Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Stewardship: We Are Made To Serve

That was the headline of my daughter's school's newletter. We Are Made To Serve?

This just doesn't sit well with me - this Christian guilt. O.K., so I'm not very religious and I don't take all that stuff too seriously. Heck, if you do you'll end up doing something crazy.

So I was made to serve? God created me in his image to serve other people? Him? And if I don't what is my penalty? And if I'm made to serve, doesn't that make me....a slave?

Good ol' Ayn Rand went into this much more completely than I can (there's a reason I named Daughter No. 1 Dagny), but no man (or newsletter) has any claim to me. I work and create for myself and those who I choose to work for (wife and kids). If you want to make some claim on me, my work, my production, you are making a claim to my very essense. That's slavery. You can beat me with a whip, or in the name of Jesus or with secular humanist demands that I care for others and play We Are The World, but it's not going to make me pick your spiritual cotton.

Maybe I'm overreacting. This is why I don't appreciate liberalism. It operates on the premise that I must work for others. I owe others something. If I don't pay up, it's off to the gulag. It's just not an outlook that works for me and - I think history shows - an outlook that is congruent with human nature.

So I had a school board meeting last night. Did I bring it up? No. I sat there and talked about the budget and building issues. Was it because I didn't want to get involved in a theological discussion with the 2 priests and 3 nuns that were in the meeting? Partly. Was it because I didn't want to cause too much of a stink being the only non-Catholic board member and new? Partly. Was it because I didn't want any retribution - intentional or otherwise - against my daughter who loves the school? Most definitely. So I'm a cowardly blogger. Oh, well, I've been worse.

Stay You.

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