When I wrote about VI, I did not mention abortion because there was already a chapter on the subject. While abortion is another form of humans killing humans, it deserves a greater space to discuss it. Perhaps another blog sometime.
At retirement I had said that I learned that the world had changed and wrote a book about it. But before that book, I wrote another book, Definitions, which addressed the problem of teaching high school students about the origin of life. In this book, I defined some of the words used in this matter and one of them was “atheist,” which when I looked at it found it to be used for more than those who had no religion or did not believe in God. The other defined use was really the anti-theists who were against any kind of symbol of the Hebrew or Christian religion. Some of these are the satanists or devil worshipers. To wish all religious symbols to be removed from the public view means they represent something to those wishing their removal.
I retired from the work force about 15 years ago and found that I had time that was not being used. Besides golf and my workshop activities, I became a member of some charitable boards and still had time to fully read the newspaper and listen to television news. Shortly, I found that the world was a much different place than I had perceived, and the moral character of it had changed drastically. Soon I was writing a book called OOPS We Lost Our Values. I had it published and gave as many copies away as I sold but felt good that I had tried to tell people about the change in values that had happened since I grew up. As I see the world now, with same-sex marriage and abortion on demand and now is starting to include infanticide, we have thrown our morality away. One party is willing to destroy this country for political power, hate has replaced respect, and name calling has replaced debate. As I have been writing about current issues and my bent on them, I have decided to publish part of the OOPS book that was rejected by the Christian publisher because it was too secular. I had included a chapter on the Ten Commandments but wrote it as needed by a secular society. I do not believe that God has a secular society, and if one is truly religious I believe that it is not turned off when we leave the house of worship but is carried into our daily lives. So following this introduction is the chapter that was not published in the book. It is presented in three parts.
Central New York was a dairy farming region when I was growing up, and most farms were small and family owned. When I was in school many of my classmates had worked 2 or 3 hours before getting ready for school doing “chores” or milking their cows and feeding them. This was a real lesson in taking responsibility and learning a work ethic. I did not live on a farm but did so in the summers as my uncle had a dairy farm, and I worked on it from age 12 to 16 or until I could get working papers to work in the canning factory to make money for college. I also learned about work ethic and taking responsibility for yourself.
Thirty years ago the US Congress and administration gave amnesty and a path to citizenship to millions of illegal aliens and were going to close the southern border to future illegal immigration. The first part happened, but the border has remained open to cross illegally and to the smuggling of drugs and other contraband. Until the present, the presidents have vowed and tried to stop illegal entry into the US but to no avail until Trump came along. His message as he ran was to build a wall and close the southern border to all illegal traffic. After two years he is still trying to make good on this campaign promise, but the political swamp in Washington, DC, has stopped him at every attempt. Until now, the protection of an open border has been by both parties with lobbyists calling the shots. The cheap labor has won out, with the drugs and other problems with gangs and criminals being just the cost of doing business.
