Personal Note: The Second ‘Near Miss’

Ty's Karate Kid pose

Ty strikes his best Karate Kid pose! (Anne says he looks like a pink flamingo!)

In my haste to draw conclusions from our ‘near miss‘ at Lake Austin a week ago, I think I may have missed the most important lesson;  the second ‘near miss‘ if you will, or in in the mathematical sense:  ‘near miss squared‘ (the near miss of the near miss).  Sorry, my meticulous nature gets the better of me occasionally!  This occurred as I was relaying the incident to Roger’s great aunt at a family gathering a few days later.

My history of sharing scary kid stories with Aunt Ginger goes way back as we’ve both had terrifying, health-related issues with a child at a young age.  This is the bond we share.  After I relayed the incident,  Aunt Ginger looked squarely at me and stated:  “Well, it wasn’t Ty’s time because IF it WAS, He wouldn’t still be HERE!”   Light bulb!

That’s the take-away . . . as mere mortals we are not in charge!  And Ty’s near miss was a startling reminder of this fact.  Now I know the existence of The Creator, God, is a matter of opinion that is accepted on faith by believers, of which I am one.  But it IS worth noting that our founder’s belief in the equal, natural rights of all human beings forms the moral foundation of our nation.  And so religion, like the Constitution, is just the expression of how we choose to govern ourselves in accordance with that belief.

Benjamin Franklin summarized religion like this:

“Here is my creed:  I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe.  That he governs it by his providence.  That he ought to be worshipped.  That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children.  That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this.  These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion.”

Amen.

Personal Note: 12″ from The Worst Day of My Life

Have you ever had one of those ‘bad karma’ days when things were just off?  Our family has them occasionally, when things are out-of-sync.  Ours are usually marked by 3 “near misses” or close calls.  Friday was one of those days . . .

Vacation this year consisted of staying close to home with some day trips to local area lakes for boating, as our spring break trip to CPAC in Washington D.C. (more on this later) consumed most of our annual vacation funds.  The kids had been wanting to get wake boards so my husband located a couple of used ones in Austin.   We’d pick up the boards then spend the day on Lake Austin.

En route a compartment of our boat sprung open – first incident.   Luckily my husband is in the habit of glancing in the rear view mirror frequently when pulling a load.  Disaster was averted and no permanent damage done just some minor repairs to be done during the off season.  After making it safely to the boat ramp and launching our boat it began making funny noises.  A brief inspection revealed the culprit was low power-steering fluid.  Not a show stopper but still enough to qualify as incident two.

Still unaware that we were in the midst of ‘one of those days’ the kids began piloting the wake boards.  First Jack, then Anne and rounding out with Ty, our 9 year old.  Like the other two, Ty got up on the board immediately and skimmed across the water with relative ease.  After tiring he wiped out and we were preparing to go back and pick him up when incident three commenced . . .

Never taking my eyes off Ty floating in the water I see a jet ski with 2 people come in to view.  Moving closer and at a high rate of speed I notice they’re traveling in our wake and heading straight for Ty.  I watch from the back of the boat – frozen – as they lunge ever closer never changing course.  Closer, CLOSER,  it occurs to me that they don’t see him and are going to run over my kid right in front of very eyes!  Feeling like I’m about to jump out of my skin I go nuts . . . screaming, jumping up and down, helplessly flailing my arms in the air.  Then literally within a foot of striking Ty the man riding shotgun on the jet ski reaches around the female driver and turns the steering wheel sharply, missing my youngest by inches!  (Later, Ty said all he saw as he turned around was the white bottom of the jet ski ‘near my face’!)  If it had been any other type of watercraft it wouldn’t have had responsive enough steering to avert disaster!

The next moments remain fuzzy to me.  The jet skiers stopped and apologetically waved from a safe distance.  But I was so hysterical that no one, least of all the would-be offenders, would come near me.  My reaction was visceral and left me in a contemplative funk for the rest of the day.

ImageHow fragile life is!  And so, living thankfully and purposefully is a good thing.  As Americans we are in possession of one of life’s greatest blessings – the liberty brand – which relatively few people in human history have experienced.  May we acknowledge and faithfully accept our stewardship of “The Original American Brand” so we can bequeath the American Dream to our children in the tradition of our forefathers.

Culture: Is LeBron James Conservative?

Closet Conservative?Flipping through the pages of my recent People Magazine – a guilty pleasure since I was a freshman in college and received the subscription as a gift – a page entitled “Celebrity Wedding Crashers” caught my attention.  The layout featured various celebrities that had happened upon a wedding underway and stopped to pose with the beaming newlyweds.  I couldn’t help but notice the snapshot of NBA star player, LeBron James, sandwiched between a newlywed couple in Miami.  Though partially obscured, the bold caption on his Nike t-shirt displayed a clear message:  “EARNED NOT GIVEN” with the “O” in the word “NOT” confidently replaced by the NBA championship ring.

I assume since Mr. James is sporting the t-shirt  he identifies with and even endorses its message professionally as well as personally.  Having reached the pinnacle in his chosen profession it’s likely that the only thing Mr. James was “given” was God-given talent;  and that his notable achievements are attributable to years of personal discipline, hard work, sacrifice and perseverance.  Furthermore, his significant wealth – the ‘fruit of his labor’ – is made possible in a free market or capitalistic system.

While I do not know Mr. James’ politics I am willing to bet that he considers himself liberal or progressive (hint:  they’re synonyms), which is the predominant rule among the celebrity ranks.  But what is politics but the combination of one’s moral and social character.  Endowed with the gift of reason, human beings are both capable of and compelled to discover truth.  Through his actions Mr. James reveals his character, leading any reasonable person to conclude:

The truth of the matter is LeBron James is conservative.

Culture: Food for Thought

On a recent trip to HEB (a Texas grocery store chain) I spotted R.W. Garcia “Liberty tortilla chips” and couldn’t resist the impulse buy.  Red, white and blue tortilla chips . . . no place but Texas!  What a perfect reminder of America’s melting pot.  A serving of “E pluribus unum” for your Memorial Day celebration.DSC_0048

Culture: Earth Day and Sustainability

Screen shot 2013-04-22 at 11.54.15 AMWhile the validity of research on ‘global warming’ or ‘climate change’ – pick your preference – is a hotly debated topic among the two political parties, stewardship of our natural resources is a good thing.  Earth Day, established in 1970, is a fitting occasion to highlight this.  Additionally, April 22nd has already been set aside for essentially this purpose so why not “reduce and reuse”?

While the role of human beings in climate change is debatable, one thing is certain.  Man is the only earthly being gifted with reason and speech and endowed by his Creator with certain inalienable rights not the least of which is to live on the Earth in liberty and in pursuit of personal happiness.  But with every right comes responsibility.  Stewardship of our natural resources is man’s responsibility.  Why not reduce, reuse and recycle where it makes sense and the item is deemed “recycle-worthy”?

Recycle-worthly items help reduce or minimize the risk of exhausting non-renewable resources.  Our liberty is a non-renewable resource.  History has shown that once a society loses its freedom, it is seldom enjoyed again.  Our founding principles are integral to liberty, providing the optimal conditions for freedom to thrive while simultaneously minimizing the risk that it will die.  That’s why TLBCo.’s motto is :

Keep Liberty Sustainable
Recycle Founding Principles!

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