SENSITIZE 14
Every morning, Mr. Cring takes a personal moment with his audience.
Today: Cring takes a look at the 1st and 2nd Amendments
Click the picture below to see the video
PoHymn: A Rustling in the Stagnant… June 24th, 2015
Jonathots Daily Blog
Welcome to Emanuel
Welcome, my son, to the Father’s place,
Sit right down and find your space
We embrace you as a brother true
And hope you receive–your faith renew
Your color is different but we don’t care
Come and join, we’ve much to share
Perhaps you have heard about our race
We see some fear etched on your face
We are you and you are us
Sit right down–no time to fuss
We’re studying the Book, a word to pray
We’re trying to find what God might say
Consider this your home, rest a spell
Don’t you leave ’til all is well
But a festering anger prompts you to stand
Pointing a gun you hold in your hand
Threatening those you’ve learned to hate
Acting out an unrighteous fate
Firing once, twice, ten … so much
Pierced and wounded by the banging touch
We fall to the earth to rise to the sky
Victors through love, yet victims of the lie
That some are better by color than others
Instead of created as sisters and brothers
So walk away from your killing spree
Yet bound to this moment you always will be
But we will soar above the pain
Sound in soul from a world insane
Welcome, my son, we shall meet again,
In a realm redeemed from the bigotry of sin.
The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity
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Right or Privilege … May 2, 2013
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His name was Henry Ford.
He was one of the early innovators in the gasoline combustible engine, which was referred to as the “horseless carriage.” We now call them cars.
Of course, at one time he had a prototype of such a vehicle and needed to test drive it to see how it worked in a world which was not suited for such activity. There were no paved roads, and on the dusty highways were horses and pedestrians instead of smoky engines from experimental automobiles. So you can imagine, at first he was an annoyance, or even a laughing-stock.
I wonder what his approach was. Did Henry Ford feel he had a right to the roads because he was smart, clever or entitled? Or did he feel it was a privilege to use the roads since they were normally occupied by horses and people?
Another interesting thing about that invention is that it quickly gained popularity–but it also created immense problems. So even though most of us insist that we have a right to drive a car, it was obvious from the first that those rights had to be curtailed for the common good.
For instance, everybody had to drive on the right-hand side or we would run into each other. Roads had to be paved, which meant there had to be taxes. It was agreed that a license was needed to prove that one was actually able to drive one of the contraptions. Tags were put on the vehicles to both identify them and garner some revenue for the state. Policemen issued tickets to those drivers who would not follow the rules and inhibited others from having a safe journey. When you add toll roads, seat belts, safety checks, car insurance and emissions onto the list, what started out as a “right of passage” is now presented as a cautious privilege.
Yet no one objects to this. The addition of demanding seat belts has lessened the death toll on the highways. The careful scrutiny for alcohol-drinking drivers is keeping us from killing off innocents.
So is driving a right–or a privilege?
Let me give you a definition of what I think a right is. You have the right to do almost anything you want if you can answer this question: “Can I do this without hurting anyone else?”
If the answer is “no” you don’t have the right. I don’t care if the Constitution tells you that you do–the Constitution will eventually have to change for the common good.
Here is the definition of a privilege: “Can I do this without hurting myself?”
So you see, driving is not even a privilege. We are not permitted to sit in our vehicles without a restraint because in doing that, we could kill ourselves.
No, driving is an opportunity. And what is an opportunity? “Can I do this with necessary boundaries?”
So as we assess the issues of our day–be it abortion, immigration, gun rights, gay marriage, terrorism or even political gridlock–we need to ask ourselves if we’re dealing with a right, a privilege or an opportunity. Democracy allots for all three–BUT puts restrictions on privileges and opportunities.
Does a woman have a right to an abortion? Go back to the definition: can this be done without hurting anyone else?
Do I have a right to own a gun? Back to the issue of right, privilege or opportunity.
As you can see, when you remove arguments about morality and replace them with more civil discussions of whether in a Republic such as the United States, we are entitled to some aspect of our lives as a right, privilege or opportunity, it puts things in perspective. Of course, there will still be variances of opinion, but if we’re going to make all of our future plans in this country based upon codes of morality or spiritual ethics, we will be at each other’s throats incessantly. There has to be a different yard stick.
Is this thing we are contemplating a right (can I do this without hurting anyone else?) a privilege (can I do this without hurting myself?) or an opportunity (can I do this with necessary boundaries)?
It is a doorway to the kind of compromise that can be grounded in common sense instead of shady backroom deals.
The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity
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