DERELICT—In common usage, this word typically refers to a vagabond-type person. Dereliction of duty typically refers to failure to shoulder one’s obligations and/or responsibilities. I think yours truly may fit into the latter category as of late, because, as a regular philosophical blogger, my followers were likely expecting to hear from me before now. However, as the old saying goes, ‘I’ve had other fish to fry’.
Since late January of this year, weather permitting, every spare moment of mine has been spent in my gardens, clearing, fencing, tilling, planting, feeding, watering and finally harvesting. All of the above effort has been directed at fresh vegetable production for our local Community Kitchen which feeds free meals to hundreds of indigents daily. With the dutiful help of my dear wife Ginny and a friend, Carol Cain, we recently finished the harvest of roughly 1000 pounds of fresh cabbage.
With all other crops and projects under reasonable control, I decided to ‘rationalize’ my way onto the golf course this past week. With a worn out back and two arthritic hips, walking any distance is impossible. So if we can’t drive our golf cars on the fairways, I have to refrain from playing golf. It finally quit raining two weeks ago which allowed car traffic on fairways, so I took advantage of that. Now back to the business at hand.
During the last several weeks we have witnessed episode after episode of apparent dereliction of duty which were, again, rationalized as justification for episode after episode of looting and violence of all sorts.
So what are the causes of such derelictions. If one can believe any so-called news casts at all, it seems much of it was done by ‘hired guns’ for both political and social reasons. The leftists would use any excuse to blame President Trump for any and every untoward event of any kind in an attempt to sway public opinion against him. Then there are the genuine ‘lawless’ who seemingly want to take over chunks of entire cities so they can ‘have their way’ undeterred.
People who wished to protest peacefully had no chance—their voices and activities were drowned out completely. Thankfully, in our smaller cities and towns, civility pertained.
I am convinced that the breakdown of family life among black Americans is the prime culprit. Where there is no father-figure disciplinarian and role model, what can one expect? On the other hand, when black Americans were emancipated, what choice did they have but to migrate to the cities—and once there, what chance did they have?—slim and none. They were still enslaved in an economic system completely untenable—they had no money, they owned no land, they were forced to live in slum conditions. More importantly, they were neither positioned nor conditioned to obtain the one vital thing they needed for prosperity—-education. So the inevitable happens—unwanted pregnancies with no father figure, and a mother with no visible means for support of her child(ren)—a welfare state was created.
I grew up a total pauper. But I had two very distinct advantages that the average black child in the ghettoes and slums cannot possibly have— we owned a little 30 acre farm from which we produce literally everything we ate, and we had extremely dedicated, hard-working parents who taught us hard work, determination and perseverance. With that paradigm as a model, success was possible and it did, in fact, come to fruition—would that every black child had that same opportunity.
Oh there have been, and are now, thousands of successful, honorable black Americans—-they were the fortunate ones. I have no statistics to back my statement, but I’ll bet most came from stable homes, or at least had trusted guardians and advisors.
I know many very successful black people in West Kentucky. Our educational system here encourages all to strive for excellence. Yet there are many, many who seemingly can’t help themselves. Much needs to be done yet.
This is Father’s Day. Isn’t it a crime that so many black and white children are fatherless—they obviously had a sire—a father?—no.
But who is the biggest culprit in this charade? Without any doubt in my mind, it is so-called Christian Churches. I recall vividly about fifteen years ago, when I was formulating ideas for my first book, Wilderness Cry, my wife and I were having dinner with three other couples one night when I made that indictment of the ‘silent Churches’ regarding race. All but one of my friends bolted in ‘righteous indignation’ at the mere suggestion. I had just noted that, in general, not a single word was ever heard coming from any pulpit regarding slavery, or its aftermath, ‘implied slavery’. I was well aware by then that the almighty dollar was what concerned churches the most. Obviously, if churches were to point out the plight of blacks, then they were most obviously mandated to do something about it—that means spend their ‘almighty dollars’.
Furthermore, the mere mention of such an undertaking would alienate many parishioners, further reducing the coffers. Oh, if pressed, they might pay ‘lip service’—nothing more.
I believe without doubt, if there is lingering ‘systemic racism’, it comes straight from the ‘coward’ pulpits.
