My teen son and I were talking the other night, about the political spectrum and supposed dichotomy of left and right.

His observation:  (and to be honest, I don't know whether this is his original thought, or if he heard it from someone else, but I like to think he is brilliant!)

When you get to the far right, you are a survivalist who wants to live in a good protected community, grow your own organic food free from dangerous chemicals,  store it for future use, build your own dwellings, use your supplies wisely in order to nurture and provide for your family and friends.

When you get to the far left, you are a hippie who wants to live in a good protective community, grow your own organic food free from dangerous chemicals, store it for future use, build your own dwellings, use your supplies wisely in order to nurture and provide for your family and friends.

The differences?  The ones on the right are more likely to own firearms for protection.  The ones on the left are more likely to grow certain plants in their gardens. If you are "mellowed out" you can't shoot straight anyway, nor do you care if others are stealing your stuff.  

Tags: Preparedness Survivalists Communes

4 comments View Entry

Reminds me of an old joke.
Husband: "They make the perfect couple!"
Wife: "Why do you say that?"
Husband: "The holes in his head match the rocks in hers!"

In a marriage, the partners are given the opportunity to complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. Looking past the roles of husband/father - wife/mother, and more into the personal traits, it can be very challenging.

In temporal areas, the wife is neat, the husband is sloppy - the wife teaches the husband to be neat (in a loving way, of course). Or vice versa, and they learn to keep the house neat together. When both going into the marriage are already neat, their household will always be tidy.
The husband budgets and is good with money, the wife is a spendthrift - the husband teaches the wife to manage money better (in a loving way, of course). Or vice versa, and they learn to pay tithing, go over the bills and balance the bank statements together. When both are budget-conscious from the beginning of the marriage, they will always have emergency funds available.
 Sometimes it's really easier to say "Here, you take care of the banking (or whatever), and I'll take care of the vaccuuming (or whatever), and then we won't argue (discuss in a loving way) anymore!" I wonder if that is the best solution? As long as the person in charge of vaccuuming never resents being the one doing ALL the vaccuuming ALL the time, it provides functionality in the home, that is to be sure.

But if we are to truly complement each other, shouldn't we want to learn and share in and emulate the best attributes of the other person? (Considering not just household management tasks, but also spiritual qualities.)

Then again, I suppose there are those spouses who are just plain untrainable in some areas, and look forward to that day when we are made perfect, and our longsuffering will have been worth it.

Tags: Marriage

0 comments View Entry

From the forums thread "No lions in the house" by cgrantreed, with his permission:

"When we got married, I was a lion. I have a big mane of fur, all fluffy and proper for a lion such as I am and I roar at other lions and i occasionally fight over territory and for my family and what not. I mark my territory and I have claws and like to scratch on things. I was roaming free when I got married. She chose me for who I was at the time . . . We moved in to the house and it was fine for awhile. Then she came to me and said that the claws were a problem because they were scratching the furniture and that was bad. So, I had to be real careful to not let out the claws. I went outside and scratched on the tree but that was bad too because the trees now had scratches so i just could not use them anymore. Then later she came to me and said that i could not roar anymore because it disturbed her peace and quiet and that was bad. So I went outside and roared and that was bad too because she felt that it disturbed the neighbors so I had to stop roaring. Then one day I was asked not to sit on the couch because the fur got on the fabric and that was bad too so I was given a cushion to lay on in the corner of the room behind the couch that could not be seen by the visitors because my cushion was not ok with fur on it. Then one day I was told that I ate too much meat and that had to change so my diet was changed to just lion chow and i had to eat in the garage because my chewing of the dry food was annoying.
. . . I was a lion, I have always been a lion, I will never not be a lion. You can't ask a giraffe to [be] a llama or an alligator to be a guinea pig."

1) Maybe you are you, you have never changed, and I didn't really know you before I married you, even though we dated for 2 years and were engaged for 1 year before the big event. I only thought I knew who you were. After all, you only really get to know a person after you live with them. I thought you were a lion, and you are really a leopard who will never change its spots.

2) Maybe you are you, but you stopped being who I thought you were, as soon as we got married. Before we married you were neat and dressed nicely, afterwards you became a slob. After all, you accomplished the goal, there's no need to try to impress anymore. I thought you were a lion, and you are actually a pig.

3) Maybe you are you, and you changed with each event that came into our lives. Maybe I changed too. Every job change, relocation, pay cut, pregnancy, graduation, parent's death, house purchase - everything affected us, but we didn't talk about these issues, or reach out to each other in the midst of them, and so we both changed, but we changed separately. We rejected the help we could give each other, and because of that, we changed our expectations of one another. I thought we were both lions, but we became mules.

4) I knew you were a lion when I married you. I am a lioness. It is okay to leave fur on the sofa. Just don't expect me to be the one to always vaccuum it up. Furniture is going to get scratched. Just make sure it gets repaired. Those claws are long and sharp. Sometimes it takes both of us and a professional furniture refinisher to repair those scratches. But both of us lions have to want to keep the armoire after all that work.

Tags: Marriage Relationships

0 comments View Entry

Tags: Marriage Wedding

0 comments View Entry