Sherriff Ed Earl Dodd....................

Do you know Ed Earl?  He's the character played by Burt Reynolds, opposite Dolly Parton's Miss Mona in that most wonderful of movies, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.  In that movie Ed Earl is trying to keep the Chicken Ranch open and he gives this impassioned speech to the governor......

"I've been fightin' crime all my life but let's not confuse crime with committing a sin. You can't legislate morality. Those girls out there have never caused any trouble to anybody. They're healthy, tax-paying, law-abiding citizens who supply a demand and provide an economic asset to the community."  

Now at the risk of whackin' a hornets nest, I've got to say I wholeheartedly agree.  You simply cannot legislate morality.  You cannot force people to be good.  The idea of a "law" regarding a moral issue in my opinion is ridiculous.  A moral person would never do it, and an immoral person isn't going to care one whit that it's illegal.  For example, I, as a sane person, would never murder my neighbor for walking his dog on my lawn.  Does it piss me off?  Sure, but I'm not going to kill the guy over it.  That would be immoral.  Now lets say that murdering my lousy neighbor for letting his dog pinch a loaf on my yard was suddenly made legal.  Am I going to sit on my porch with the 12 gauge loaded with deer slugs and just wait for that sucker to come by?  I should hope not because even if it was legal, it would still be immoral.  Killing somebody over a little dog poop is just plain wrong.  Now if he is coming into my home uninvited with the intent to harm me or my family, that is another ball of wax all together.  Is it still illegal to kill him??  You bet.  There will be an inquest and all sorts of investigations and whatnot.  If I live in the right state I'll probably get off with no charges, but it's still illegal.  However, in that case, is it immoral?  Not to me it isn't. 

There is a headline in St. Louis right now that says.........

"Belleville woman sold kids' Christmas gifts for crack"

Hmm..........isn't crack illegal?  I'm pretty sure it is, last time I checked anyway.  Now, if the use of crack were legal, would a moral person steal their kids' Christmas gifts to get money to buy said crack?  In my honest opinion, drugs are a moral issue and illegality certainly hasn't stopped the use of them.  I'm not saying all drugs should be made legal, but making them illegal has surely not helped the people who are addicted.  If the pull of drugs is so strong that you would steal from your own children, then you need serious help, not necessarily jail time.

Laws were/should be created to protect people from others.  They should protect children and animals.  I don't need a law to protect me from myself.  Murder is, of course, wrong, rape, child abuse, animal abuse, of course all wrong.  Gay marriage............polygamy.......smoking, alcohol, drugs................the use of seat belts............purchasing raw food products..............what I can and can't buy at the store?  None of this has any business being legislated by our government in my opinion.  If you are an adult or two consenting adults it is nobody's business what you are doing as long as you aren't harming anyone else.  How do I feel about all these issues I just mentioned?  Well that doesn't matter because they are moral issues and something you must decide on for yourself.  For the record, I really don't care what you do as long as you leave me alone to live my life the way I want to live it.  How I choose to live my life is between God and I and quite frankly it's no-one else's business.  I'm an intelligent adult.  I have the capabilities to make decisions for myself and I respect the abilities of other adults to do the same.

In closing, I'd just like to say this...............

We are born with free will.  This is how God designed us.  He is the Supreme Creator.  He could have created us anyway He chose and He chose to give us free will.  God wants us to be good and moral, but He doesn't force us.  He wants us to choose right.  If our Creator and Savior gives us the right to choose, how in hell does our government think they know better?  How can they possibly think they can make the world a more moral place through the passage of laws?  Please don't misunderstand me.  I'm not saying we should throw all caution to the wind and have no laws.  That would be anarchy.  We need laws to keep the populace safe.  We don't need laws to keep the populace moral.  Morality must be taught at home.  We must teach our children right from wrong, and right from wrong can be subjective.  I'm sorry and I know that may really honk some folks off, but it's true.  I'm a very black and white person, but even I know that right to some is wrong to others.  We don't drink.  I have no use for alcohol and I hope that The Youngun doesn't drink.  Does that mean I think alcohol is immoral?  Of course not, it just isn't for us.  In our home, Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life.  I wouldn't want to live in a place where my right to that belief was taken from me.  If I want my rights preserved, then I have to fight for the rights of others to be preserved.  Is it wrong to not believe in God?..........well in my home it is wrong, but if I want to be able to believe how I wish, and raise my daughter to have those beliefs then I must respect the beliefs of others.  How could it be otherwise?

As always during my rants, I must give you my disclaimer.  I love a good debate and as long as you keep your comments polite, plenty of passion is ok!  ;)       

PS, The Man had to go into work at 1:15 AM because we are having an ice storm.  After getting him off to work and laying back in bed, my little pea brain was a swirl with these thoughts and I couldn't get back to sleep until getting them off my chest. 

I hope you are safe and snug this fine December morn!

God Bless....................

A Perfect World......My Thoughts on God and Freewill.......

