Humanity the Beautiful
I think we as spiritual beings yearn for freedom, we want to be free we want to exercise our liberty. Whether you believe in God or not most of us do believe that there is something very instinctive, natural, and intuitive about being free. It is ingrained in us, yet we have an internal struggle with our own personal hedonistic natural man, or woman. The natural man in all of us invites convenience, safety, and having our lives made easier by other people, perhaps at the expense of other people. By nature we are hedonists and yet also the children of God. We have good vs. evil inside all of us and we all must decide which one we feed everyday. In a sense we are all like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I see this same battle in America and it is always raging. It always seems that about half of our country would like to be more free than we are and the other half is willing to give it all up in the blink of an eye if it means we are given a false sense of security and safety. I say "false sense" because that is exactly what it is. If you truly believe that you are safe when giving all up to the government then you would have to believe all of government is like unto God, omnipotent, knowing all of us personally and knowing what is best for us. Who knows better what is best for you than yourself and your God? So this brings up the interesting debate about government's proper role. On Easter Sunday I read Fredric Bastiat's The Law. Great read and great philosophy! It is hard to refute. I recommend it to everyone to read. It will challenge everything you believe about government. What is government then and where do our rights come from?
The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!-Fredric Bastiat
When I think of this with regard to my religion, it is very clear to me that Jesus plays the essential role to satisfy the law. Jesus satisfied the demands of justice so that we would not be subject to it. God wanted all of us to choose for ourselves. Even the most high respects the agency of His children, me and you, everyday humans. God would cease to be God if He did not obey His own law. "Now the work of justice could not be destroyed; if so God would cease to be God"- Alma 42 So if justice be destroyed, would not agency or liberty? So God gave us our rights, our agency, our freedom, our liberty and He set up His divine plan of happiness with His only begotten Son. Through the Atonement we have justice satisfied and we have mercy shown to us through the merciful sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. Through the Atonement God can be a just God and a merciful God. This is the way back to our Heavenly Father. Satan wanted to force us all to choose God and then he would gain the glory. So in this scenario, no law would be broken, so there would be no need for justice, mercy, or agency. We would also not know opposition. So if the earthly government is set up to protect our God given or natural rights and the law is justice, then if the government perverts or deviates from that, would they cease to be government? Interesting, they would only cease to be government by the people. For the people are the government, right? The people essentially have the power here in America. This is why there are always forces that are quick to take away the power that rests with the people. The government wants to be a higher authority, but they are really only there by the people, for the people and of the people. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.- Declaration of Independence
I have had many ups and downs over the last month because of the pandemic. For if we do not experience bondage, perhaps we won't realize how much freedom really means? Some still won't get it, unfortunately. I'm not trying to be the bad guy here, nor am I trying to make light of this situation. I do take it seriously and I do not deny that there is some danger in the virus, but I do not believe the lengths we have gone to have been necessary or completely smart. To all of those calling for the quarantine and lock down in the name of their safety because their not dying is more important than my freedom. I ask you what about my anxiety, depression, my ability to financially support my family, and overall well being? So my safety and well being does not matter in the face of the immunocompromised? Here's the thing, you can stay home and be safe if you are worried, I won't judge, but I have mouths to feed and anxiety to manage and my own health to worry about as well as my children's. It is smart to quarantine the sick, immunocompromised, and elderly. This idea that I am selfish because I don't think it was necessary to shutdown 90% of the economy, is false! We are "saving lives" at the expense of other lives. A healthy person cannot infect another healthy person with a disease. We are now making children into criminals if they want to play on the playground. We are turning every American into a criminal in some way or another and the worst part, we are giving citizens a way to report each other. There are doctors, epidemiologists, and immunologists that are refuting the current narrative, which is largely false. They are asking, what about the mentally ill? What does this do to suicide rates, domestic violence, the development of anxiety and depression? Many say the economy will recover, no big deal, it has before, and they dismiss it like it won't really affect anyone that bad. Like the unknown territory of a novel virus, we are in the unknown territory with our economy as well. I'm not sure that our economy has experienced this bad of a fall since the great depression, but this may be worse than the great depression.
You always have to pay attention to what the government is trying to get away with during crisis. Right now we are facing digital wallet, introducing digital dollars and global currency, mandated vaccination and vaccine ID cards, tracers being put into the vaccines (micro chips), massive bailouts for corporations, universal basic income, government taking stake in businesses that take the loans, and most importantly the precedent they are setting with their current actions. These measures will be the new normal for any and every new virus or pandemic no matter what the science says and this is how they will implement the police state. When the government takes more power is there ever a time when they give it back? Maybe temporarily, but the answer to that is NO! They will use it at their will.
