Liberty is an inherently offensive lifestyle. Living in a free society guarantees that each one of us will see our most cherished principles and beliefs questioned and in some cases mocked. That psychic discomfort is the price we pay for basic civic peace. It's worth it. It's a pragmatic principle. Defend everyone else's rights, because if you don't there is no one to defend yours. -- MaxedOutMama

I don't just want gun rights... I want individual liberty, a culture of self-reliance....I want the whole bloody thing. -- Kim du Toit

The most glaring example of the cognitive dissonance on the left is the concept that human beings are inherently good, yet at the same time cannot be trusted with any kind of weapon, unless the magic fairy dust of government authority gets sprinkled upon them.-- Moshe Ben-David

The cult of the left believes that it is engaged in a great apocalyptic battle with corporations and industrialists for the ownership of the unthinking masses. Its acolytes see themselves as the individuals who have been "liberated" to think for themselves. They make choices. You however are just a member of the unthinking masses. You are not really a person, but only respond to the agendas of your corporate overlords. If you eat too much, it's because corporations make you eat. If you kill, it's because corporations encourage you to buy guns. You are not an individual. You are a social problem. -- Sultan Knish

All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war. -- Billy Beck

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

An Encouraging Start

A quick check of Technorati this morning brought me to a new blogger, Pajama Pundit. Only two posts up, so far, but the author is literate, and I like her attitude:
I don't see Americans as valuing education nowadays. Unfortunately, many teenagers and young people I see have this terrible creeping sense of entitlement--because I'm American, in the land of the free, I'm owed something. Then they end up having to work at Wal-Mart, bitching and moaning all the while, conveniently forgetting there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

"Oh yeah?" you might say. "And where do YOU work, Ms. Smart-Ass?"

Currently, I work as a pharmacy technician at a local institutional pharmacy. But for most of the past twenty years, I worked in low-paying service jobs: fast food, retail, delivery driver. This was because I dropped out of school in the 8th grade, although I later got my GED. Finally getting fed up with what I was doing, and realizing I was not getting any younger, I decided to shoot for a tech position.

This involved four months of study, one and two hours a day, for the Pharmacy Tech Certification test. I am not terribly good at math, so this level of immersion was necessary. I studied all on my own, with no help from anyone, and paid for the test myself. And passed it, by crackey! I was rewarded with a substantial raise--in fact, I'm making more now than I ever have. I now have access to good insurance, paid vacations and holidays, 401(k), and easier and more secure employment than I had before. All because I put my nose to the grindstone and decided to make something of myself.

--

You can swallow your pride and take a temporary low-paying job (hey, any money is better than none), and retrain yourself for something else. Screw your age. It can still be done.

I did.
There's more to the post than just that, but THAT is the attitude we need more of.

Keep an eye on this one.

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