Ray Rice

          Over the course of time, man has done some pretty nasty things—even the most atrocious, rape, murder, and mayhem. In fact, I’ll bet that, If the truth were to be told, there are very few of us who have not committed some act or acts during our lifetime of which we are very ashamed and would like to forget—to bury them in the past, never to be brought again to see the light of day. I think most of us fall into this category. Don’t you? I’ll bet most offenses are never even reported, and the offenders go free with another chance in life to repent—to try again. On the other hand, many are found out and penalized in one way or another. They may suffer from legal prosecution, imprisonment, or a multitude of other circumstance not the least of which may be the loss of their marriage, jobs, or some other. In any event, short of the death sentence, everyone (even those imprisoned) deserve the right to atone for their offense(s) and be restored to a life of freedom and opportunity—everyone. So let it be with Ray Rice.

          I submit to you that enough is enough. Ray Rice’s abuse of his wife was a serious offense by anyone’s standard for a number of reasons, and he should be punished and disciplined accordingly, commensurate with the offense he committed. At the same time, however, he should, also, be treated fairly, as should anyone, with a chance to atone and repent for what he has done. What is happening to him and his family now, is anything but fair and, also, nothing short of a media circus for the explicit purpose of exciting the public, increasing ratings, and making money—a travesty, to say the least. To take away Ray Rice’s very career, is tantamount to taking away his life. Ray Rice, the offender, is now Ray Rice the victim at the hands of the NFL, incompetent and trying to save face.

          Domestic abuse is a terrible and unacceptable offense. It is conducted all over this country every day, but it doesn’t come near to be being tantamount to murder, or fraud and corruption. It certainly doesn’t deserve a life sentence. Ray Rice, after being appropriately penalized and disciplined should be allowed to return to his career and become a productive citizen of our country. I would think he and his fellow players, by this time have learned their lesson.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net

What?

          On the one hand, this is a deep mystery; and, on the other hand, it’s a “no brainer” because we never take the time to think about it in this way—most of us, anyway. Through no fault of our own (we certainly had no say in the matter), and for no reason whatsoever other than that two people, at one point in time without consulting us, became attracted to one another, and got together.  Seemingly, in no time at all, there we were—bare, cold, helpless, hungry, and all bent out of shape. As a matter of fact, from our perspective, we didn’t even know we had arrived, let alone who we or they, these two strange people (our parents), were. We just knew we were very uncomfortable and “pissed-off”. Our personal self-awareness was to come later, ever so slowly over a period of time so long that we didn’t actually realize when it did arrive. To make matters worse, we didn’t have the wherewithal to care for ourselves and provide for our basic needs, food, clothing, shelter and personal security; but, here we were, nevertheless.

          If you think this is bad, it goes downhill from here. From this point in time, the rule of law (God’s law) is, throughout your life, you must earn your bread (your living) by the sweat of your brow. God has given you the resources from which to live (they are there for you), but it is your responsibility to provide for yourself and your family. Yes. In the beginning, you are helpless and your parents will help you, if they will. Also, they will advise you. It is called nurturing; but, as rapidly as you are able, it is your responsibility in this world to provide for yourself. You will also receive help from others if and when it is needed; but, again, the ultimate responsibility is yours. It is you who is responsible to attain the necessary education, employment, and wherewithal to provide yourself and your family throughout life. And, with all that, it is your responsibility to help those less fortunate than you in the same theme of things. This is not the responsibility of our parents. It is not the responsibility of government as that is yours, too.

          Is this bad? Is it good? Now that depends on you, me, and us. It depends on, cumulatively, how good a job we do; and, individually, how good a job we do. In the end, we will have no one to blame but ourselves. Pointing our fingers at others never helps as we can only control ourselves. In the end, we are the sum total of the results of our decisions in life.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net

The Basics–Why We Are Different

It has been said that we are three kinds of people. We are who we think we are; who others think we are, i.e. our reputation; and who God thinks we are, i.e. our character–who we really are.   

   

We are told by scientists that 98.6% of the DNA of a human being is the same as that of a chimpanzee. If that is true, and I believe them, then the difference between a human being and a chimpanzee is the remaining 1.4%. Therefore, it would seem to me that, within our DNA, lay the determining factors of our race, color, levels of intelligence, creativity, talents, motivation, aka drive, and all those many other inherited factors that make us and the chimpanzee within us born different from one another.

Then there are the different lands or countries into which we are born, our environment (both physical and social), and our homes. Last, but certainly not least, there are our parents along with all the internal factors that made both of them who and what they are. Up to the point after our birth, when we begun our transition from the parental nest, none of us had any choice or control over any of this–absolutely none; the preponderance of our character for the rest of our life was established, to be subsequently honed, sharpened, and hopefully enhanced by what we see, experience, and learn from then on until our death. Needless to say, the effects of parenting notwithstanding, we are in control of and responsible for that part of our life–the enhancement of our knowledge, the building of our character, the achievement of our goals, and our destiny–all within the limits of our abilities and circumstances in life. All of the aforementioned attributes combine to format our world view, determining our opinions and actions from birth to death. Jesus has said (paraphrased), “As you think, so you are”.

