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Summary
Life is indeed hard, and it is correctly designed to be that way. As soon as we get that, life becomes dramatically more manageable. And we then have a chance to lead our best lives.
Those who cry foul, teaching all who will listen that if life is hard that means that something must be unfair, are doing all of us and our society a huge disservice.
For the next 10 minutes, we will unpack why life being hard is exactly the way it should be.
Transcript
Life is indeed hard, and it is correctly designed to be that way. As soon as we get that, life becomes dramatically more manageable. And we then have a chance to lead our best lives.
Those who cry foul, teaching all who will listen that if life is hard that means that something must be unfair, are doing all of us and our society a huge disservice.
For the next 10 minutes, we will unpack why life being hard is exactly the way it should be.
Let’s start with an observation: We all learn more from the hard times than we do from the easy times. I don’t know anyone for whom that is not true. Do you? And with that hard times learning, we can grow and strengthen ourselves to lead stronger, happier and better lives. Yes, I did say “happier.” There is no conflict between hard and happy, is there?
We all know that to make a muscle stronger, we must work it, and the harder we work it, the stronger it becomes. Our minds are like muscles; we much work them to make them stronger, and the harder we work them, the stronger they become.
It is only when we push ourselves, mentally and/or physically, that we improve, get stronger, and further prepare ourselves for leading our best lives. The corollary is also true: When we don’t challenge ourselves, nothing gets better. If fact, things get worse. These physical and mental muscles will atrophy. And we get a touch lazy in the process.
Life is bad enough when we don’t challenge ourselves, when we don’t take responsibility for getting through the hard times. We are hurting ourselves and those around us, but that is all. It is far worse when powerful voices in leadership tell us that if things are hard, that not only is it proof that things are unfair, but that someone else is responsible for getting us through the hard bits. Why is it their responsibility? Because they are the ones who made it hard for us in the first place. That’s the reason that identity politics were dreamed up and are so often in the news. The idea is to relieve certain groups, those victimized by other groups, of responsibility while placing the blame and the responsibility on other groups. This is called intersectionality. I call it identity group wars.
Remember the part about how we learn much more from our hard times than we do from the easy ones? The only thing that we can learn from someone else easing our hard times by being forced to provide money, housing or more, is that voting for things is a lot easier than working for them. But if we do that, we have been robbed of the learning, the joy, of having done it for ourselves. And we have also been robbed of the perhaps even deeper learning that comes from having tried and failed. Success comes more from previous failures than from previous successes.
Imagine that we, you and I, are at an important high school football game, where we are closely connected to one team, and are rooting loudly for them. Mid-way through the third quarter, our star running back is brought down by and very hard hit from a much bigger opposing player, and is knocked out of the game. It was a clean tackle, and he will be back for the next game, but he is out for the rest of today. Now imagine that the refs stop the game, announcing that is was unfair that our player was put of the game by a much bigger player. Because of that unfairness, the refs awarded the now tied game to us. Victory! Of sorts. It would seem like a hollow victory at best, leaving a bad taste in our mouths. And imagine the reaction on the other sideline. “What? We lose because our bigger player made a clean tackle?” That’s unfair? We lose for that?” Their team was robbed of a likely victory. Our team was robbed of the opportunity to overcome adversity, which the refs labeled as unfair, and to grow and learn about itself in the process. As absurd as this might sound, this is exactly what the unfairness and identity politics groups are doing all the time. It is exactly what they want.
Let’s look at a specific. Voting is hard. Or at least it should be. The same crowd that is pitching separating us from the responsibility from dealing with the hard times in our own lives, is trying to make the entire voting process as effortless as possible. I have no issue with making it convenient for qualified voters to register and to vote. I don’t have an issue with “get out the vote” campaigns, that promote everything from mandatory mailed ballots, to urging people to exercise their voting rights, to actually picking voters up, taking them to the polls and returning them to where they started. I do have a major issue with the silence–the deafening silence–on the part of the get out the vote campaigns when it comes to being a qualified voter, not just a legal one. By qualified, I mean a voter who has looked at all sides of the issues and, knows the pluses and minuses of the different candidates. Voters who take in only cliches and slogans they agree with are not qualified voters. Voters who listen only to news sources and friends with whom they already agree are not qualified. Legal, yes, but not qualified. Get out the vote campaigns that stress voting without an equal emphasis on doing time-consuming, multi-source, diversified thought research are encouraging unqualified voters to go vote.
Today’s key point: If we want better candidates and better office holders, we need to be better voters. Remember: every right, including the right to vote, comes with an equal or greater responsibility.
All of this ties to the core, driving principles at Revolution 2.0, which are:
If we apply those two core principles simultaneously, never only one or the other, we will always be on the right path. Depending upon what we face, one principle or the other may appropriately be given more emphasis, but they are always acted upon together.
The Founders, Revolution 1.0, were declared traitors by the British Crown, and their lives were forfeit if caught. We risk very little by stepping up and participating in Revolution 2.0™. In fact, we risk our futures if we don’t. I am inviting you, recruiting you, to join Revolution 2.0™ today. Join with me in using what we know how to do–what we know we must do–to everyone’s advantage. Let’s practice thinking well of others as we seek common goals, research the facts that apply to those goals, and use non agenda-based reasoning to achieve those goals together. Practice personal responsibility and be your brother’s keeper.
Let’s continue to build on the revolutionary vision that we inherited. Read the blog, listen to the podcast, subscribe, recruit, act. Here’s what I mean my “acting.”
Revolution 1.0 in 1776 was built by people talking to other people, agreeing and disagreeing, but always finding ways to stay united and going forward. Revolution 2.0 will be built the same way.
Join me. Join the others. Let’s grow this together.
And visit the store. Fun stuff, including hats, mugs and t-shirts. Recommend other items that you’d like to see
Links and References
Concentration Camps and Identity Politics
Contact
As we get ready to wrap up, please do respond in the blog with comments or questions about this podcast or anything that comes to mind, or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And you can subscribe to the podcast on your favorite device through Apple Podcasts, Google, or Stitcher.
Now it is time for our usual parting thought. It is not enough to be informed. It is not enough to be a well informed voter. We need to act. And if we, you and I, don’t do something, then the others who are doing something, will continue to run the show.
Remember: Knowledge by itself is like running a winning race, then stopping just before the finish line
Will Luden, writing to you from my home office at 7,200’ in Colorado Springs.
