I Can Only Hope That My View On Americans Being Too Easily Offended By The Trivial Offends So That My Point Is Made...

I think that’s the longest title for one of my articles yet, but it is for a good cause.

Today, I have a question for America...How have we ended up being, quite simply, offended by...everything?

If there is a plaque at the Grand Canyon that pays tribute to God for making it in six days, but you believe that it was actually carved by a river over millions of years, why would your panties get in a bunch over the plaque being there?

Do I believe that God created the Grand Canyon in six days? No, I do not, but why in the world would I get my feelings hurt and be offended by a plaque that said he did?

When did we become a nation of whiny, sniffling little weaklings who cry and whine about everything? We don’t get offended when people talk about Santa Claus, even though we do not believe that there is a fat guy making himself skinny enough to fit into chimneys that travels to millions upon millions of homes all over the world in a single night on a magic sleigh.

Now, let’s take it a step further and replace Santa Claus with Jesus, just like is happening with Christmas. I have no problem at all with Jesus. I think he’s good people. Do I think I need to ponder on his teachings day and night? No, but it doesn’t offend me when someone does, or talks about him, or I walk by a statue of him. Why should it?

But, why is that some people who go out and buy their kids presents from Santa Claus, whom they don’t believe in, are all pissy when they see symbols for Jesus and a God in which they might not believe? Why are these symbols of religion so offensive to these people? Is it that they just have nothing better to do and nothing important enough going on in their own lives that they are going to just absolutely die of misery if we don’t get “Under God” out of the pledge of allegiance?

Or, perhaps, is it, that they are so worried that they should believe and might be making a mistake that they get pissy when they see something that reminds them of that inner struggle?

I think about it each and everyday, folks and you don’t hear me whining and moaning.

I believe that a guy named Jesus walked the Earth and that he did some really amazing things for people because he was a good person who had dedicated his life to good. You won’t catch me in a church, not necessarily because I don’t believe, but more so because I formed an opinion at a very early age that I did not need an interpreter, nor a guidebook, to be a good person.

I felt how I felt about mortal priests long before the scandal...I knew some were genuinely good people, but every single one?...impossible. Plus, in all honestly, I cannot look upon man’s church today and simply forgive things like burning people at the stake, no matter how long it has been.

Another thing that just made no sense to me when I was growing up was how in the world was a guy who has never been married supposed to advise people on how to have a good marriage? You don’t hire a bankrupt homeless guy to be your financial planner, do you? You might laugh, but that question started me on my path of believing that we can be perfectly OK with the notion that there are things bigger than ourselves out there without ever stepping into one of man’s churches.

So, with that being said, why is it that I do not take offense when I see a statue of the Ten Commandments or other religious symbols, but we continually hear about people out there who are so deeply offended by those very same symbols? 

I don’t sit and pray all that often, but I have a really hard time with people telling kids they can’t. I have just as hard a time with people telling kids that they have to.

It should be our choice, America...always a decision that we make for ourselves and never one that is made for us. A football team should be able to pray in the locker room before a game and the players should be able to choose if they want to participate or not, and it is not up to us to take the right to pray or the right not to pray away from them.

I would have been completely pissed off if someone had told me I could not pray with my teammates before taking the field even though church and morality had nothing to do with my high school years.

Don’t wanna say, “Under God,” then don’t say it, but don’t ride my ass if I do. 

America, we must stop and realize that if a statue is offending a person, it’s probably got a lot more to do with what is going on in their own life than the statue itself, and we should treat the complaints of these people accordingly.

Did They Just Tell Me "No"?

Why do you hire an expert?

Well, it is because of the expertise that they have that you do not.

So, what to do when you don’t agree with what the expert you have hired has recommended?

Take a minute to pause and think back to what Edmund Burke once said. “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment, and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

That’s a mouthful, but read it a couple of times. What it is saying is that the expert you hired has a duty to tell you “no” when that expert knows that his opinion is correct and yours is not.

The expert that you have hired is not trying to push you around, not trying to get you going, not trying to do anything but to serve you in the capacity in which you hired him to serve you.

The expert is speaking from experiences that you do not have...the lack of experience which is the very reason that you hired that expert.

So don’t get upset when you are told “no” by your expert, but instead, take the time to understand where the “no” is coming from...the experience and expertise of the expert.

Giving Thanks When It’s Due...

I always try to remember to give credit where credit is due and I just ran across an article that made me feel the need to sound off with some thanks.

The new mayor of Hartford, Connecticut is a guy named Eddie Perez. Growing up in the bad part of Hartford with his single mom and eight siblings, Mayor Perez was once known on the streets as “The Professor” and ran with a gang he co-founded with some other young male family members.

Perez gives credit to getting involved in the community as to the reason that he turned his life around and started doing some good.

I grew up in the bad part of town and I grew up around guys just like Eddie Perez. One of the things that Perez commented on in an interview was that as he learns about the kids he grew up with, he finds that about 90% of them died from drugs or a life of crime, ended up in jail, or have no measure of success in their life whatsoever.

I know for a fact that as I hear news of my old friends that I grew up with in my early years, that number is ringing true for the group of kids that I spent my elementary school years with.

Hearing that 90% figure and seeing what Eddie Perez did with his life led me to think back on the loving family that I had around me and the wonderful friends that I made that not only accepted the kid from the poor side of town as their friend, but those friends and their families that, without even knowing it, showed me that there was a better life for me out there than the one my fellow neighborhood kids were choosing.

It was, in fact, for me, my family and friends and their belief in me that showed me the way. I must thank you all, my friends, and I must thank my family for this wonderful gift of a better life...Each moment spent with you and each lesson learned was a stroke on a canvas that would materialize into my American dream...