Patriotism

Do you ever go days without thinking about something and then it pops into your mind, and then you wonder how long it's been since you thought about it last?

It's crazy how our minds work.  Sometimes, just for fun, mine picks out random files from the back and flashes them in front of my mind's eye.  It's been doing that with movies in the past day or two:

The Butler - about a black indentured servant who rose through the ranks of butlerhood to become one of the most favored butlers at the White House.  His demure, don't-rock-the-political-boat life contrasted with that of his son, who participated in just about every black rights movement he could.  
Miss Meadows - about a vintage-wearing, tap-dancing kindergarten teacher who enthuses to her students that there is good inside of everyone, while carrying a small handgun in her cute little purse in order to take justice into her own hands.  One is never quite sure if she is sane, and if her sanity really matters.

ARI (or something) - a young man rises to a challenge set before him by a computer system determined to take over the government for the good of the people.  The computer thinks it can tell this man exactly who he is, which is very frustrating to me.

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Has anyone questioned your motives?  It's kind of like someone's telling you who you are.

It's hard to move on.

In ARI, the computer told the dude he was worthless and that his life would come to nothing.

The dude was in a hurry.  He didn't have time to mope around and slowly heal from her nasty words.  He did the right thing and decided that the computer was wrong.  He rose to one of his life's purposes and saved the United States from well-intended computerization.

I like telling people my motives.  I often tell people when I have ulterior motives, like, "I want to go shopping with you at this shopping center because I really need to stop by the bank on the way."

If someone thinks I'm holding something back, they're dead wrong.

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Good quote from a friend:

"A tall, sneaky airhead is a very scary thing."

Take as you will.

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Speaking of saving the United States:

My father is reading The Federalist Papers.  Slogging through the language of the past in order to understand what the great, radical founders of our country were trying to do.

"These men had wealth and status," said my Dad, "They had the most to lose of anyone.  But they were fed up with the way the British government was running and they had to do something."

How inspiring!

The Federalists were a group of people trying to convince the states to give the Government a certain amount of power.  The states wanted to give the Federal government very little power, (for example, little power to tax), but the Federalists, having logic, good education, and knowledge of the human condition (believing that humans are inherently "bad" based on history and Christian beliefs), knew that in order to form a "more perfect union" healthy fear of government is necessary and thus a certain amount of power.

Or at least that's what I got.  It was a good talk.

A good point made was the one where often the issue is bigger within a man's heart than it is in reality.  This applies in all areas of life and from past to present.

I also helped my dad, who in scholarly fashion had a huge dictionary out but was reading on a tablet, to find definitions more easily by tapping on words.  I think that made him very happy.  Things like that make me happy.  Also, learning new words makes me happy.  But there is something satisfying about I-Spy-ing and finding a word in a real live dictionary.

Reading literature from the past is almost like going to Alaska - it provides an escape from modern-day political windbags who may or may not have forgotten the importance of true patriotism.

And my dad loves Alaska.

Please tell me windbags is the right word and doesn't have other meanings I don't know.