HATE BEGETS HATE BUT LOVE BEGETS LOVE

In response to the tragic shooting in a church in Charleston, S.C., President Obama has decried that this happened because there are just too many guns in this country. And, he added, too many guns are in the hands of the wrong people. I have this simple question. What if there was just one more gun and it happened to be in the hands of one of the people who were at that church service? What if, while this worthless punk was reloading, that one gun was used to take him out? You see, as I have said so many times before, the only way to stop a gun is with a gun. When seconds count, the cops are only minutes away.

We have to face some reality here. There are probably as many guns in this country as there are people. If a law was passed today outlawing guns, who would then have guns? Would it be the good citizens who protect their families and their possessions? Or would those guns be in the hands of the bad guys? Wake up.

Gun control legislation is liberal feel good legislation. It has no practical benefit to the people.

Since this shooting, reports are coming out that some people who knew Dylann Roof, the suspected killer, were aware that he was an evil racist. They are even saying he was destined to commit some vicious act. The question is being asked, “Why didn’t somebody report him? Why didn’t somebody stop him?” You might just as well ask why didn’t somebody stop a bolt of lightning from striking?  We live in a free society. Our society is governed by laws. One cannot be prosecuted unless and until they break the law and hate is not against the law.

That having been said, I believe more could possibly have been done. Somewhere, somehow, Roof learned his hate. He learned a hate that has been simmering for a lot longer than just one evening. He doubtless had shared his twisted views with many over his few short years. Perhaps if someone who loved him had slapped some sense into him maybe he wouldn’t be in the situation he is in today and maybe these nine innocent lives would have been spared. We are not seers. We cannot see the future. We don’t really know what the future holds, but we can often see little bits and pieces that should tip us off.

So what do we do with this miserable little twerp now? Some say if he is convicted, he should be executed immediately. Others say nothing is gained by killing this killer. They say there is no deterrent value in a death sentence. Well it certainly would be a deterrent to Roof because he would be dead.

I have even heard that a proper punishment would be to cut him loose in a maximum security prison, give all the inmates the information that he is there and tell them what he did, then give Roof a fifty yard head start. I believe the state would be spared a good deal of expense if that were done.

Today though, the families of his victims see things differently and are praying for his worthless hide. Today they are offering forgiveness. My heart was broken as I listened to the families asking God to forgive this punk. I doubt that I would have the grace to do the same if those were my relatives and friends.

What is the better way? Is it better to hate this creep? Or is it better to pray for him? I leave it to you to decide. For a certainty hate just begets more hate, but love absolutely begets love.

Ron Scarbro

WE NEED A DEPARTMENT OF TRANS

Let us consider the prefix trans. It is used a lot. For example, transfer or transact, or how about transition and trans fat? In these utilizations trans might mean to change or to alter. To go from one place to another or to go from one situation to another.

Lately it has also come to mean to go from one sex to another as in transsexual or from one gender to another as in transgender. Later in this column we will see how this prefix is coming to mean just about anything we want it to mean.  

Rachel Dolezal is a white woman who, a few years ago, decided it would be in her best interest to pass herself off as a black woman. She married and divorced a black man and has two biracial children. She curled and dyed her hair as well as darkened her skin tone with makeup. She graduated from a predominately black school, Howard University, and went on to become President of a Spokane, Washington chapter of NAACP.

In order to obtain and keep her position as President, she spun a series of tales from parental abuse to having a black father to being raised in a tepee and hunting for her food with a bow and arrow. None of her tales were true.

Her parents outed her. Her own brother, incidentally a biracial young man who was adopted by her parents, also outed her. She is of European descent and is totally white. She is biologically caucasian.

So, here we are. She has been caught in a lie, a big lie. I was always told when you are in a hole, stop digging. Rachel evidently didn’t get that message. She has continued to compound her problems by adding to her lies. The reality is she cannot get out from under the web of deceit she has spun. What to do? What to do?  

Rachel has apparently decided the answer is to claim to be a transracial person. A what? A transracial person. According to her explanation she sees herself as a black woman. It doesn’t matter that she is biologically caucasian, she believes she is a black woman. That should, in her mind, make it okay. I heard a doctor say this past week that he may decide to see himself as a sixty-five year old man and then apply for Social Security benefits. According to the current thinking he should be granted these benefits because that is the way he sees himself. What do you think his chances are? I suspect he would be arrested and charged with fraud.  

That brings us to this final point. Has Rachel Dolezal committed fraud? Has she gained any financial benefit by lying about her race? She certainly has gained status in the black community of Spokane, albeit for a short time. She has since resigned her position as President. Her continued lies serve no one, especially her.

Personally I don’t care how this woman sees herself. I don’t care how Bruce Jenner sees himself or herself depending on which day it is. People have choices and they should be free to exercise those choices. But, they also should realize just how silly a lot of this nonsense is.

Me, I’m going to now transition myself near some food contaminated by trans fat, eat it and transfer my guilt to some government agency known as the Department of Trans. Have a nice day.

