Things I have been thinking about...

I read this in a FB post today:

"The natural consequence of true liberty is diversity. Unless a society can figure out a way to reach perfect agreement, conflicting views will be inevitable. Any effort to impose conformity, through government or any other means, by punishing the misguided for believing incorrectly will impoverish society intellectually and oppress it politically...

The test of our commitment to liberal principles is not our eagerness to hear ideas we share, but our willingness to consider seriously those we oppose."

It was in regards to the same-sex marriage issue that is raging in some states of the US.  

I see this quote and have lived by it for a very long time.  I find that our young people also have to learn this very important fact too.  About a week ago, I was substituting in a middle school and students were assigned a collage project.  One student was extremely unhappy because another student was intentionally tearing up pictures of our President, to the point of crying about it.  The unhappy student is the son of immigrants, and I don't think he truly understands the above quote.  Given, he probably is not old enough to understand the quote, but he will need learn it very soon.  I had a hard time consoling him and said that there were probably better ways that the other student could have handled it BUT he still had a right to do what he did...

A Real American Hero

Thirty-one years ago today, Rick Monday, a Cub center fielder took a flag away from a man and his son who were attempting to burn it during a game in Dodgers Stadium here in LA. He is a Marine and a true patriot of our country. He said of the incident:

I was angry when I saw them start to do something to the flag, and I'm glad that I happened to be geographically close enough to do something about it... Whatever their protest was about, what they were attempting to do to the flag _ which represents a lot of rights and freedoms that we all have _ was wrong for a lot of reasons... Not only does it desecrate the flag, but it also desecrates the effort and the lives that have been laid down to protect those rights and freedoms for all of us.