Rogers Ramblings

Hi friends and neighbors of Marshfield Mail Land and beyond. Another tragic stain is on America’s political world. A former president was wounded in an assassination attempt. This makes the fourth time in my life in which a president or candidate has been shot. Wow! What turns human beings into committing such acts of evil? Also: it always amazes me when a horrible shooting happens that the next day the solution is for more gun control. Well folks I have carefully checked into this theory. Cities such as New York, Baltimore, Chicago, St Louis, Houston, Los Angeles and other big cities with the strictest gun control have the worst gun violence. Let’s go back in time to the fifties and sixties. Pickup trucks commonly had gun racks in which good old country boys had access to their weapons at all times. Also: when kids got in trouble in school another whippin when they got home. The ten commandments were on the walls at schools and many teachers had other Bible references in the classroom. ( I had teachers that did.) Thou Shalt Not Kill! Thou Shalt Not Steal! Thou Shalt Honor Thy Father and Mother! We were also reminded of the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you! My oh my!!! What terrible ideas for the schools to teach and promote today!!! We have two states ( Louisiania and Oklahoma) that have the audacity of requiring their public schools to begin posting the ten commandments and teaching references to the Bible. Why in this climate of everything being racist and bigoted today we can’t let morals be taught to our children! O K friends of the Marshfield Mail Land I am being facetious!! Did you know that these states are already facing legal challenges to prevent posting of the ten commandments? Now rambling readers: let’s give our state of Missouri a pat on the back. Our conservation department promotes fathers and grandfathers to take their six year old and older children to the woods and give them a high powered deer rifle to teach them gun safety and good hunting morals. The program has been tremendously successful with a stellar safety record for the children. Our hunting kids are growing up respecting firearms and they know what a gun is to be used for. Friends: my gun safety lesson back in 1959 was when my dad told me it was time for me to learn about firearms. He said, son it's time you learned where your food comes from. He handed me the gun and I shot the family cow and we butchered it. I will never forget it. I will admit I did cry but the lesson was well taught. In addition: he instructed me how to handle all firearms and always check and recheck a gun and never point it at anyone! Now let’s go to our inner cities controlled by politicians that do not want to promote; morals, principles or gun safety classes to be implemented. They encourage the breakup of families by government welfare programs that take fathers out of homes. No wonder young boys join the gangs to have a family and the gang leader is sometimes their father figure. The decline of America began big time in 1981 when the ten commandments were deemed illegal in all schools. Now this message is for parents and grandparents. How and why can kids be influenced to be turned into killers? I think I have at least one suggestion of why. The date was 1983 and I talked to an Army Beret at a recruiter station at the Missouri state fair. I asked him how does the army turn innocent young men into soldiers to go out and kill? He answered immediately, video games. (I was such a stick in the mud I did not know what a video game was) Let’s fast forward thirty three years. The date is now 2013 and one of my grandsons is pecking on a keyboard and watching a screen. I asked him what he was doing. He replied, “playing video games grandpa”. I said to myself, this is my chance. I watched and what I saw was terrible. A robber comes into a liquor store demanding money. The clerk gets shot and blood is seen gushing out of his head. Soon a police chase takes place and the robber ends up also shooting the policeman in a gun fight and he speeds

away. Another example: I was standing in line at the grocery store here in Marshfield and I heard these two young men talking. They were bragging how they had killed 6 men. (I was truly horrified!) They continued to talk and in the end they got enough points to continue their video game. Why are video games with violence toward our fellow mankind permitted and fiercely promoted? Why do our government officials go out of their way to restrict Biblical morals being taught in school? In conclusion: anytime you hear the statement: (we’ve got to learn to get along) Always remember compromise is consenting to evil —-don’t. More Rambling next week!