Ron Scarbro

A BAD HAIRCUT IS A TWO WEEK PROBLEM

Have you ever gone to the barber shop or the beauty salon and gotten a bad haircut? It just doesn’t look right and no way of brushing, combing, or fixing it up corrects the problem. To some this is a tragic event. To me, it is a two week problem because that is about how long it takes to grow back.

So, how is this relevant to today’s discussion? All through our lives we face good times and we face bad times. We build bridges that, in most cases, we never have to cross. We face challenges that can be real tragedies. By the same token we accept good fortune and good news gladly.

It has been my experience, however, that most of the problems that I have had to face in my lifetime were not nearly as bad as I had thought they would be and some of the good fortune I experienced wasn’t as good as I had hoped either.

Another little tidbit that I have heard is what doesn’t kill you makes you better. It would seem that during our lifetimes we deal with challenges that somehow are designed to teach us. I know that I have always learned more from a defeat than from a victory. It wasn’t always pleasant but it was a learning experience.

I know of people, as do you, who have had a clear life plan laid out. They have prepared themselves for a certain destiny when all of a sudden something changes and their plans go up in smoke. Maybe they suffered a medical setback, or lost a job, or had financial reversals. Whatever, something happened and their lives were upended. Some have allowed these reversals to destroy their lives. Some, though, have landed on their feet and gone on to succeed in other ways or other fields, and many beyond their wildest imaginations. This I know. Everything you have ever done in you lifetime has brought you to this point in your life. Somewhere along the way you turned right when you meant to turn left and you wound up here. If you are a senior citizen like me, you have dodged many arrows in your journey that has brought you to today.

If you are a young person, perhaps your journey is just beginning. Remember Forrest Gump who famously said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.” You may well have some changes in your master plan. Let those changes be like a bad haircut. They usually fix themselves in a short time. Many years ago I read a book by Dale Carnegie called “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.” I recommend the book. One of his lessons was  when something is worrying you, figure that it has already happened, deal with it, and go on about your life. Simple but effective.

I don’t mean to make light of or belittle events that we face. I have friends who have had to deal with serious medical diagnoses. I have had friends who died much too young. The fact is there are no guarantees. Life, while a beautiful thing, is fragile. Life can be fleeting.

I know there are some people who envy someone else’s life or their wealth. What they don’t know is that the very person they envy might well be willing to trade places with them. None of us knows what someone else’s  journey is.

So have a blessed day and enjoy your life. Don’t let a bad haircut get you down.

Ron Scarbro

IS IT ANY OF OUR BUSINESS?

The barbaric savages known as ISIS are killing, beheading, and brutalizing people all across the Middle East. They seem to especially favor the killing of women and babies. Maybe it’s because they don’t fight back as hard.

They have retaken much of the territory we gave blood and treasure for. We have spent literally billions in dollars and thousands in lives for this miserable plot of land known as Iraq. This “JV” group has driven the Iraqi army away with their tails tucked between their legs. The army that we spent billions training. ISIS has stolen our weapons that the Iraqi army abandoned. They seem, at this point, to be unstoppable.

The question is, does the civilized world care? Does America care? Do you care? It would appear by our actions that we don’t. We drop a few bombs but ISIS rapidly recovers. We send in an elite unit of “Special Forces” and take out one of their top leaders, but the JVs seem to let it go with no concern.

Some will say that this war between Shiites and Sunnis has been going on for centuries and it isn’t going to stop anytime soon. So is it any of our business? Should we have been there in the first place?

A quick look at history might be helpful. The vast majority of Americans know of Hitler and Stalin only through history books. And what they know may well be clouded by the authors of those books. The fact is both of these men were brutal killers who believed that they were supposed to be rulers of the world. Hitler and his henchmen moved across Europe with little or no resistance. Neville Chamberlain seemed to believe he could appease Hitler and keep him at bay. That turned out to be a farce. Had it not been for our intervention, England and all of Europe would be Germany.

Stalin killed millions in his effort to turn all of Eastern Europe into a Soviet Empire. There was Pol Pot in Cambodia. Another brutal indiscriminate killer. Had we not stopped these tyrants, would we be here today? Would we still be a free nation?

And so the question. Is ISIS and their brutal takeover of the Middle East any of our business? And do we care? Should we care? Is it possible that when they do get all of the Middle East that they will then take over Europe?

To my mind the big question is who, if not us, is going to stop them? Some have suggested that this, being a war between Shiites and Sunnis, will only be won if we arm Shiites and have them deal with the Sunnis. I submit that this is a war between savages who are brutal killers on both sides and neither side seems capable of living in a civilized world.

Here are some facts that should be helpful to all. America is the only world power in existence today. America has the ability and the armaments to destroy ISIS in a matter of seconds if we chose to do so. The problem is clear. We apparently don’t have the will to use our power to stop ISIS or any other tyrants. We seem to be taking a “wait and see” attitude. Neville Chamberlain took the same attitude and you can see where it got him. We, the United States, had to bail Great Britain out.

So do we care? Do we really care? Is it any of our business? My position is clear. If we care, let’s finish it. If we don’t, let’s bring everybody home and turn our weapons into plows. Who knows, maybe when they get all of Europe, killing and beheading any resistance, they will just leave us alone. I wouldn’t want to bet our future on that, would you?

Ron Scarbro