It seems that I have spent most of my life feeling like I did not fit in. With the exception of my grandparents (Papa and Dodo), any feelings of fitting in have been short lived. That goes for family, school, friends, work and church.
I was born into a family that followed a strict set of religious rules and attitudes. These rules and attitudes were meant to cause people to "come out from among them and be separate". This is a very popular notion that has been proclaimed in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. The problem in following these rules are that no one ever measures up to them. So, I spent most of time not being around a lot of people my own age while growing up because of that.
This in turn caused me to be socially behind when I reached NMHS. It also put me into some positions where I was taken advantage of. Because I did not know how to relate to others (along with some other factors like my speech impediment), I ended up being a shy and quiet guy.
However there were some good things that came from this. From a very early age, I started trying to learn about what was right and wrong and I didn't stop there as I also wanted to know the why's behind those rules. This has been a life long process and I am not through yet, but as I have gone through this journey, my life has changed and is still changing.
These changes in what I believe have had one bad side effect though. As I have changed what I believe about things, I have come into areas where my new beliefs do not mesh with what others believe. There are areas where my beliefs do not agree with the status quo and traditional thoughts that have been passed down through Colleges and Seminaries.
So once again, I find myself being the round peg in the square hole as I feel the same way that I did earlier in life, but different also. It is different because my beliefs are grounded in something other than what someone told me to believe. That makes a world of difference.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
What Labor Day means to me.
There is a lot of hard feelings towards Labor Unions today, as everyone views them as related to themselves or how they have been told and programed to view them. I realize that and so I am not trying to change anyone else's opinions but rather just state my own opinion.
First thing that I believe is that the Middle class status that covers most Americans today is a result of Labor Unions and not anything that the government has done. In the early 1900's America was basically a two class society. Even a Civil War that freed slaves, did not change that. The rich who only viewed the bottom line and not the people who worked for them, and the people who labored under bad conditions. It was when workers banded together to end the abusive conditions that they were being forced to endure, that caused the Middle Class.
Since that time, I believe that most of us have benefited from that movement and it makes no difference if you have ever been a Union member or not. It has resulted in better pay and benefits for Union workers as well as non union workers as competition in the market place has force companies to offer better benefits in order to keep good employees. You only have to look at the difference between jobs here and the conditions that workers in India, China, Mexico and other such places endure to see how much better off we are here.
Even though one can point out some bad things that have come about as Unions have themselves become big business, I believe that we are still better off with them than without them and that some things that are promoted are really false misconceptions (After all being Union does not mean being government ;-) ). First thing, Union Members work just as hard as non-union members. UPS demonstrates that as the company is made up of Teamsters, but is still regarded as hard working people. Even before I became a Teamster,(when seeking to get someone that I did not know to do a job) I preferred to hire Union Electricians, Plumbers, etc because experience had taught me that the job had a better chance of being done right with them than though a non-union worker. Being part of an Union today usually means that you will not need to enlist in either SNAP or have a Lone Star Card to provide for your family. It means better health care and retirement benefits.
The observance of Labor Day really shows how the best changes within our country have come from the bottom up. That is from the common people to those in power and not from government down to us. We are better when we do not seek to depend on government to solve our problems, but seek to help each other. It also shows me that we have never really been a country that promoted love (even though some loudly proclaim that we are and have been a Christian nation), because if we really loved each other we would not have experienced the Civil War or the bad working conditions that caused Labor Unions to come into existence.
To me all of this shows the need for us to love each other. For if we ever truly love each other, we would witness almost all of our country's problems and crise solving themselves.
First thing that I believe is that the Middle class status that covers most Americans today is a result of Labor Unions and not anything that the government has done. In the early 1900's America was basically a two class society. Even a Civil War that freed slaves, did not change that. The rich who only viewed the bottom line and not the people who worked for them, and the people who labored under bad conditions. It was when workers banded together to end the abusive conditions that they were being forced to endure, that caused the Middle Class.
Since that time, I believe that most of us have benefited from that movement and it makes no difference if you have ever been a Union member or not. It has resulted in better pay and benefits for Union workers as well as non union workers as competition in the market place has force companies to offer better benefits in order to keep good employees. You only have to look at the difference between jobs here and the conditions that workers in India, China, Mexico and other such places endure to see how much better off we are here.
Even though one can point out some bad things that have come about as Unions have themselves become big business, I believe that we are still better off with them than without them and that some things that are promoted are really false misconceptions (After all being Union does not mean being government ;-) ). First thing, Union Members work just as hard as non-union members. UPS demonstrates that as the company is made up of Teamsters, but is still regarded as hard working people. Even before I became a Teamster,(when seeking to get someone that I did not know to do a job) I preferred to hire Union Electricians, Plumbers, etc because experience had taught me that the job had a better chance of being done right with them than though a non-union worker. Being part of an Union today usually means that you will not need to enlist in either SNAP or have a Lone Star Card to provide for your family. It means better health care and retirement benefits.
The observance of Labor Day really shows how the best changes within our country have come from the bottom up. That is from the common people to those in power and not from government down to us. We are better when we do not seek to depend on government to solve our problems, but seek to help each other. It also shows me that we have never really been a country that promoted love (even though some loudly proclaim that we are and have been a Christian nation), because if we really loved each other we would not have experienced the Civil War or the bad working conditions that caused Labor Unions to come into existence.
To me all of this shows the need for us to love each other. For if we ever truly love each other, we would witness almost all of our country's problems and crise solving themselves.
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