I Have A Right!

During her homework last night, my granddaughter Sarah and I talked about the Magna Carta and how it changed the world, particularly in regards to the Constitution of the United States, in addition to other nations. The subject of rights came up.  I tried to explain that everyone has rights established under law. A sort of light went off in her head and she said, “Oh! I have a right to be on my tablet.”

Just so you know, she is not allowed to have her table after school in the evenings. There’s a reason I won’t go into but that’s enough for you to follow the conversation. I said, “No, you don’t. That’s not a right, that’s a privilege.”

“But that’s the same thing!”

I looked at her in total shock. When I could speak, I said, “And that’s what’s wrong with your generation and the current one. Privileges are not rights.”

The confusion and frustration on her face made it pretty clear what she thought about that. 

A right, according The American Heritage College Dictionary, 3rd Edition, 1993, is as follows. 

Right: Something due a person or community by law, tradition, or nature.

However, a privilege is different in nature and scope.

Privilege: A special advantage, immunity, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual, class, or caste. B. such a privilege, held as a prerogative of status or rank and exercised to the exclusion or detriment of others.

 As a writer you learn that words are powerful and they are very specific in what they do. They mean what they say. Sarah obviously didn't understand these two words. So, I explained it this way. You have a right to food, shelter, and a warm place to sleep. But, not everyone has that. If you have those things, it is a privilege. If you’re sleeping in a tent under the bridge, you still have a right to those things but you’re not privileged to have them, for whatever reason. Not everyone has a home, but they have the right to purchase one or rent one. They may not have the privilege of them but they have a right to obtain them at their own expense. 

You have the right to say what you want, go where you want, watch what you want, eat what you want, worship where you please. These are rights granted by the law of this nation. They are also privileges. 

However, you do not have the right to force me to agree with you. Nor do you have a right to punish me for the crimes of other people, or your imagined offenses. You do not have the right to take what is mine. It is my right to protect myself and my possessions. I’m an adult and can do things you are not allowed to do. That’s privilege.

As we talked about this, I realized just how bad the world is messed up. Somewhere we stopped teaching children about the difference in a right and a privilege and started teaching them that their privileges were their legal rights. That’s absolutely false and it is at the very root of what is wrong in this country. 

A people who live solely by privilege. are enslaved to the good graces of those in charge. A people who live by law are all equal before the law. Read that privilege definition again: a privilege, held as a prerogative of status or rank and exercised to the exclusion or detriment of others. That’s extremely prejudicial. 

You really don’t want to live in a nation of privilege. You want to live in a nation of law and follow that law so not only are your rights protected but you enjoy the privileges allowed by those laws and not by the whims of those in a higher status or a higher rank. 

Notice also that a privilege can be to the detriment of others. I can have a privilege that is denied to you. I can’t have a right, established by law, that you don’t have. Before the law, we’re all treated equally. In the face of privilege, you’re  a nobody. My privileges matter more than yours. What I want is more important that what you want. I need things more than you and I have a RIGHT to them! 

No, you don’t. Because a right is not a privilege unless it is established by law, nature, or tradition. 

And this is where racism comes into play. Someone decided that race established rights and privileges. It doesn’t. Rights before the law are blind. It is why Lady Justice wears a blindfold. Privileges are generally earned by work or behavioral means. You gain them in some fashion that exhibits their worth. I had to work to be able to buy a house, car, food, and my computer. It was a privileged to be able to have these things. It is my right to use my property as I see fit. 

I don’t know who the thought police are but anyone changing the perception of the public is up to no good. They have convinced two generations that their privileges were their rights and that rights were privileges. In this case, neither is true. 

You must remember, rights are protected by law. Privileges can be revoked any time they want to revoke them. When you begin to believe that rights are privileges, you are on the brink of having them removed. Is that really what you want?

We are a nation of laws. Several presidents have said that. I’ve repeated it. Last night I gave Sarah a lesson on the difference in rights and privileges. Her confusion of the two stunned me that much.  It made me aware that we’ve made a terrible mistake in not monitoring the perceptions of our children more closely. She’s 12 and I assumed she’d know the difference. 

If you have children, you might want to ask them if they know the difference between their rights and their privileges. If they do, wonderful. If they don’t, sit down and have a chat. You don’t want your 13 year old thinking they have a right to drive your Lexus.

October Items

In lieu of writing a blog, I've elected to post a vlog. It is on YouTube but I'll put the link here. 

I think I've covered everything and I apologize if you find it boring, but this is a very easy way for me to catch my family and friends up. Stay as long as you like, leave when you're done. I'll still love you in the morning. 

Bombs Away

Saturday was an interesting day. I don't know if you'd find it so but it was mostly a nice day.

Sarah was out of school for three days and we decided to "bomb" the house. We packed up, took the cat to my sister's and headed out to McDonald's for a couple of hours with fumigators running inside and under the house. We had to be out for 4 hours.

After brunch, we headed to the library and I wrote for about an hour and a half. Once our time was up, we headed home. Mike had already gone in and cleared the house, opening windows and turning on fans to flush the air. So, I didn't have to do much.

We attempted to go back to the library on Monday but unfortunately, Columbus closed them. Boo, we were sorely disappointed.

