Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.
As I enter this new year I find myself thinking of a quote from former president, Ronald Reagan:
“The character that takes command in moments of crucial choices has already been determined by a thousand other choices made earlier in seemingly unimportant moments. It has been determined by all the ‘little’ choices of years past—by all those times when the voice of conscience was at war with the voice of temptation, [which was] whispering the lie that ‘it really doesn’t matter.’ It has been determined by all the day-to-day decisions made when life seemed easy and crises seemed far away—the decision that, piece by piece, bit by bit, developed habits of discipline or of laziness; habits of self-sacrifice or self-indulgence; habits of duty and honor and integrity—or dishonor and shame.”
May we all look to our small choices that our crucial ones will be those that we would have them be, to be the sort of people our children can respect and emulate.
" Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. "~Psalm 32;9
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
An excellent post, Mom.
The lie that, "it really does not matter," is augmented by the second lie, "you are entitled to it," in the teaching of the Left. So many of the problems that we have today arise from a sense of entitlement, a sense that society "owes me" this, that, or the other, with no thought whatsoever has to how such a debt would have been contracted. Many of our young people have been taught in school that they are owed various opportunities, and not just the opportunities but that they are owed the results, the outcomes, irrespective of their own efforts and capabilities. This has led to all manner of disappointment and anger when these "debts" as not met as expected.
This goes back to what you were saying, Mom, about the need for developing the habits of discipline, self-sacrifice, duty, and integrity. These are concepts that we no longer teach in our schools -- they are considered damaging to self-esteem. But they are absolutely essential to the survival of our nation.
Personal responsibility is an ever shrinking commodity too.
There is also a dearth of those who are able to disagree without taking personal offense. I suspect it is because those two qualities are linked.
If one disagrees with the position of another, one must take personal responsibility for one's opinion. I think as PC increases we will see a proportional decrease in willingness to take personal responsibility for dissenting opinions.
Great quote, I love it. Happy New Year to you and your family.
Post a Comment