Oh oh, here we go..........the Goodwife's been thinkin' again.  I was just vaccuming my hardwood floors when this popped into my head.  As you know, if it pops in, I gotta let it out and share it with you all.......so here we go.

God gave us free will.  He could have made us robots, or dummies, or I don't know what, but He chose instead to make us human, full of failings and oh so very full of free will.  We have so many choices in our day to day lives.  God doesn't force us to do the right thing.  He usually doesn't strike us down in the midst of a bad choice, no matter how bad or even evil that choice is.  That's because He wants us to repent and He wants us to have the chance to make the right choice the next time.  That's powerful love, that is. 

Being Christian isn't about living in a bubble away from temptations and the world.  It's about being faced with evil and temptations every day and making the right Godly decision.  God put us all here in the midst of immorality and decay and said Do the right thing even when the wrong thing is easier or more fun.  I used to think abortion wouldn't exist in a perfect world.  Now I think in a perfect world, abortion would be an option, but no one would ever do it, because even though evil would exist, humans would rise above it the way God wants us to.  Ya know??

It's very hard to convey what I want to in the written word.  I'm a much better oral communicator, but I hope you got at least the gist of what I was saying.  As always, feel free to comment and disagree and as long as you keep the hate out, I'll leave 'em up! 

Till next time..........God Bless!

Allowances..........and the Lack Thereof........

Work ethic is very important to The Man and I. The Youngun has a chore sheet listing her daily chores and she checks them off each day as she gets them done. She then picks herself out a pretty sticker and sticks it on the bottom of each day once all the chores are checked off. Some of the things on her chore list are; make bed, feed dogs (2x), feed rabbits (2x), feed fish, wash face, brush hair, brush teeth, and set the supper table. She also knows to help me in any task that I ask. We do not give her an allowance for doing her chores and here is why....

The Man and I believe that work ethic is seriously lacking in people today. Not just young people, pretty much anybody under 35 (and possibly even older than that!). I've thought about this at great length and this is what my little pea-brain has managed to come up with. My little disclaimer is that these are my thoughts and opinions and that's that. If you disagree, I respect that and would love to hear your views!

First and foremost, parents don't allow their children to be responsible. It's quicker and easier to just "do it themselves" so rather than teaching children to help out and help themselves, they tell them to get out of the way and let me do it. Or perhaps the kid doesn't do it "right" so the parent would rather just do it themself. When my daughter first started making her bed, let me tell you it was very loosely made. However she was 4 or 5 years old at the time and all I cared was that she was making the effort, we can work on the finished product as time goes on! Another problem I see is that parents don't train their children when they are very young. You can't let little Johnny run wild until he's 6 and then start laying the law down! It just don't work thataway! I'll never forget when The Youngun was a toddler. She didn't start walking until she was 15 months old. As soon as she started walking, I felt she was big enough to pick up her own toys (cuz as we all know a toddler's most favorite game in the WORLD is let's empty the toy box!). She had done her usual, removing everything from the toybox and getting inside it to play. When it was nap time, I said.....Youngun let's pick up your toys. No Mama! Yup, come in it's time to pick up. No! I walked over to her, to take her by the hand and pick up toys and she started screaming NO! I very calmly stood behind her, took a tiny little wrist in each hand, walked her over to a toy, used my body to bend her body over (because she was screaming and stiff as a board) and picked up the toy. Then we proceeded over to the toy box in that fashion, dropped the toy in, and picked up all the toys in that way. Mind you, it wasn't a fun time, but it had to be done. I didn't spank her, yell at her, or punish her, I simply showed her that when Mama said pick up the toys, the toys were gonna get picked up! The next time I told her to pick up the toys she picked them right up and she was as proud as can be that she was a big girl and picked up her own toys!

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble here and you'll have to excuse me. Back to the topic of work ethic and allowances. The Man and I belive that if you take a job, you should do the job to the best of your ability. If you are the head french fry salter at McBurger World, making 6 bucks an hour, you'd better salt those fries the very best way you know how, with the intention of being voted best fry salter in the nation. The amount of your paycheck should not determine your quality of work. We both believe that paying kids an allowance to do their chores is in effect teaching them to expect payment for work. If you don't get paid, you don't work. Help the old neighbor lady in with her groceries? Not unless I'm getting paid for it! Work hard and do your best at your minimum wage paying job? No way......not enough in it for me! Work hard on your lessons? Not without getting paid a dollar per A! To me, you are in essence training kids to feel entitled! It just seems to me that you are teaching them to expect a return, instead of just doing it because it's right. In my opinion all you are doing is teaching them terrible work ethic.

It scares me that the kids being raised today are going to be the folks in charge of things in a few years! Kids who feel like the world owes them a living, owes them a paycheck (without an honest days work). Our country was built on hard work, ingenuity, responsibility, honesty, integrity and work ethic. As a parent I feel the best thing I can do is raise The Youngun to be an honest, hard working, productive member of society. I want her to be independent and capable of taking care of herself. Whether she lives across town, or across the world, I want to know that she is walking with God every day, and always doing the right thing!

Till next time..............GOD BLESS!