Category Archives: Foundations & Basics

Human Nature is Like Water

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People are like water. At least, in one way critical to understanding why I would even bother creating this entire blog.

As a Christian, I believe that human nature is inherently bent toward sin. Many libertarians and liberty-minded people disagree with me. Well, frankly, I think most people disagree with me.

But whether or not you agree with that premise, I think I can win my case about water.

Water always takes the path of least resistance. It will not climb a hill when it could run down a ravine. It will readily spray from the faucet where a hose has been poorly connected while leaving the plants at the other end just as parched as before. But it is an obvious enough idea that it really doesn’t merit further examples.

Still, allow me to make the connection to human nature. With exceptions that are more rare than normal, most people, without a great enough commitment beyond their own desires, will pursue their needs and wants in the easiest way possible. This is not always necessarily bad. For example, it drives people to industry and efficiency. Why would I learn to write html code to design this blog when I could simply use the wonderfully simple tool of WordPress?

And yet, this pursuit of self-interest along the path that creates the least friction in that pursuit often is wrong, both subtly and not so subtly. The untrained human nature will tend to try to cheat on a test if there is no possibility it could be found out and it will guarantee them an A. But it is not always so obvious and most often is more about a balancing act between integrity—doing right—and lack thereof. Can I get a good grade in this class by only skimming the book? What is the minimum number of sales I must make to earn a bonus at work? Sometimes it’s not necessarily a moral or ethical question. Will I be willing to commit a larger portion of my salary for a longer period of time in order to get that bigger house now?

See where I am going with this? Now, before those who do not believe in an external or transcendent standard of morality that would inherently condemn my suggestions that there is a fundamental right and wrong, follow me to my more practical conclusion…in my next couple of posts.

 

Why On Earth Do We Need Another Blog?

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If you have ever considered being a teacher: stop, think, and re-think the decision. Now, don’t get me wrong; I would choose no other career. I am a teacher, and I love it.

But it is not a career for the faint of heart. Certainly, I could meander into political and policy positions that make the actual career a challenge (perhaps, at some point, given the nature of this blog, I will). I could also send a cold chill down the spines of those who want to leave their work at work—the great fantasy world of the teacher! But I need neither approach to address my original comment: teaching is not for the faint of heart.

To leave you hanging for a moment, follow me on a necessary tangent.

I will candidly and readily admit that in beginning this blog, I am rather overwhelmed. The blogging world is a madhouse (I use the word in good taste, as I am, after all, endorsing it), with a myriad to choose from and read.

My particular bent with this blog will enter a field seemingly no less crowded: political commentary, economic analysis, financial recommendations, historical clarifications, and my own occasional musings on these and perhaps other related topics.

And for a little bit of whiplash, back to my comments on teaching.

Having earned my degree in Social Studies Education, I have learned more in the process of teaching than I ever learned in school. Most of us understand this to be the case: if you truly want to understand something, teach it. Still, I would suggest that the nuance goes further.

A good teacher has a strict moral responsibility to accuracy and the pursuit of truth. As I have learned extensively more through my own reading, studying and teaching, my understanding of the topics I mentioned above (politics, economics, finances and history) have burgeoned into a scope that require I represent these topics ever more accurately and truly to my students. As James warned his readers in James 3:1, a greater responsibility falls on those who teach: those who are entrusted with passing on knowledge and, consequently, influencing the lives of others.

Okay. So where I am going with all this rambling? To my concluding point of this post and my introductory point of this blog: it is my passion to continue learning that I may better teach, and to continue teaching that I may continue to learn. And in that process, I use this blog as an avenue. (I will offer further specifics on my focal points in the next post.)

So why on earth do we need another blog? Perhaps we don’t. But I do, born out of my own sense of obligation and passion. And perhaps, just maybe, my own commentary may be used to help inform, teach and even influence others along my own conduit of learning.