"Common Sense" .. still true in modern day?

I find the current, pointless, sophomoric government shutdown situation annoying at best, and ridiculously pathetic at worst.  Recently, I read Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" and realized that, while we are definitely not struggling with secession from a government on another continent,  under current conditions our government seems almost equally as far removed and unaware as the colonists felt about the British Crown. Below are my thoughts on the document itself and my subsequent thoughts on its application to the current political climate.

Thomas Paine makes many valid points in his document "Common Sense" that can still be applied and deemed true in today's government debacle.  He begins by citing a theoretical example of a society that is forged in a new land though common community needs in which all members equally share and assist each other. He furthers this idea with the notion that as the community grows larger that representatives from each area of the community should be chosen by their peers to represent each area's interests for the good of the whole, and that logically, these representatives should be re-chosen on a regular basis so that all represntatives are active, aware members of their individual communities and its needs. He even goes so far to say that this group of elected representatives should choose a leader, but that it should be via a process that rotates throughout each community,  or in this case, colony, so no one area or person has the ability to become too egotistically filled with power and/or detached from the real daily needs and issues of the society as a whole that they represent the interests of.   He contines his logic by likening the English monarchy, its rules of aristocracy and hereditary succession,  as well as the supposed checks and balances that are in theory, only to the Papacy and the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs.  He points out that God should be the only true governing Lord and that the idea of government rulers as heads of both church and state are the same as the practices of heathen religions of ancient times. He further points out that under the colonies' current conditions with the English monarchy, aristocracy,  and House of Commons, that their money is simply going to a government that wants to keep them in check to the point of slavery to the Crown.  He continues to note that much of the population of the colonies is not of British descent, and seeing as the British government has no affiliation to or understanding of the burgeoning society of America, that being considered British subjects only sets them up to be at odds with any government Britain is at odds with, instead of working with, trading with, and at peace with all other nations which are truthfully represented in the population of the colonies.   Paine then makes valid points about the continuation of a government simply because it is what people are accustomed to and not because it is what is appropriate or best for the populace. I particularly liked his point "We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true; for I answer roundly that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power taken any notice of her. The commerce by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe." He also points out the various industries and agriculural ventures in which the colonies have the ability to be self-sufficient, including the building and maintaining of their own naval fleet, and ultimately gives us an initial breakdown of what a Constitution, a Continental Congress, and subsequent American President would be structured like in the best interests of the Colonies and the Colonists themselves.  

In my opinion, many of the points made in "Common Sense" are valid and should be readdressed by the American population today.  We live under a government that tends to be so far removed from the real, daily lives and issues of most of the citizens in our society, that they appear to spend their time consorting only with those that will line their pockets, keep them in positions of power via buying out the politcal process, and currently, find it okay to argue so much among themselves that the government is in a shutdown period because internal bullheaded quabbling about their own interests and needs has caused an inability to reach any sort of agreement. While the original precepts of our Constitution are still valid, they are being abused and misquoted by this group of narcissist individuals who claim to be looking out for the best interests of the population. As Paine pointed out, force and revolution are only a final, last case option, but under current conditions it would seem that we as citizens need a modern day Thomas Paine figure to bring our government back to its basic senses, back to the roots of those whom they represent, and quite possibly, quietly and logically remove from power those who have made a career of basking in it.

Simply my opinion. I realize that it may ruffle the feathers of some who read it, but theoretically our democracy allows for opinionated freedom of speech, so we are all entitled to our own.

~ The Girl In The Little Black Dress

Battling the Dark Side

There are many Horrible, Awful, Terrifying Entities (aka hate) in the world.  People being attacked with hazardous weapons by their own government .. People being gunned down for no apparent reason by others .. Entire populations being exterminated for being "different" .. Legal battles that only hurt the ones they're supposed to protect .. Judgements based on actions long passed & paid for .. Misunderstandings that lead to terrible, hurtful arguments ...............
Then there's love. Pure, simple, healing love. It's in the eyes of a child, in the person who helps a stranger without thought for themselves, in the butterfly freed from a net, the care a gardener takes of their plants, the extra time taken by a teacher with a confused student, and the enveloping hug of a partner or friend.  Like a forest fire that begins with a small spark, it grows and ultimately obliterates everything in its path with positivity and caring so that something new is born from that which was negative before.  Sometimes it seems that the world is crashing around us & there's nothing but evil out there .... the difference can also be where we place our focus on the events at hand.  Things to think about.

