Posted on 01/02/2012 5:33:35 AM PST by Kaslin
Shelby wasn’t expecting such difficult questions when she took a job teaching grammar school in middle Tennessee. But it was an election year and little Emily had been hearing a lot of talk about politics. So she raised her hand on the first day of class and asked “Miss Shelby, what is the difference between a conservative and a liberal?” Miss Shelby thought for a while before she replied with a story that was dated but true. It happened when Miss Shelby was just about Emily’s age:
“When I was in the fifth grade, there was a girl named Hannah. She was beautiful and athletic. She used to try to beat the other boys in the 100 yard dash. She lost time and time again. But one day in fifth grade, she beat all the other little boys in a race. Patrick, who used to be the fastest boy in school, got mad. He got really mad. In fact, he picked on Hannah so badly that the school teacher grounded him from recess for an entire month. That made Patrick madder still.
“The boys in the class all picked on Patrick for losing his title as the fastest kid in school to a girl. They even went so far as to say that Patrick probably couldn’t beat Hannah in a fistfight. They teased and teased and teased poor Patrick. Then one day he just snapped did something really stupid: he challenged Hannah to a fistfight after school.
“Being a lady, Hannah declined to fight. That meant Patrick got to save some face. But, unfortunately, Patrick would not give up trying to fight Hannah. So finally, she told Patrick to meet her at the baseball field after school one day. The entire school was buzzing over the fact that Hannah agreed to fight Patrick. There were at least fifty kids who showed up for the fight. There were also a couple of dozen people waiting in the bleachers when Hannah arrived at the ball park. Among them were Hannah’s four older brothers; Ben, Peter, Rob, and Luke John.
“Patrick put up his dukes to fight Hannah. She remained calm with good reason. Patrick never saw the punch coming. He didn’t even see Ben come down from the bleachers and approach him from his weak side. But he felt Ben’s punch to his lower stomach. He also felt it when Ben rolled him over on his back, climbed on top of him, and gave him his very first broken nose. Ben pounded Patrick until his face was a bloody mess. It was made worse by the fact that he was crying uncontrollably.
“It should go without saying that Patrick never picked on Hannah again. In fact, he never picked on anyone again. He was greatly humbled by the experience of getting his nose broken by Ben. He just told his parents he was hit in the nose by a pitch and let the matter go at that. Hannah and her family are all conservative Republicans, by the way.”
When Miss Shelby was done with her story, Emily looked very confused. So Shelby started talking again – sort of the way Jesus did with his disciples when they were too dumb to understand a parable:
“Emily, I know you don’t know much about politics so I’ll explain why I shared this story with you. It illustrates four important characteristics of conservatism. I’ll explain them all in relation to Hannah and her brothers:
1.Conservatives believe the individual has unique talents given by a Creator. In the fourth grade, the girls started to sprout above the boys in height. In fact, many of the girls could have beaten Patrick but they did not try. Hannah was taught that it was a sin not to fully exploit her God-given talents. So she always tried her best. Even when she was splitting infinitives. 2.
Conservatives are more interested in competing than in sparing the feelings of their inferiors. Hannah knew she would upset the fragile feelings of Patrick. But she didn’t care. The joy of competition outweighed the fear of causing personal offense. At first, she kind of enjoyed the reaction of Patrick. Being the target of jealousy and covetousness is much better than being ignored altogether. 3.
Conservatives understand that human nature is ugly and must be controlled through fear. Hannah had an opportunity to sit down with Patrick and negotiate over their differences. But Hannah’s parents instilled in her a deep distaste for the United Nations approach to avoiding conflict. She was raised to believe that peace could best be kept by an overwhelming demonstration of force. Ben certainly supplied that show of force. Why negotiate with a punk who fights girls when you have four brothers who play junior and senior high school football? It is better to overwhelm a relatively weak opponent than to risk an embarrassing upset. Just ask the 1980 Russian Olympic Hockey team.
4.
Conservatives believe that the family, not the government, is the foundation of society. Hannah could have called the police or told the principal that Patrick was threatening her. But that is not the way she was raised. Hannah and her three sisters, four brothers, mother, and father all have a saying: “Our family is sort of like the Ten Commandments. When you violate one of us, you violate all of us.” Hannah was raised to believe that, unlike the police, her family can always be counted on to respond in a time of need.