Who do you believe? Who is right? What is the truth? For those who put ALL of their trust in the government, you will have to excuse me when I disagree. I cannot and will not trust government entities to tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I will not trust mainstream media bias propaganda, nor do I trust the fact checkers that are hired by the mainstream media or political entities. It seems that much of the fact checkers out there only report the side of the story that supports the mainstream narrative in order to speak "one voice" with the narrative and claim it is the truth. Thus it becomes a game of discernment. Fact checkers will find the information they need to back up the side of the claim they support, just like any media outlet. They may be truthful about a lot of things, but again you'll have to excuse me when, at times I may disagree. Do the fact checkers ever go adamantly against the mainstream narratives, not really. I always like to pay attention to those being silenced by government, other media, Facebook, and entities with some kind of bias. The truth is often silenced! Facebook is now telling us what sources are credible and what sources are not in order to stop the spread of misinformation, haha! What gives them the authority or credibility to decide what is credible and not? Interesting! Facebook has had a long past of silencing people and media that have a different narrative than that of the mainstream. I think it is always important to at least listen to those being silenced to see what they are saying and why, somehow that is very telling. How about the fact checkers do something really useful and fact check the Constitution and the extreme measures being taken against the American people. Let us know if any of those things are in line with the Constitution! Does it ever occur to anyone that government entities and their propaganda supporters can and do lie to you? I ask you, what has the government done to gain your blind faith in them? What is it that makes you believe they are incapable of lying?
You always have to pay attention to what the government is trying to get away with during crisis. Right now we are facing digital wallet, introducing digital dollars and global currency, mandated vaccination and vaccine ID cards, tracers being put into the vaccines (micro chips), massive bailouts for corporations, universal basic income, government taking stake in businesses that take the loans, and most importantly the precedent they are setting with their current actions. These measures will be the new normal for any and every new virus or pandemic no matter what the science says and this is how they will implement the police state. When the government takes more power is there ever a time when they give it back? Maybe temporarily, but the answer to that is NO! They will use it at their will.
Who do you believe? Who is right? What is the truth? For those who put ALL of their trust in the government, you will have to excuse me when I disagree. I cannot and will not trust government entities to tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I will not trust mainstream media bias propaganda, nor do I trust the fact checkers that are hired by the mainstream media or political entities. It seems that much of the fact checkers out there only report the side of the story that supports the mainstream narrative in order to speak "one voice" with the narrative and claim it is the truth. Thus it becomes a game of discernment. Fact checkers will find the information they need to back up the side of the claim they support, just like any media outlet. They may be truthful about a lot of things, but again you'll have to excuse me when, at times I may disagree. Do the fact checkers ever go adamantly against the mainstream narratives, not really. I always like to pay attention to those being silenced by government, other media, Facebook, and entities with some kind of bias. The truth is often silenced! Facebook is now telling us what sources are credible and what sources are not in order to stop the spread of misinformation, haha! What gives them the authority or credibility to decide what is credible and not? Interesting! Facebook has had a long past of silencing people and media that have a different narrative than that of the mainstream. I think it is always important to at least listen to those being silenced to see what they are saying and why, somehow that is very telling. How about the fact checkers do something really useful and fact check the Constitution and the extreme measures being taken against the American people. Let us know if any of those things are in line with the Constitution! Does it ever occur to anyone that government entities and their propaganda supporters can and do lie to you? I ask you, what has the government done to gain your blind faith in them? What is it that makes you believe they are incapable of lying?
I recently went to Costco and had a very unsettling, stressful, and disturbing experience. Ironically, on the way there my daughter said she did not want to go because she did not like to wait in line to get into the store. She asked me why? I started to tell her about what Fascism is and what was happening to businesses due to the fear of the pandemic. I could not have planned a better homeschool lesson if I tried in order to teach her about fascism. When we got there we were stopped in the parking lot and told that we could not enter the store. I said I did not understand what he was saying and he said only one child could go in the store with me. One adult per child or two people per membership. I said I thought that was crazy. He said I had to go to the front of the store to talk to a supervisor and get PERMISSION to enter the store with two children. I said I wasn't going to do that and that was dumbest thing I'd ever heard! He got frustrated with me as I started to walk away and re-iterated that I just needed to go ask and that they would make an exception if I was a single parent. I got very frustrated and just said I would take my business somewhere else. How ridiculous does that sound? I have to ask permission to go into their store to buy their products because I have one too many children? Crazy! I had to explain to my daughter and son the foolishness of it all on our way to Walmart, who gladly accepted our business and my extra child! I made a point of thanking my cashier for allowing our family to shop in their store when my husband was working. After getting home I called the manager of the Costco I went to and I really unloaded on him. I acknowledged that I knew it wasn't his fault and I wasn't screaming at him, but at the situation. He was very kind and was surprised that this happened to me. He further proved my point that fascism is indeed taking place in our country right now by admitting that cops are sent to their store everyday to make sure they are falling in line with federal and state recommendations. He admitted to me that they are avoiding being shut down like other businesses. We had a discussion about fascism and I told him I was sick of seeing everyone just bend over and take the abuse. He agreed that it was not government's place to tell businesses how to run. It was very disappointing. He said that the policy must not have been communicated properly to everyone and that single adults with children should be let in with no problem. He thanked me for bringing this to his attention and said this would not happen again.After a few more trips there, I realized how crazy Costco really is. Everyone working there is so focused on what they cannot touch that they are almost screaming at people as they checkout. This is so mentally exhausting to me. Their employees cannot even be pleasant anymore, it's very, very sad. Other stores have a very different feel, more patients, pleasantness, and kindness in the face of uncertainty. I feel that at other stores I am at least treated like a human being and with respect, but at Costco I feel like I'm just a sheep or a cow in a big herd being told where to stand and step.
