Old sayings tend to stand the test of time because they offer lessons gleaned from past experience.
Learn from your mistakes.
Think past your current situation.
Weigh the consequences of your decision.
Money is the root of all evil.
It is easy to take Liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.
He that is good at making excuses is seldom good at anything else.
Everybody blames the culture without taking responsibility.
Unfortunately we have a large voting population of people who don’t take much time to learn and read about the past. They either don’t care about history or they are too self absorbed to see that everything around them is falling apart. The security that we so enjoy and the freedoms that we actually have are eroding away little by little. The seeds of evil intent are planted all around them, but they don’t know that. They don’t believe that. Why would they? Science taught them in elementary school that there is no creator, no devil, no spirits controlling the minds of men. Yes, indeed all people everywhere are kind and gentle with no aspirations to deceive to gain power.
No, never has there been a man who deceived the people of such a powerful country and tricked its citizens into voting him in for change. No one ever used the patriot’s call of making their country great again to take control of a nation. Well, except….
I’ve often wondered if the generation before me felt that my generation would be the end of our country. At times I feel like the generation after me certainly could be. Sometimes there are glimmers of hope. Yet, the glimmers tend to be spread out among a field of dark minds who only think about “what’s in it for me”. Shells of people, skin deep people, people unable to think through the full spectrum of consequences related to a life decision. Even lacking the ability to understand that every choice we make has the potential to be a life altering decision.
I heard a Christian rap song today by KB called “Church Clap” and it made me think of this election cycle. One of the lyrics says; “we need discernment, check what you be affirmin”. This is exactly what we should be saying to our church friends today before they vote on Tuesday. Let’s not repeat history again.
I’ll leave you with these passages and quotes:
“All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”? Already it has existed for ages Which were before us. There is no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, There will be for them no remembrance Among those who will come later still.”
Ecclesiastes 1:8-11 NASB
“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana)
Citations:
Wikiquote. George Santayana. Retrieved 02/23/2016, From https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Santayana
Bible.com. Ecclesiastes 1:8-11 NASB. Retrieved 02/23/2016, From http://bible.com/100/ecc.1.8-11.NASB
Copyright Johnathan Sexton
That Santayana quote always makes me chuckle, because we ALL repeat the past, whether we remember it or not. Our present acts come directly from previous rewards and positive/negative reinforcements, and we perform the same genetically-based animal behaviors over and over in perpetuity as individuals, families and nations. We just like pretending we’re oh, so special and unique. Humans invent new technology, art and religions, but still carry the exact same set of emotions and motives as our Cro-Magnon ancestors.
The only thing different about Mr.Trump is having his movement take place here and now. If you look around the world, there’s ALWAYS a fascist at work somewhere, and we had Strom Thurmond and George Wallace back when I was a young voter. You and I would agree it’s not good when these villains get too much power, but the fact that Trump has a base and might become the GOP nominee is evidence that Americans ARE more racist, sexist, misogynistic worshippers of money than we like admitting.