Today is Sunday the 14th, seven days after I started this post! Things kind of went squirrely after this. Sarah went back to school on Wednesday and had to miss Thursday. She was really sick Wednesday night from the increased dose of her medicine. She takes and the ADD medicine and the higher dose has just made her too sick to take. So, they've reduced it back to the previous dose and we watch.

On Friday, she was back at school but if you recall I've been fighting severe fatigue so I slept a lot that day. The weather turned on all of us, with the Gulf Coast getting a hurricane. All my family lives in the area affected by hurricane Michael. Virtually my whole family lives in the coastal regions. I have family in Mobile, Alabama, inland about 2 hrs on the Alabama/Florida line near Dothan, in the Panhandle, and even in Georgia, near Atlanta. I have family in South Carolina, too. So, I watched the reports carefully and tried to touch base with those in the highest risk areas. Most of those evacuated.  My brother-in-law had one death from the storm.

Meanwhile, it was raining in my town in S. Indiana. We needed the rain but it brought cooler air. For about two days I managed to keep the heat off but the house got too cool for us to handle so we turned it on. It is still a bit cooler than I like but we're dressing in warmer clothes and sandals are stored. I'm wearing socks a lot. Mike got ill this week and I've been trying to help him. Needless to say, I was kind of worn out.

As of today, Sunday the 14th, I'm feeling amazingly better. For a month, at least, I've had problems with severe fatigue and spent more time sleeping than anything else. I have been unable to do anything because the simplest task exhausted me. My brain simply felt as if it was stuffed with cotton and trying to purchase a car in that condition is not wise. I think I got a good car but I noticed things that I should have noticed before I purchased it. I could have negotiated I think. Hindsight is worthless.

Friday I had a brainwave that must have broken through the fog. I suddenly realized that some time ago, maybe last year, I had experienced this "I want to die" fatigue and brain fog. Yes, that is exactly how you feel, by the way. I feel like I am going to die if I don't lie down and sleep. By Friday I was having dizzy spells, too. I've been having muscle pain, joint pain, shooting pains in my legs, severe fatigue, problems with my vision, and inability to focus or process things. Friday I remembered that when I had many of these symptoms before, I had been off my D for 2 months.

About three months ago, my D went too high as a result of taking Vitamine K with the D3. K helps the body absorb D. And it did. I went over 130. That's bad. I broke out in a rash, a symptom of too much D. They told me to stop taking it. I was feeling really good except for the rash but I stopped it. I haven't gone back on it. I've asked to be check again last month because I was feeling bad and I told my RA doctor I thought I needed to be checked again. She made no comment and didn't order the test. I've been off D & K the whole time. K will also thin your blood so I don't want to take it all the time.

By this Friday, things were getting critical. I knew I was in trouble when the dizziness started. Something was wrong. I took two 5000 mg of D. That is what I was taking regularly for over 10 yrs before I took the K. When I woke up Saturday morning it was evident I was better. I wasn't tired when I woke up. I didn't get sleepy all day. I wasn't dizzy. I had no visual problems, no pain except some shoulder pain I've been having problems with. I took 2 more 5000 mg Saturday. Today, I'm fine. Not sleepy other than getting a bit drowsy in church. My thinking feels clearer and I feel ... better, less stressed.

I think I've validated my intuition about my sensitivity to low D levels. I have no way to tell how low they got now because no one checked. I called my primary care doctor on Friday and told them what was happening and that I was concerned and felt I needed to be checked again. He was out but they'll tell him on Monday. Too late. I could have waited but I have to admit to being frightened. The symptoms were getting worse with each passing day. Today, all of those symptoms seem to be gone.

You have to listen to your body and you have to pay attention to symptoms. I should start journaling these things so I can keep track but it is one more thing to keep up with and honestly, I just don't want to bother. No one will listen to me anyway.

I hope that now I can get some real writing done. For now, I'm going to take my Sunday afternoon nap. Sunday is a day of rest and I always say we all need naps on that day because God intends to make us rest.

That's my story.

The Hunt is Over

I walked out the front door this morning and saw a classic car parked in front of the neighbor's house. The design appeared to be a 50s model and I think it was an Oldsmobile because the hood ornament reminded me of those cars. In an instant, I had a story idea. I'd love to share it but I'm afraid too! I don't want anyone to steal it.

Since I was on my way to take Sarah to school, I couldn't very well stop and write it but I did keep it in my mind all day so I think it is a sound idea. Now, to get time to actually sit down and write.

The good news is the car shopping is done. I found a car and I should be able to drive it home by Wednesday. Good thing too, the rental is due back that day. Honestly, I'm glad. I'm exhausted from all this. I've either been looking for a car, calling about a car, test driving a car, talking to dealers, bankers, and insurances people. I need to rest.

Oh, what did I get? A 2016 Ford Fusion SE, white with black interior. It isn't what I really wanted but what I wanted was bigger than my pocketbook. It will do. I miss my Sebring. It was so roomy and it was paid for. Still very frustrated by all of it. I really can't afford a car payment and it is going to really restrict my movement a lot but at least I can take care of business without trying to get a ride.

So, here it is. This is the car I bought. In fact, this is where I bought it. I do like the classy look of it and it drove well. We'll see. It is smaller than the Sebring so it will be cheaper on gas but it also has less interior room. I'll just be glad to get wheels.