Years ago, I did something pretty dumb. It almost cost me my life. It could have cost the life of at least one other person, perhaps more. My action, my decision, brought me and at least a dozen others into serious danger. We could have been seriously injured, perhaps killed.
Swim Call in the US Navy Can be Dangerous
I was in the US Navy aboard a naval vessel. We’d anchored about a half mile off the coast of Maui. I convinced the Captain to let us go swimming. He was reluctant, but like a kid begging a parent, I was persistent. He relented.
Out of a crew of over 200, there were only a dozen or so of us who were dumb enou…well, who were brave enough to swim there. The water was a beautiful grass-green and smooth as a mirror. The sun was relentless and its brilliance radiated off the ship’s decks making the water even more inviting. I wasn’t the first in the water but I was one of only two who decided to leap from the side of the ship. I did a lot of diving growing up and this was the perfect place. So, I leaped off the side along with another sailor.
I loved every minute of it. After nearly half an hour, me and but another sailor (the one who’d leaped off the side with me) were still in the water. I was treadi
ng water about 50 yards from the side of the ship and my shipmate was further out, about 75 yards. A boat with two sailors, one armed with a rifle, was out about 100 yards for rescue.
Suddenly, I felt something rub up against my entire back. It was so large that it moved me forward a full ten feet as though I was a piece of seaweed. I knew instantly what it was. At the same time, I heard someone yell, “Shark!” followed by other similar yells. I swam faster than Tarzan ever did for the ship’s ladder that had a small landing on it. I scrambled onto it and turned quickly. I saw my shipmate swimming for the boat and saw several shark fins moving around in the green waters. One was very close to him. But, he made it into the boat. Swim call was abruptly ended.
We Cannot Afford to be Ignorant About Some Things in Life
My excuse for wanting to swim in waters known to be inhabited by sharks? Ignorance. Youthful ignorance. I was 18 years young and was bullet-proof. I had what is typical of many young men, a mind that gave no credence to the idea of death. It wasn’t that I thought I could not die. It’s more a mind-set that says that death, if it comes, will come to someone else. It is this mind-set that enables so many of our young warriors to wade into battle, seemingly without fear.
I grew up with this kind of attitude. Looking back, I wonder now how it was I ever survived my childhood. (What 10 year old kid swims in a Louisiana ditch hidden by brush, small shrubs, trees, overgrown with weeds and populated with water-mouth moccasins, eels, snapping turtles and small gators? And worse, one who knew about the dangers?) I can only say that I eventually learned I was not immune to death. I became a lot more cautious in life. It wasn’t that I became fearful of dying. It’s just that I came to recognize it as a probability whose likelihood rose or fell according choices and/or actions I made in life.
I think all of us can say we’ve done some stupid things in life. We’ve all been dumb at one point–maybe stupid. But, most of us have learned. We have learned from our own examples and as we reached a certain maturity, we began to be able to learn from others, from their experiences. And, some of us have discovered the existence of startling parallels in history, realizing in epiphany-like moments of clarity that history does indeed, repeat itself. Many have read The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and other related books and the lessons are not lost upon us.
There Exists an Ignorant Element in Our Society Immune to Rational Thinking
The Learning Curve of life is way too steep for this Ignorant Element. They can’t seem to connect the dots of life. This group has no grasp of history’s lessons. History was a class they were exposed to in early life whose value was expressed solely in a grade. In college, it was an elective they chose to ignore. Their life experiences were never integrated into a framework of logic and reason designed to reach reasonable conclusions.
This group never has been able to incorporate the experiences of others diverse to themselves into a philosophy that allows them to learn and project consequences of decisions and actions so as to keep them from making stupid decisions. Instead, they’ve taken the life experiences of others as mere events with no underlying lessons. They view such things as “Stuff happens.” If it doesn’t directly affect them, there is nothing there to learn. It is in the category of “yesterday’s news,” and relegated in terms of importance to the level of interest they had in history.
It is hard to tell when this group came to exist. They certainly were on display in England and Germany prior to WWII, had a healthy following in France, thrived throughout Israel’s history, and has been embedded in America almost from the beginning. It is clear though, that wherever this group has existed, it has brought grief, disaster, catastrophe and confusion. It was this group that brought about the great Civil War.
It is not within the scope of this piece to identify the various elements that distinguish this group. Suffice it to say, this group has brought horrific consequences upon nations throughout the annals of history. Their ability to be wrong is uncanny, almost as if they make ill informed, catastrophic decisions on purpose. They are unable to comprehend any proffered explanations of the consequences of their thoughts or intentions. A disconnect exists in their thought process that disallows any trains of thought that does not track with their own.
In America, they have brought devastation to our economy. This group has been the instrument used to bring the deaths of innocent American citizens. This group has been instrumental in the decay of certain centuries-old moral values. They have eroded fundamental values of life to the point that is not precious, but is a commodity. They have also brought our nation into sharp divide, as contentious as the divide they created in the Civil War.
Liberals Want to Lace Us Into Straight Jackets Locked in the Back
Liberals in the 1860’s were the ones who decided they’d defy the federal government and not follow the rule of law. Liberals decided they would reject the moral standards of America that said slavery was wrong, and was in fact, illegal. Those with a liberal mind-set reject the established norms of morality, decency and principals of law and order. The “rule of law” is not, for them, a bright line from which we cannot stray. For them, the rule of law is merely a guideline from which they can stray, at will, following whatever they deem to be right in their own mind.
The liberals amongst us are, inter alia, incapable of reasoning beyond their established mental boundaries. If you were to liken them to a chess player, their ability to reason and calculate a multiplicity of moves, they’d be studying the board for five minutes without moving beyond the second level. If you were able to tap their mind and have it displayed as a flow chart detailing the “if this, then this” choices and consequences, one would see a single line of boxes with lines drawn out from the sides of each box followed by a question mark. (I have a friend who differs. He says all we’d see is an “If this” box, a line down with another box labeled “Yell & Throw Bottled Ice Water”)
Perfect Example of Liberal Thinking That is Destructive
One need only look at the liberal view of those mayors who have decided to defy federal law and make their cities “sanctuaries” for a certain group of law-breakers. These misguided idiots have circumvented federal ICE agents, ordering their police not to cooperate, and have recently made their cities a haven for criminals operating under the guise of “protestors” flying a BLM banner. They have decided what laws to obey and which ones not to obey. It is interesting that the gang violence in Sanctuary City Chicago operates on the same principal. The gun laws in Chicago are among the strictest in the nation. But, every single day two citizens die at the hands of people who have decided what laws to obey and what laws not to obey. They have decided that gun laws are not laws they are willing to obey. They have decided to reject the laws that say murder is illegal.
Liberals have a tough time understanding the connections here. They don’t see the necessity of the rule of law.
As I said earlier, liberals have trouble connecting the dots of life.
The problem I have with that is their willingness to put us into shark-infested waters, assuming that we will not be shark-bait.
Hmmmm. Can it be that they don’t care that we’re potential shark-bait? Maybe we need to check their addresses and look closely at what kind of “shark repellant” they have.
copyright 2016
Voyle A. Glover
Here are a couple of interesting videos dealing with liberals and conservatives and how they differ. Believe it or not, the liberal mind is definitely “wired” differently.