Back to the beauty of humanity.....What else is beautiful about humanity? We are social creatures even the introverts need others sometimes. I am an introvert and I can admit my life has not changed too drastically because I'll be honest, I don't like most people, haha! I would rather be alone most of the time! Humans need each other! I want to go see my family and I miss them. I like being with friends and I like having people over for dinner, I like to make new friends! It's instinctual for us to serve one another and think about one another. We love to LOVE others! We care about other people. Several weeks ago I saw a friend of mine delivering rolls of toilet paper to her neighbors and it inspired me to do something for my neighbors and friends. For an entire week much of our homeschool was a service project. I relieved Walmart of pretty much all of their llama Hostess cupcakes! HAHA! I printed out a food storage calculator sheet and we delivered them to neighbors. We also did soap. I just happened to come across a hand soap at Bath and Body Works that said "Stay Pawsitive" and it had a dog on it. It was a great opportunity to teach my kids about service and trying to make people feel better. The first deliveries we made came the same day that the earthquake hit Magna, UT and shook us all out of bed that morning. I could not have asked for a better way to illustrate how this service opportunity was about making people feel better. Since then I have seen many service projects going on around me. Many that are willing to shop for and/or deliver groceries to elderly, sick, or people who are too afraid to go out. I have seen others be inspired by our project and others' actions and decide to take action to do something. It has been a beautiful domino effect.
Although the churches are shut down we have still found ways to worship and it has made us all feel grateful for our churches and temples. There are positives, more time with family, there is a balance needed though. At home church requires more on our part individually, which I think is a good thing, it challenges us! I think the situation we are currently in is a double-edged sword. I'm not here to just rant about all of the bad and be contentious. I am here to say, after this I hope we don't go back to "normal", my hope is that we will realize what we take for granted, be more grateful, more useful, and we will awaken to our awful situation. This very well could be the driving force, the catalyst, that will lead America to a great awakening or an enlightenment of FREEDOM, of LIBERTY, of RESPONSIBILITY. This could lead us to more freedom and prosperity than we have seen in the last 100 years, or it could lead to the worst of times for America if we allow it. It is up to us! Anyhow, this has been a learning experience for all of us. I think it has jolted many awake to the words of many prophets of the past that spoke about the importance of food storage and saving for a rainy day. Something I have learned over the years is that freedom is a hard sell, but why? Because it requires responsibility and courage and it does not always mean you will be safe. It is a risk. Anything worth doing has risk involved. Freedom does not always appeal to the natural man or woman, but only to our soul. Freedom takes work and lots of work. This country was built on the idea that God is the highest authority granting humans their rights. Our government set up was influenced by divine design and although not perfect (slavery and tarriffs), as Bastiat points out in The Law, it was the closest that came to being written with the hope that a moral people would accept it and improve on it. Slavery and tariffs were still a compromise with evil, the founders knew of these flaws and hoped that the next generations would fix those flaws. The most important part was that the rights came from God and that government existed to protect them.Humanity is Beautiful! Some of the most beautiful things I see in humanity is that no matter what humanity always finds a way to survive and sometimes even maintain freedom. We can find joy in the most dire of circumstances. We can always find the silver lining, for there is always good that can come out of the bad. Humanity always finds a way to LOVE and be LOVED no matter what. I have seen so much service over the past month. I have seen focus on the joy of things over the past month. There will always be evil and so there will always be good. As the evil strengthens against us, my hope is that humanity will find a way to survive it, fight it, and learn from it. When it feels like there is no where else to go, all hope is lost, we must remember there is always good that will oppose that evil. This is why there is still hope, there is always hope. God will work in our favor through miracles. He is bound when we do what He says, God is bound to bless us when we follow His laws-Doctrine and Covenants 82
I will leave you with Bastiat's final words of The Law:
God has given to men all that is necessary for them to accomplish their destinies. He has provided a social form as well as a human form. And these social organs of persons are so constituted that they will develop themselves harmoniously in the clean air of liberty. Away, then, with quacks and organizers! A way with their rings, chains, hooks, and pincers! Away with their artificial systems! Away with the whims of governmental administrators, their socialized projects, their centralization, their tariffs, their government schools, their state religions, their free credit, their bank monopolies, their regulations, their restrictions, their equalization by taxation, and their pious moralizations!
And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works.
So, some questions to ponder: What is America? Is "America the Beautiful" still? Who are we as Americans? Do we know what FREEDOM is? Do we respect Agency, the greatest God-given gift second only to the Atonement of Jesus Christ? Do we believe that Rights come from God and/or are a natural part of humanity? Is it correct to say the law is Justice?
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