Our Holy Bible tells us we are all born equal in the eyes of God. Our Constitution tells us we are all born equal in the eyes of the law. It is immediately obvious, however, that in reality, we are not all born equal. Mentally and physically, we come in all shapes and sizes with vastly differing talents, abilities, and levels of intelligence. I believe, the world belongs to all of us–not just a privileged few. Within reason, to the best of our abilities, the strong should help the weak, the rich should help the poor, and we should all help each other. I admire drive, ambition, and success. I despise sloth, greed, avarice, dishonesty, and slavery in any form. I firmly believe in the Words of the Lord when He said (again, paraphrased), “To whom much is given, much is expected”. He also said (again, paraphrased), “Feed the poor. As you do to the least of these, you do to Me”. You may not believe in God, and you certainly have that choice; but these rules, those of God, lead to a happier and more prosperous country, a happier and more prosperous world in which to live, and a happier and more prosperous life for everyone,. Isn’t this what we really want, rather than a course of self annihilation?

It is these basics that are behind the many subjects I have thus far discussed as well as those to be forthcoming in the future.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net. Whether you agree or disagree, let me hear from you.

A Wet Noodle

          How do you push a wet noodle up a hill, aka an inclined plane? Experience has taught us that there is always a super intelligent nerd somewhere out there in the woodwork who will eventually come out in the open and, perhaps, tell us how; but, for now, I don’t have an answer–not fully anyway. The wet noodle to which I am referring is not one you eat, in a bowl of soup for instance. I am talking about the kind of wet noodle who is fat, lazy, ignorant, unmotivated, or all of the above.

          As you know by now, our nation is rapidly becoming a class society, so let me begin at the top with the very rich who no longer work for their income and wealth, being fed from the productivity and income of the middle class, i.e. excessive salaries funded at the expense of those lower down the chain of command, those who are laid off–replaced by slave labor abroad (aka outsourcing), and those subsidized by lower tax rates offset by higher rates paid by others and/or offset by compensating charges to our national deficit and, consequently, debt. In times gone by, we worked hard, did the right thing, and, hopefully, progressed accordingly. But times have changed.

In recent years, wealth is increasingly inherited. In their book, Capital, Thomas Pikety and Arthur Goldhammer tells us that “capital tends to produce real returns of 4 to 5 per cent, and economic growth is much slower”. In an interview with Bill Moyer of Moyers & Company on April 18, 2014, the Nobel Laureate, Paul Krugman tells us, “When you have a situation where the returns on capital are pretty high and the growth rate of the economy is not that high (or even low), you have a situation in which not only can people live well off inherited wealth, but they can actually pass on to the next generation even more, an even higher share”; and, when you have such an economy, “which is what we now have, you’re talking about a situation in which dynasties come increasingly to dominate the top of the economic spectrum and a tiny fraction of the population ends up very dominant” (and they no longer work for what they get, which is kind of like a wet noodle).

          Moving to the bottom of the classes, we have the lowest of all, the underclass. I have discussed them before, but I want to begin by making one major observation so as to negate any confusion. The majority of the underclass may be black; but, increasingly, they are being joined by the white population as they are being forced out of the middleclass due to globalization, unemployment, a failed economy, and by immigrants–especially Latino. Accordingly, our inner city ghettos and older suburbs are increasingly being populated with the poor, unemployed, and the homeless, saturated with crime, gangs, drugs, single family homes, hunger, and hopelessness. Their schools are underfunded, understaffed, in disrepair, and the dropout rates have “risen through the ceiling”. Understandably, most do not even care anymore. They have just given up. How do you push a wet noodle uphill?

          In my mind, there are specific reasons for the plight of the blacks which can be summed up in one word, Racism. Beginning from the day they came here on the slave ships and were bought and sold in the public markets to the highest bidder, these people have been abused, neglected, and otherwise maltreated–shunned, ignored and set apart from the rest of us, the greatest insult one can inflict on any man, woman, or child. In addition, the denial of equal opportunity in education and employment has been a constant source of exacerbation to their condition ranging from, before the Civil War, being denied the right to learn to read to the present, being denied equal access to education. Before the Civil War, the rich became richer at the expense of the blacks, living off the backs of their slavery; and, now that they are no longer available, they continue to enrich themselves from slavery through globalization.

In his book, The Triumphs of Joseph: How Today’s Community Healers are Reviving Our Streets and Neighborhoods, published in 1998, sixteen years ago, Robert L. Woodson, Sr., a black conservative, points to an ever increasing gap between black haves and have-nots. If the causes stated above are holding back blacks on the lower end of the scale, he asks, why are they not holding back those on the higher end of the scale? In his book, he contends that the Pharaoh’s are the main problems in that they (These are my words, and I believe they apply to the white underclass as well as the black) enable sloth and poverty among the poor as well as protect the jobs and turf of the enablers. Since, as I have just indicated, his book was written sixteen years ago, the latter has surely been resolved by now—Not. We usually don’t solve problems do we? We just talk about them waiting for the other guy to do it.

I have watched and listened to Mr. Woodson on C-span; and I respect him very much. In my view, he is very intelligent and well informed. He strongly believes in self reliance and self help, and I don’t disagree with that at all, but his is only part of the answer. In my August 9, 2013 posting to this blog, “Who Am I”, I discussed in some detail what makes a person who they are and invite you to revisit it. In short, however, I believe that a person’s heritage includes not only their genes, DNA, etc., but, also, the sum total of their life experiences and education from conception to the present, their character–all affected and influenced by that of their parents, and the environment in which they, socially, politically, and economically were raised (Of course this includes the same factors in your parents, grandparents, etc back down the line). This is true of all of us. So, back to the question, which in effect, asks how we bring the best out in all of us–how do we motivate the underclass to rise above the rest? My answer is faith, hope, charity, and equal opportunity for all, all of which has been taken from us, stolen, by greed and avarice.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net

Reference: My blog of March 4, 2014 Titled, Our Underclass, itemizes in detail and recommends specific                    solutions to resolve, at least in part, some of these problems.