It is a Simple Idea

From Shakespeare’s Hamlet we have this advice from Polonius to his son, Laertes.

Polonius:

This above all; to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!                       Hamlet Act 1, scene 3

Polonius, like most fathers, was a bit pompous and long winded, and his son Laertes was about to sail to France for some peace and quiet.  In his ramblings Polonius offers other advice as well, like “never a lender or borrower be” or “be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar” or “Give thy thoughts no tongue.” All good ideas, but I digress. 

So what was Polonius trying to say to his son?  The popular new age view has this meaning that we should value ourselves and our self-esteem above all else.  Since Shakespeare is not a new age kind of guy is there some other meaning here?  The Dad in me says yea, verily tis so.

I share the view, as others have discussed[i], that what Dad is trying to say is to understand both the negative and positive of a choice, and balance your own interests against the influences that others may offer, putting first those things you value above those of the crowd.

This Presidential election makes this advice more important than at almost any time within recent memory, and perhaps my life time.  Both sides are making arguments about what is best for the country, and what her or his opponent will do to destroy the country if elected.  What we have seen in past campaigns is the rhetoric, the promises or the slanders, are never kept or fully realized, and if they were the country still goes on.  Perhaps diminished, but it goes on.  All we as individuals can do is be true to the values we believe to be right and just, and hope those around us share similar values. 

For me the most important question to ask is does he or she honestly share your personal values?  Things like not voting for him will assure a win for her, or who will fill the next Associate Justice position are outside my control.  What I can do is be honest with myself and consistent in keeping my values as important.

I suspect far more people have already decided how they will vote than the polls indicate, I know I have.  If you are truly undecided I suggest you spend a few moments in reflection and prayer to consider what your personal values are, and how important they are to you, and vote accordingly.

---

[i] http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/thine-own-self-true

Advice

I am just recovering from a wonderful week of having three noisy, pre-school aged, Grandchildren visiting, along with their harried and concerned parents.  I’ve been considering what advice I would offer on how to bring up their children, and come to the conclusion I have none. 

What they are frustrated with, they must figure out for themselves.  Anything I would say has no value, because I am not in their situation and don’t live their life.  Children are, by their very nature, selfish and demanding; I think it is a survival instinct.  Having three so close in age is a non-stop challenge as they play off each other.  It intensifies in a non-linier manner.  At least the two oldest haven’t yet debated the pros and cons of dropping the third off the railing of the stairwell, as my sister and I did with Louise.

At the end of the day, the choices they make will shape the lives of those in their care.  I am confident they will make good ones and I can sleep comfortably, secure in the knowledge they will do better than average with them, and if you are hitting above average in the Major League you’re going to the All Star Game.

Thanks for letting us share a week in the life of the L--------s.

Character

I have shared Bill Whittle’s videos before, and I probably will again, but this one strikes a nerve with me, because it aligns so closely to my own belief set.  When personal responsibility leaves us, and we believe the government will take care of our every need it is inevitable that we will lose our right to self govern. 

It has been left to institutions to attempt to provide the moral basis for society.  When I joined the Air Force it was assumed we shared a common set of values, and it wasn’t necessary to write them down.  Now we do, because so few receive them at home.

·      Integrity first

·      Service before self

·      Excellence in all we do

Free Advice

One of the advantages of having been around for six full decades is I’ve learned a lot of lessons I am more than happy to pass along.  Since these are free you can bail out at any time and not have lost more than a few moments of your day.

First thoughts are sometimes the best ones, but if they are always the first things out of your mouth they will often be replaced by your foot.

It is easy to swear, it takes no discipline, no self-restraint and no thought for others.  It also usually accomplishes next to nothing in affecting the conversation, persuading others or making good impressions.

Listening is the hardest thing in the world to do well.  We are almost always thinking about what we should say in response when someone is talking to us.

None of us want to be judged, yet most of us have no reservations about judging others.  Actually this isn’t right, all of us want others to judge us as wonderful human beings, but that is next to impossible when we are busy being our judgemental selves.

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes all the way to the bone.  On one level a flippant remark, but if you think about it there is great truth buried there.  If you have a mean spirit where you always think the worst of someone, or spend your time tearing others down to build yourself up -- your “ugly” does go much deeper.

There is great social value in the 10 commandments, even if you choose not to believe they are handed down from God, so let’s talk about them.

1.     I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, of the house of bondage.  You shall place no other gods before me.  [Seems like a reasonable request, but what if you don’t believe in God?  I think the point here is that as a people we need a unifying construct to keep us together, if we loose that then we as a society will break down.  We can look back to the Romans, Greeks, and even the French, as their unifying beliefs became weaker so did their society.]

2.    You shall not make yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or is in the earth…  [This has to stem from the practices of the ancient societies and separates the Jews from those other religions; it also had to make traveling through the wilderness for 40 years a lot easier since they didn’t have to carry that graven image around.]

3.    You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.  [Even God didn’t like swearing and since we use it in prayer I am sure he didn’t want to keep going “What, What did he say?”]

4.    Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  [The commandment that says STOP and smell the roses!  Most of us older people remember when stores closed on Sunday, you had little to do but relax, a quality we spend too little time appreciating.  It required you to plan ahead, another lost quality.  Living in Europe it was really great to know on Sunday you didn’t worry about shopping you could go to the wald (woods) and bike, picnic, visit and relax.]

5.    Honor your Mother and Father.  [The idea of family is central to the survival of a society.  If we don’t have mothers and fathers then how does that society continue?  This has got to be one of the harder commandments for teenagers who know they know everything and their parents are out of touch.  This leads directly to the next commandment!]

6.    Thou shall not kill. [questions?]

7.    Thou shall not commit adultery.  [Divorce has always been messy, think about the divorce courts back then when sheep were the currency of the day.]

8.    Thou shall not steal.  [If everyone is stealing from everyone else how does a society stay together?  For us to prosper we need to know when we give our words they count, and we also need to know that others will not take advantage of us.  What we are seeing today is just the opposite of this, today it seems to be “Thou shall get all you can from the sucker”]

9.    You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  [see previous comment]

10.  You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbors wife…. [Coveting was as big a problem then, as it is now.  Today everyone is coveting something, liberals covet rich peoples money, conservatives covet no taxes, politicians covet tax payers money, televangelists covet more TV time and everyone’s money, etc.]

My last bit of free advice is to eat ice cream on a regular basis, but if you want to stay thin you need to exercise.  If you don’t want to stay thin make sure you have a king size bed.