When Miss Shelby finished, she knew she had only told half of the story. But she promised she would later tell the story of another friend so little Emily could also understand the liberal mindset. And, dear reader, I promise to share that story with you in my next column about a little girl named Allison who lived in Illinois.
we are also a large family and when one was threatened all and friends would be near by only if needed as in the case of THEM all jumping in - not to take on 1 .
This was not a fair fight or anything close to one and does not illustrate conservative values.
I love this story. You work with the army you have.
She used brains and brawn and PROVED the principle of “We win, you lose” which is the only way to destroy liberalism.
And it MUST be pulverized.
Exactly
I tend to agree, Much of this seemed over the top. How about this story:
Little Mikey and Danny were in a class together and were told that if they can complete a couple of assignments by the end of the class they could get a candy bar. Well, Mikey worked and worked and by the end of the class had completed the needed assignments and as the teacher promised was given a nice chocolate candy bar.
Danny on the other hand didn’t receive anything and was sad but the teacher said he shouldn’t have spent all his time playing after recess but like Mikey sat down to do the assignments, but not to worry tomorrow is another day.
So on the way home from school Mikey opened up his candy bar to enjoy the fruits of his labor when Danny came by and asked him to share some. Mikey said he’d like to but the candy bar was a small one and there was barely enough for him. Danny not liking that answer reached in and snatched some of the candy bar anyway. After quickly stuffing it in his mouth with a smile he walked away yep he thought, tomorrow IS another day.
Need I explain which one is which?
JB
As my drill instructors told us over and over again - in battle, there are the winners and there are the dead. The same philosophy was used to raise our children.
Rules in any kind of battle are for the dead. Read my tagline. If that’s not conservative, I’d rather stand with George Patton, Chesty Puller, Lew Walt and others espousing similar sentiments.
Very bad. It reads like it was written by a liberal.
Not very fond of this article. Disappointing.
Boys compete against boys, girls compete against girls - for precisely this reason.
Had the school done what they should have done at the start, none of this would have happened.
If she were willing to accept the consequences of her actions, then the story was different. But that’s not the case here. If she were willing to compete against the boys, then she should be willing to go the distance.
Mike is strangely silent as to the motivation of the brothers. It’s not “protect your family”, but rather “protect the girl”. Why? Because that’s what boys do.
Yep, that’s for sure. Disappointed. Mike can do much better.
Mafia thinking. Also LaRaza thinking: For the Raza, everything. For those outside the Raza, nothing.
You're copacetic until you brush up against a bigger clan with automatic weapons and a zeal to practice their small-unit tactics on somebody.
I really thought this was an excellent story. It describes how one ought to compete and how to deal with bullies. Reminded me a bit of the beat the bully teacher scene in “How Green was my Valley.”
He tried to ignore it, etc. But we could tell something bothered him. When he told us, we told him to tell the teacher - but he didn't want to be the snitch. So then we told him to pray about it, and he did. Even to the point of praying FOR the bully.
After awhile my son decided to tell the teacher, but only if he could remain anonymous. The teacher had thought something had been going on with the bully (with previous kids too) - but wasn't sure.
She waited until she caught him in the act of bullying, and had a meeting with the parents. (When she called the father, the father said “I can't come in - that's my wife's job to take care of that kind of stuff”. The teacher replied - “No. As the man of the house - YOU are responsible for the discipline of your child”.
The kid shaped up, got some counseling I think, and he and my son are now pretty good friends! However, if it comes to physical fights or abuse, my kids are allowed to fight to defend themselves - or to defend their siblings or friends.
Agreed. We should defend ourselves.
Where we are going to run into a problem selling our vision of a once-again smaller, strictly Constitutional government is somehow entwined with our religious and moral lives. After all, I belong to a church in which "liberals," and "conservatives," profess the same beliefs and pray with each other and for each other.
If you listen to the "news" on NPR, you'll see what I mean. The Left somehow has been allowed to assume a position of moral superiority. In the end, I believe that will not work for them, because it is not a an "American" trait. In fact, it angers sensible, moral people to be told that their way is wrong and that an elite has all the answers. In religious terms, the Left feels they are the "Elect;" "A Chosen People," to whom others are subject. That won't wash ... from either side.
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