I'm a bad, bad influence...

[Mythsaje]

I spent some time talking on my lunch break with one of my young co-workers. She doesn't know a lot about politics, which she freely admits, but her parents are Republican "for religious reasons." She's twenty, and I can tell she's a decent person at heart. We were talking at lunch about all the things most people have to worry about--all our bills, and all the worries that plague the average American worker, including healthcare.

I told her about a former co-worker at another job who ended up $200,000 in debt because her son contracted a serious chronic illness.

I brought up Jesus, and how the Republicans seem to be going directly against his teachings.

I kept it as light as I could, because I didn't want to get too deep into things. She's smart enough to see how unequal everything is.

We finished up the conversation with a bit about fairness, how my father used to tell me "life isn't fair."

I finally came up with an answer to that. "The main reason that's true is because PEOPLE aren't fair."

It's probably the foremost thing that has made me a liberal, my innate sense of fairness. My wife laughs at me sometimes because it's probably one of my biggest weaknesses--all someone has to do to change my behavior on something is to point out when I'm being unfair. If I agree, it always causes me to do an about-face.

My oldest son has a lot of that in him too. In fact, he's so much like me that nearly everyone, including his mother, my stepmom, and my wife have remarked upon it. It's one of the things that gives me a great deal of hope for his future.

It's hard not to preach sometimes, but I know in my heart that it's counter-productive. I'd rather plant the suggestion and let someone find their way on their own.

I'll know if I'm getting somewhere if she brings up the topic in the future. Once she starts asking questions...

She's going to be going to school to be a massage therapist in the fall. From what I know of it, it's a fairly liberal field. She's going to be exposed to similar ideas and maybe it'll set her on the path firmly and truly.

I have hope. I've been wrong in similar situations, but only rarely.

[G_j]

1. are you a Libra?

kidding aside,

the scales never stand still and justice is never static
we live a never ending challenge and struggle to balance because that is what fairness really is, the scales shift, nevertheless one continues resisting inequity through an innate commitment to justice.
..a rewarding committment