I recently watched a video interview of Cassius Clay shortly after he had won the Olympic Gold medal in boxing in 1960. He related how proud he had been to stand on that box, have that medal put around his neck, and listen to the playing of our National Anthe. He was so excited to get back to his home town of Louisville, KY, and celebrate with his friends and family. They went to a nice restaurant, and promptly were told that ‘blacks would not be served there’. He had been raised a Christian, but at that very moment, he determined that the Jesus he had been taught about was no friend of his—Allah became his God—Mohammed Ali became his name.
Where were the Christian Churches then—where are they now—where were they 400 years ago? You got it—blind, deaf, mutes.
Where do you suppose all that blindness comes from? Is not the Old testament rife with stories of slavery. Were not both Ishmael and Esau the products of slave girl impregnation by their Jewish owners? Were not the Jews enslaved for forty years by the Egyptians? I don’t recall Jesus addressing the slave situation in the Bible we have. I may sound cynical, but I’ll bet he did—we’ll never know—how many ‘versions’ of the Bible have there been?—you don’t suppose Jesus’ possible words about slavery could have been a ‘convenient’ omission, do you? Knowing Jesus the way I do, my suspicion is very strong.. As best I can tell, all those monstrous church buildings in Europe and elsewhere were built with ‘slave labor’. God must ‘love slaves’ because they built all those beautiful churches to ‘please him’—guess whom they really pleased—I’ll give you three guesses—Popes, Cardinals, Bishops.
Derelicts in dereliction.
If you care for a real education, read my two little books, Wilderness Cry, and Peace in Spirituality. As an adjunct, read G. Rattray Taylor’s book (out of print but available used), Sex in History—you’ll get an ear full.
906242_Press Release for Wilderness Cry
Press Release for Peace in Spiritiality
Why do you suppose the all failed. I think two main reasons—number one, they couldn’t abolish that image of a human-like God, and number two, they had absolutely no scientific understanding of anything in God’s creation. Had any one of them known the scientific facts of our existence, a true definition of God’s essence would very likely have been forthcoming.
RATIONAL vs. RATIONALIZATION- A strange and unusual topic eh? Maybe so, but I suspect most people get caught in the trap of either not understanding the difference , or not honoring that difference. Rational refers to objective truth whereas rationalization refers to using objective truth in an illegitimate or unrelated context in order to justify a position of some kind, either attitude or action.
How did all this confusion about God come about? Remarkably, everyone, including ‘Honest Abe’, talked/talks about god, but not a single one knows God—none were able to define the essence of their god.
Now, I ask you to go look in the mirror—look yourself squarely in the face and answer that question, and then ask yourself ‘why is my religion better?’ I would suggest the usual answer would be that you were ‘raised a Catholic, a Methodist, a Baptist etc. In other words, each of us has been brainwashed from the time we were little kids on with that kind of thinking—Joe is OK but he goes to the Baptist Church; we’re Methodists. It goes without saying that If one Church were as ‘good as the next’, there’d be only one church.
COST-When we think of ‘cost’, likely the first thing that comes to mind is how much money we have to pay for something—how much does it cost. However, costs come in many forms and fashions—some overt and obvious—others obscure and/or hidden.
One could go on and on about the various consequential costs of our attitudes and activities. Seemingly, most of those consequences are either not recognized or , for what ever reason, ignored.
So how do we ever correct that evil and ‘eliminate that terrible oppressive cost’? I can assure you, there is only one absolute and mandatory method—we must all become like-minded in our understanding of God’s essence. We must abandon the mythology and superstition thrown at us for ages and ages.
For those who may not know, a quantum is the smallest particle of energy in existence which cannot be farther subdivided. There are, in fact, several varieties of these particles. Each has been given a name such as photon, electron, boson, etc. It is of particular interest to note that each is identical to and indistinguishable from its counterparts. Furthermore, each is ‘perfect in both form and function’—never changing nor changeable.
So, in light of that, I am eternally grateful for my mother and father. It was through their encouragement, and by observing their dedication, drive and work ethic that we, each in turn, became educated and somewhat prosperous. Furthermore, we each made significant contributions to society—-thank you, thank you, thank you mom—you showed us how to do it.
WILDERNESS CRY by Hilary L Hunt MD 