{"id":514,"date":"2020-10-30T22:15:27","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T22:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/?p=514"},"modified":"2020-10-30T22:16:34","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T22:16:34","slug":"compassion-fixed-my-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/10\/30\/compassion-fixed-my-car\/","title":{"rendered":"Compassion Fixed My Car"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember\ntaking my car, years ago, to a company that proudly displayed their Christian\nfaith and the owners were very kind and genuine. They would tell me they were\npraying for me. They were the nicest people. There\u2019s a problem, though; my car\nalways had the same or a similar problem after I got it back from them. They\nnever fixed my car correctly. After speaking with many in the area I was in, I\nheard the same stories. They just were not very good at fixing cars. But they\nwere GREAT people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, when I\nneeded my car fixed, I was more concerned about my car being fixed than if they\nwere praying for me. As coarse as that may sound, I need my car to work\nproperly so I can do what God called ME to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast,\nI also used to take my car, many years ago, to a guy that was incredibly rude.\nNot friendly at all. The first two signs you saw when you walked in were, \u201cNo\nRefunds!\u201d and \u201cI shoot every third salesman and the second one just left.\u201d But\nmy car was in perfect shape when I got it back. I hated that he retired. It IS\npossible to separate business from personal convictions. If the business is\ngood at what they do, they\u2019ll get my business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our country\nis now at the point where it is being run like a business. As it should be. And\nin this business, citizens get to vote on who runs the company. I\u2019ve been told\nI can\u2019t vote for Biden because he wants to take my guns. I\u2019ve been told I can\u2019t\nvote for Trump because he has no compassion. I\u2019ve been told I can\u2019t vote for Jo\nbecause she has no shot of winning. I\u2019ve been told I can\u2019t vote for Kanye or it\nwill take votes away from Trump\u2026 or it will take votes away from Biden. I\u2019ve\nbeen told Trump is a liar. I\u2019ve been told Biden is a liar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what do I\ndo? How can I make sense of all this? Well, I have to use process of\nelimination. First, let\u2019s look only at what we KNOW. I know that politicians\nlie. All of them. I can\u2019t recall the last time a politician told the truth\nconsistently. I know that occasionally, they pander to the religious right to\ngain a vote but would never normally show up and contribute on a weekly basis\nto an actual church. As a Christian, if I\u2019m looking for someone that will\nrepresent that part of my ideals, I\u2019ll be looking a very long time. Politicians\ndon\u2019t represent Christians. They represent people that they want to vote for\nthem. And that\u2019s where their allegiance ends. They\u2019re looking for the vote, and\nonce they get it, they move on to do exactly what they wanted to do in the\nfirst place, regardless of what you think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if I know\nthat they all lie and I know that they don\u2019t represent my Christian values,\nthen how can I possibly choose who to vote for? Well, first, let consider what\nwe CAN\u2019T do. We can\u2019t choose someone based on what they say. We just\nestablished that they all lie. Pretending to have compassion, or even having\nactual compassion doesn\u2019t make them good at a job either. It\u2019s makes them a\ngood person. And my car still won\u2019t work. I can\u2019t listen to words of compassion\nand empathy and decide that\u2019s good enough, because when I try to start my car,\nit won\u2019t start. At that point, empathy and compassion aren\u2019t getting the job\ndone.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The real answer if painfully simple, yet seemingly unattainable by mainstream society. I must look ONLY at what they DO. Then I can decide if I agree with what they do or don\u2019t do and see if it\u2019s working\u2026 when I get my car back, does it now work? Because what they say is all hot air anyway. Biden thinks he\u2019s running against George Bush for Senate and denied saying he won’t ban fracking. Trump boasts that his handling of Covid has gone perfectly. We all know those things aren\u2019t true. So what have they done?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing\nthat keeps coming up for Biden is the 1994 crime bill. So when Biden went to\nfix the car, the result of his work as a \u201cUnited States mechanic\u201d caused a\nlarge number of black people to no longer be able to \u201cdrive their car\u201d, per se.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, Trump gave those same people a new car. He put in place the FIRST STEP act<\/a>. This act did a few key things. It made smaller crimes have lesser sentences; Minimum sentences for first time criminals were lowered, money was saved from the prisoners being released and that money was allocated to transition programs and even more money was added to transition programs. On top of that, he made the plan retroactive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately,\ntwo things happened: non-violent, non-threatening, and first-time offenders\nwere released from prison. The next thing that happened was prison recidivism\nchanged dramatically. In 2019, incarceration dropped in 33 states. Basically,\nthe car that left Biden\u2019s shop still broken, was moved to Trump\u2019s shop and not\nonly got fixed but was improved to a better condition than it was in before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He still doesn\u2019t represent Christians. He still boasts too much, to the point of lying. He still says and tweets very insensitive and crass things. But if you need your car fixed, are you taking it to the guy that feels bad for you and prays for you and hands you back a broken car, or are taking it to the guy that isn\u2019t super friendly but gets your car in brand new shape?\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay Classy GP!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grainger<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No it didn\u2019t. I remember taking my car, years ago, to a company that proudly displayed their Christian faith and the owners were very kind and genuine. They would tell me they were praying for me. They were the nicest people. There\u2019s a problem, though; my car always had the same or a similar problem … <\/p>\n

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