The Rascal Manifesto

“The Rascal Manifesto”
by: Chris Brady

I was born free and I intend to live like it.
This means that I will live my life while I am alive.
No one owns me except my Creator.
No one can put me in a box, a category, a social group, a voting block or a classification… I am fiercely independent.
I know that with my freedom comes responsibility.
I take responsibility for my own actions and I hold the bar high on myself.
I am not afraid to struggle, because it’s the struggle that makes me great.
I know that excellence always lies on the other side of inconvenience.
I am a learning machine.
I read, I confront brutal reality, I grow.
Long term no one and nothing can defeat me because I will keep coming back stronger and better than before.
I will educate myself about the true principles of freedom, and I will strive mightily to preserve freedom for the next generation.
I rely on no man and no government to provide for me.
I will not follow the herd of mediocrity and victim thinking.
I don’t follow herds, I run with packs… a pack of rascals.
Let others bask in their privileges… as for me, I will invest them in my purpose.
I will defy description.
I will charge the hill.
I will make a difference… because I am a rascal!

Everything looks fuzzy...

Last night most of the analog channels shut off... leaving us the only option of DTV (I guess it's not an option if they don't give you a choice). But anyway, our kids woke up to fuzz where their cartoons once were. Our family decided not to get a converter box for two reasons.

First, the TV (a.k.a. the boob tube, idiot box, etc.) proves to be a HUGE distraction and time waster when you are in the process of chasing your dreams and working for a better future for your family.

We would turn it on when we got home from work, just to relax for a few moments, and before we knew it we had wasted an entire evening. There were several things, all more important, that could be done... but we chose to "veg" and allow the TV to control the events and more importantly our thoughts for the evening.

I can't count the nights that we didn't get this thing done, or that thing done because we simply lost track of time and it became too late. How many nights we didn't show the plan to someone because TV was more important.

The second reason was our kids. We were tired of having to monitor every single show they watched. Even if we set them down in front of Curious George, we found ourselves combating doctrines of environmentalism, humanism, and evolution! ON A CARTOON! Kids are smarter than we often give them credit for and they were soaking up the trash like sponges.

Also the timing was horrible... immediately after the final cartoon time slot came garbage like Family Guy. To a child, a cartoon is a cartoon. If it is animated, it must be for them. They don't know the difference and so when their cartoon ends, they pick up the remote and flip the channels until they come to the next cartoon. We had had enough.

If you are someone who chose to continue with the TV... I am not saying you made a poor decision, or even that you are in the wrong in any way... I am just saying please be careful. Don't allow your children to wander through the garbage... and don't allow it to take over your life.

Inspiration from Mark Twain

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
- Mark Twain