year.
Like a lot of people I take this time of the year to think some traditional thoughts about peace on earth and good will towards men – the human line taken for granted for so long.
But this year there’s more to think about – to think through – and not just the blind loyalty to leadership and tradition that I’ve done for the past fifty years, since I graduated high school and started out on my own.
It’s certainly different than it was in 1975 when I graduated from Ohio State, that official state center of awakening that’s now much different than what it was then under the leadership of president Novice G. Fawcett. Then we were taught the conservative principals that guide you through life – work, save, invest, be responsible for yourself. And, don’t be a burden on the community, the state, and the country. Now, it’s a different world.
Having said that…never, and I mean never, have there been so many who need an encouraging word or sign from a neighbor or friend. Never have there been so many who’ve had the rug jerked out from beneath them as now, the aftermath of the Covid and the administrative response to it, however and whatever you believe about that!
But to the big picture, this Christmas I’m thinking like I’ve never thought before – about what comes after Christmas with the new national message that it’s wrong to live according to your own ambitions. Rather, rely on the country and those who preach a doctrine different from that of men like Woody Hayes and Novice Fawcett.
Foremost, the subterfuge that’s been perpetrated on us all about the Covid virus. No one knows what to believe. Like many of you I live by small business, and generally our interests are all dictated by the daily threats on small business, being told by government that we cannot operate profitably. Some are, but many are suffering and their life’s dreams are on the line, along with their life’s security. Our governor, whom we’re asked to trust, doesn’t get this and has no plan for those who will lose everything because they can’t conduct business to the fullest. He’s picked his own future to protect, and when it’s all said and done…he WON’T be there to bail them out.
Regardless of the hope in a vaccine, this will take some time to reach Main Street, and for those who have the common sense to think about the survival of their interests for at least another year…you need to prepare.
There will be a new president and a new cultural struggle for direction and compliance. We really ARE all in this together now, and it’s going to be more expensive – taxes, and increased costs that will be passed along through every transaction imaginable.
The demand for ‘green’ will eventually threaten even the simple comforts of burning wood in your fireplace. Two dollar gas and independence from foreign oil will be looked down upon. Fossil fuels will be held over our heads as a guilty verdict towards future generations.
We’re going to be asked to believe blindly, contrary to what we’ve been taught through the wisdom of those who’ve lived through previous crisis – wars, depression, and recovery. We’ll be told to trust that which reeks of corruption and power, and leaves its constituents mired in cynicism.
And…don’t worry about this talk of ‘socialism’, we’re told. It’s just a different way of thinking about things.
So what I’m thinking about this Christmas is this. And truth be known…a lot of us are!
I’m going to make a greater effort to communicate individually with neighbors, friends, and individuals stuck in that daily rut of network news. I’m going to listen as much as I’m going to ask…how can we mutually prosper despite the threats of those who say you can’t do it on your own?
There will be change, but does change pass the tests that guided my dad, and your dad, for all those years? I thought he was so old-fashioned then when he preached individual responsibility. Don’t spend more than you make. Save. Invest. Prepare for your own future and don’t ask someone to do it for you. And, he’d say…help others by being the example of how they can help themselves – to build and live sensibly, one gain at a time. “Give a man a fish, and he will be hungry again tomorrow. Teach him to catch a fish, and he will be richer all his life.”
I’m going to continue to question, because that’s what Jefferson, Franklin, and Hamilton did in constructing the Constitution by which we’ve lived so well, for so long…while other nations failed through a lack of checks and balances.
I’m going to commit to a greater appreciation of wisdom, and pay attention to others – and why those with a plan for their own happiness seem to be the happiest. Whatever they’re doing might work for me!
I will appreciate the words of John Kennedy when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
“Give a man a fish, and he will be hungry again tomorrow; teach him to catch a fish, and he will be richer all his life.” – Various Sources
And what does all this have to do with sports? Because Press Pros Magazine is a ‘sports’ site, as many of you will remind me.
But sports is being threatened, too – too dangerous to the innocent who watch in the tradition we’ve grown to trust and appreciate. Threatened, while science tells us that the threat is actually .0082% of the 320,000,000 who’d like to have at least one joy left to embrace.
Too heavy?
And what happened to peace on earth and good will towards men?
Nothing, really. Just don’t be blind to the reality that there’s never actually been much peace on earth. And good will can’t be mandated. You have to take it upon yourself, personally. So ask more questions, and listen more carefully to the efficacy of the answers. Be more mindful of each other, and be more appreciative of those who want to live by their own resolve. It’s called…love thy neighbor.
Lest you’ve lost track, it once made us the greatest country on earth!
