The Great Awakening of VFD

The question has arisen: When was my Great Awakening, and what prompted it? As a now-like-minded individual said: "when I started paying attention."

You would have to have been reading my blog since nearly the beginning, but I have hinted at it before.

As a Yout' I was government-educated and didn't think much about anything in particular except the task at hand. I stayed in Condition White and considered my income tax "refund" a benefit, free money from the government. A decade ago, I had conservative leanings but might not have been able to tell you why, aside from the biblical arguments. I allowed us to charge whatever we didn't have cash for, figuring to make payments on it all, sometime in the unforseeable (past next month!) future. About that last bit: we (my Darling Wife and I combined) were pulling down $6,000 a month with a $700 rent and no bills to speak of, so when that ended we were used to just buying whatever and continued to do so after the money dried up.

Somewhere in the 3-4 years-ago timeframe, I woke up. I think what happened is that years of listening to (evil Rightwing Terrorist) Talk Radio finally got me informed enough about current envents that I could begin forming educated opinions about the shenanigans going on around me. I began to realize that life is indeed "nasty, brutish, and short" and that I could have at least some say in what happens to me and my country.

Those who have been there will understand when I say that, having begun to actually think about the world beyond the tip of my nose, I got a desire to know more about it. I read books, websites, listened to more radio talk shows, and talked to people I knew. My opinion of the world steadily got worse, and my knowledge of my own rights and responsibilities, as well as my ability to fend for myself, steadily increased. Then, as mentioned in the above-linked article, I bought a fighting rifle and began to understand that a man might have to use one.

Those who have been there will understand when I say that, realizing I had acquired a new set of responsibilities with that weapon, I set about considering the circumstances that would get me to use it against another human being. These deliberations are sobering. Combine them with continuing self-education into politics, history, and current events, and I finally started this blog to avoid driving my Darling Wife to distraction talking about my opinions. She agrees with me most of the time, but I can get rather . . . well, if you just want to cook supper I guess you might say, "annoyingly strongly opinionated."

My convictions have not changed. They have become stronger. When you start from the worldview promulgated in the Bible, exposure to truth and reality should only serve to reinforce what you already know.

Now I am a constant listener to talk and news. I can hardly get enough of knowledge of current events. I can form my own opinions though, so I can't stand watching the news on the alphabet networks. When I would like to be buying more books, guns, and supplies, we are having instead to live on a much smaller portion of my pay, to pay off debts. I never was my job but now I do have an avocation: I like and am good at teaching others about small arms and their use; I enjoy a lively debate about politics, and I am a happy Father and a church Usher.

So there it is. What do you say to that, my friends?

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Edit: I've been pondering this for a few days and it occurs to me that I might have been on my way to waking up MUCH earlier. In boot camp (1996) I defied a direct order in front of my whole company (standing up for myself vs. the Greater Good) and before that by a couple of years I was just-shy-of taunting Crazy New Daddy as he chased me around the island in our kitchen trying to lay his hands on me.

I guess I've always been a bit of a macho and ready to stand up for myself. Just in the last few years, it's come to my attention that I need standing up-for in politics and gunz as well. Hmm. Have to think about this one some more. . . .