Pay Me Now, or Pay Me Later…
Originally posted October 23, 2020
“Pay me now or pay me later,” is a saying that my husband and I have used for years to describe a situation in which a child clearly needs correction, but his or her parent tries to be a “friend” instead…
Frederick Douglass put it more profoundly: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
Many of our readers will remember a time when what you learned at church was reinforced at home and applied at school… so what happens when church is Starbucks, home is empty and school is the babysitter?
Well, just watch the news…
While many of the miscreants destroying urban America with impunity have been [proven] paid members of larger Marxist organizations, I do think that a good portion of the American electorate is legitimately flummoxed…namely because many of them continue to navigate life on a false premise…a premise that acts not only as a philosophy, but also a theology…a theology that not only yields a cult-like religion, but also one that precludes all others…
At least three generations among us have been programmed to fully embrace and promulgate the faux theology that man is inherently “good,” capable of making all the right decisions in life as long as he is surrounded by the appropriate – albeit arbitrary – circumstances, environment, food, furniture or microbrew.
Rather than find real-world evidence to support this doctrine – on which their entire existence rests – its followers find overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and as a result, experience #CognitiveDissonance in proportions never before experienced when they come across differing opinions… because after all, an “inherently good” person would NEVER disagree with them about anything, like ever…right?
Even worse, most have never been taught to question their own position, at least not comprehensively enough to effectively articulate frustration over its break from reality.
Mix all that in with the fact that unless something accidental happened at church, at home or at school, they have rarely been held accountable to anyone for anything, let alone “allowed” to be wrong, get a bad grade or Heaven-forbid, lose a game!
Indeed most of the immoderate meltdowns we see are a direct result of the “everyone gets a trophy” philosophy, where only three things can be legitimately lost: your temper, your mind and your composure.
Moreover, the “adults” at home, at school and at church can’t escape their narcissism long enough to stand in the gap, and in so doing actually widen it.
Ceding all that ground has done a grave disservice to our progeny, who as a result, are no longer growing up as free men and women in America, rather they are pawns in the midst of its transformation into something it was never intended to be…
The Socratic lesson: “Know thyself.”
Even inside “safe spaces,” man’s chronic condition is not inherently good, nor can mere mortals facilitate his perfection. Ergo, cognizant of it or not, the deep-seated desires for which we so desperately clamor – unconditional love, unmitigated peace and perfectly-executed justice – will never be realized in this life on a scalable, consistent level. Still hope remains…
Embracing the truth of our human condition sufficiently pays the present to significantly reduce the need for repair in the future…but we must start making those payments now.
“You shall love your crooked neighbor with your crooked heart.” ~W.H. Auden