Look At It This Way (#LAITW)

I’ve just started reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Serafina (and Lynn who takes to listening in sometimes). We’re only 20 pages in. It’s very significant reading. The vocabulary is immense, the sentence structure is complicated, and the imagery is astounding. And Serafina is engaged. It helps that she played “The Child” in a stage version of Dracula (with Cuesta College Theater Dept, last October, see some pics), and that makes for interesting discussions comparing the original writing to the play. I haven’t read anything as demanding in a very long time; loving it.

Be warned: there are significant adult themes and horrifying (imagine that, in a horror story!) descriptions of sexual predators and mental illness. Not for the faint of heart, and not for any aged person who doesn’t have a basic grip on the world. Fortunately, it’s never explicit (IMO), everything is done with imagery, leaving the mind to fill in the blanks as it can. Your mileage may vary. The lowest age I saw mentioned as appropriate was 8th grade, and some suggested “adults only”.

When we get done, I’ll come back and update this post with any additional thoughts I may have about the experience of reading this with a well-grounded 4th grader.

Heck yes, I’m going to be judgmental. We have to be. We make survival judgments all day long. And we should.

Whether we’re perfect or not.

I saw a post that said, “Before you judge me, make sure you’re perfect.” Don’t count on it, sister. If you’re coming at me with a weapon, I’m going to judge you to be a threat and do whatever possible to stop you, including the use of lethal force. Whether I’m perfect or not.

If you’re a thief, I’m going to judge you accordingly. Whether or not I’m perfect. If you lie, I will judge you to be a liar. Whether or not I’m perfect.

In fact, I know I’m not perfect. But that is not going to slow me down making judgments throughout the day that hopefully will support my life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

I will judge you. And I stand ready to be judged.

Rush Limbaugh made an interesting point recently. What if the rules of politics were as respected and as adhered to as rules in sports? You break a rule in sports and you get penalized, almost immediately. Everyone respects the rule books. It’s what makes the game fair. You know, the “even playing field.”

Not so in politics. Politicians lie left and right. And with virtually no consequences. In fact, often to their advantage. One politician I could name owes millions to the IRS and nobody seems to care, nothing happens to penalize this politician.

What if… What if we demanded that our politicians play by the rules?! Say the rules of law including the Constitution. What if there were real consequences that set the offender back a few yards. I have a dream…

I like the way Ayn Rand puts it:

“If a businessman makes a mistake, he suffers the consequences. If a bureaucrat makes a mistake, you suffer the consequences.”

Here’s the resolution I would offer to everyone in the country…

“Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” (JFK)

What a different world it would be.

If only spirits like that dominated.