~ The Girl In The Little Black Dress

Muddled Lessons and A Frog

I was asked to write a narrative about an experience in my life that had taught me an unexpected life lesson.  While the particular lesson in this story didn't truly become "learned" until I had kids of my own, I hope you enjoy the tale from my childhood ....

The life lessons that we teach our children are, sometimes, crystal clear for their meaning and worth, but sometimes those lessons come across about as clear as swamp water. We as parents attempt to teach these lessons purposefully through both words and examples in our own behaviors, we ultimately teach them unintentionally through that which we ourselves say and do on a daily basis, and, upon occasion, we impart lessons through sheer unadulterated accident. The “accidental” lessons tend to have the most muddled meaning to a child initially, even though we may have thought ourselves clear as day.
In the summer of 1976 I was a headstrong, precocious, tomboy of a five year old.  I was not a bad child, and I did listen to and respect my parents, but I had my own ideas about doing things and tended to be fiercely independent, which tended to drive my parents nuts.  At that time we lived in a quiet little neighborhood near the local college on a cul-de-sac street called Nottingham Drive. Things were not as they are today. It was normal to be outside playing with friends from sunup to sundown, and even at five, although I was not allowed to roam about completely alone, I could walk across the street or down the a few houses to a friend's home without worry. I had learned to look both ways, then look both ways again, before crossing the street. I knew that riding my bicycle on the side of the road was okay on our street, but that big wheels were only allowed to be ridden on the sidewalk, as cars will see bikes in their way but not necessarily a low-to-the-ground big wheel. Hopscotch was a favorite game, but the boards were only to be drawn on the sidewalks and driveways, never in the middle of the road. Playing games in the middle of the road was forbidden. I loved animals, but I should only pet and play with the domesticated ones that belonged to people as pets, not the wild birds, squirrels, racoons or rabbits that fascinated me completely, and under no circumstance was I ever to touch a dead wild animal. Period.
One morning I was playing with the twin boys that lived a couple doors down my street.  We had decided to go on a quest, and although I remember putting together a backpack and utilizing a walking stick I do not remember what we were looking for on our so-called quest that particular day.  What I do remember vividly is finding the frog.  It was a rather large frog that had, unfortunately, been flattened by some unsuspecting driver smack in the middle of the road between our houses.  Talk about a dilemma!  We discussed the grave situation at hand, and decided that the best thing to do would be to bury the frog right where it lay in the middle of the street. We were not allowed to touch it to move it, as touching dead animals was forbidden, and it was bigger than our sandbox shovels could handle picking up, even though initially we did attempt that option.  This was not playing in the road.  A proper burial for the poor animal was no game in our minds.  Many bucketfuls of sand from our sandboxes later, the frog was properly covered. That mound of sand that could have rivaled sacred Indian burial mounds. We stood around the grave site, solemnly holding stems of leaves, clover and honeysuckle so as to properly give the frog his final send off.  Just as we were beginning to place our offerings on the grave mound, I heard a yell that made me jump out of my skin. “Shannon Recole Wightman! Get out of that road and in this house NOW!”  Uh oh.  “Just wait till your father gets home!” Even worse. I searched my mind to attempt to figure out what I had done that was so wrong it would deserve the full name yell and the father threat, which filled me with dread as I hid in my room for the final hours until he arrived.
After what seemed like forever, my father opened the door to my room and sat down on my bed, belt in hand. “Do you understand why you're being punished?” he asked. “You're old enough to know better than to play in the middle of a street.”  I was playing?  No I was not. We were conducting a solemn ritual of death, not playing!  I my mind, I knew I was right and this punishment was grossly unfair.  As my father spanked me I began to cry, “But Daddy!  I didn't touch the dead animal!” He finished, hugged me with what I now know to be suppressed laughter that shook him, and walked out my bedroom door.
In the mind of a child, what is considered “playing”, and what is considered an important, solemn event tend to be very different than what constitutes these in the mind of a grown up. Many times when my children were young, I thought back to that episode in my own life in an effort to make the parallel lessons clear to them.  New lesson: if you can't dig a hole to place something in, it is not buried, therefore, do not conduct burials in the middle of a road, even though you may not have touched the dead frog.

~ The Girl In the Little Black Dress