One lunch of my Freshman year in High School, an acquaintance came to me and asked me for a dollar.I knew he wasn't going to repay me later, but that caused no hesitation in me. I gave him the dollar.
Two days later, he came back and asked for another dollar; once again, I didn't pause to lend him the dollar.
Two days later, the same thing.
The following week, it happened each day.
It went on for a few weeks.
I never hesitated to give him the dollar.
I was fourteen years old at the time. This is a young age by any standard, but I think I was emotionally even younger than that.
I was innocent, naive and fresh faced about the world. I thought like a child did: purely, without the nuances that now cast shadows over every thought and action of adult life.
I was brought up in a Catholic house, went to a Catholic school, and me and my dollar-mooching friend were students at a Catholic High School.
I was brought up to not think much of money or materials. I was also brought up to follow Jesus' words. When He said "Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you," (Matthew 5:42) I took it as simply as that.
Generosity was good and I was a good boy.
Finally after a few weeks (the outrageous amount of time I allowed this to happen shows how naive I was), I suddenly woke up.
Nothing caused it, nobody told me to think this way. I merely saw the truth of the situation: my friend was taking advantage of me and hence making himself both a thief and a slave to being dependent on my generosity.
It didn't take much thinking at all: this was wrong and hence needed to be stopped.
The following day when he came for his dollar, I told him no more handouts.
He accepted and without any resistance walked away.
This is what we call being "Mugged by Reality", a phrase that many Conservatives use to describe why they have to be tough and hard hearted.
Most of us are brought up with wholesome values that basically comes down treating others the way you want to be treated; don't think of yourselves.
Yes, this is Biblical (Matthew 7:12), but most religious and even atheist households teach this principle. It's the formula for how to be a nice person, which must of us would all like to be...
...most of us...
The sad truth is that the world doesn't follow this rule.
For one reason or another, most people fall short of being nice, fall short of being trustworthy, fall short of being selfless.
For us Christians this is no mystery: we live in a Fallen World. The Book of Genesis makes that clear (not to mention the rest of the Bible!).
It doesn't matter whether you believe the Fall of Man story is literal or figurative: what is clear is that mankind is a corrupt and selfish creature, and hence we live in a corrupt and fallen world.
Modern day Conservatism is based on this knowledge.
There are Objectivists who don't care; they just want what's theirs.
But mainstream Conservatism approaches the world as irreversibly imperfect and hence must be dealt with rationally.
Modern day Liberalism doesn't share this view and believes the world can be perfect and that is what they strive for. That'll be subject of another chapter.
In a way, this incident with the Dollar was my first introduction to Conservatism.
I did not become a Republican as soon as this happened; I didn't even know what a Republican or Conservative was at the time!
But it was an experience that woke me up to the unfortunate selfish nature of mankind, and how "nice people" have to compromise their actions for a higher principle.
We can't control other people. Hence, we nice guys can't make everyone nice guys.
No argument, no political discourse, no economic system will make people nice.
There will always be selfish and un-nice people in the world.
This makes perfect sense to me as I was educated about politics in the years that would follow this incident.
The education came from more experiences, especially when I got my first job at a retail store. The education also came from friends, family members and political pundits, who all made a convincing case for Conservatism.
The case was made not just by rationalization, but also from it being the heritage of America and it's inspiration from Judeo-Christianity.
The Bible is where good work ethic came from, for being a nice guy also involves not being a burden on others.
I still strive to be a nice guy whenever it was reasonable, despite supporting political views that are divisive (as if any political views aren't).
Any conflict in between being nice and being rational was resolved by remembering that the same God that sent Jesus to Earth also commanded the Jews to attack and kill their enemies.
Jesus Himself said "Do not think I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34)
I do not believe, as some Conservatives do, that Jesus was calling for War and violence here.
What is clear, however, is that He is saying the world will never be perfect: His ways aren't going to unite everyone, but instead cause even more strife.
The world isn't perfect and will never be.
God Himself said it!
If Jesus can't make the world perfect, then neither can we.
Would it not be prideful to think we can do a better job than Jesus?
Let us not forget that Jesus always forgave sins and was subservient to others, but He always told them to "sin no more".
That is what a Conservative does: they support a system that encourages people to "sin no more."
No more handouts for my friend at lunch.
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