Declaration of Rights & Responsibilities

It’s been a while since I’ve been caught up on what Glenn Beck has been up to (two kids + crazy life = little time to sit and watch Glenn) 😦 but I happened upon an email that was in Hubby’s Inbox from Glenn Beck and clicked on it out of curiosity. It started off with the announcement that Glenn’s new two hour daily show (on GBTV.com) starts this Monday (September 12), so if you’ve been wondering where and when you can catch Glenn again, check out his website for more info.

But anyway, the part of the email that really caught my attention was a Declaration of Rights and Responsibilities. I’m sure it was a group effort to come up with this, but I really like how Glenn and his team have basically taken the Bill of Rights and added personal responsibility to it. It’s something everyone should read and commit to as a citizen of this great nation. A nation of freedom and independence. Liberty and justice for all. And in light of this weekend’s remembrances, it seems especially appropriate. Hope you enjoy it:

Thus, we the people do hereby declare not only our rights, but do now establish this bill of responsibilities.

1. Because I have the right to choose, I recognize that I am accountable to God and have the responsibility to keep the 10 commandments in my own life.

2. Because I have the right to worship as I choose, I have the responsibility to honor the right of others to worship as they see fit.

3. Because I have freedom of speech, I have the responsibility to defend the speech of others, even if I strongly disagree with what they’re saying.

4. Because I have the right to pursue happiness, I have the responsibility to show humility and express gratitude for all the blessings I enjoy and the rights I’ve been given.

5. Because I have the right to honest and good government I will seek out honest and just representatives when possible. If I cannot find one then I accept the responsibility to take that place.

6. Because I have the God given right to liberty, I have the personal responsibility to have the courage to defend others to be secure in their persons, lives and property.

7. Because I have the right to equal justice, I will stand for those who are wrongly accused or unjustly blamed.

8. Because I have the right to knowledge, I will be accountable for myself and my children’s education…to live our lives in such a way that insures the continuation of truth.

9. Because I have the right to pursue my dreams and keep the fruits of my labor, I have the responsibility to feed, protect and shelter my family, the less fortunate, the fatherless, the old and infirm.

10. Because I have a right to the truth, I will not bear false witness nor will I stand idly by as others do.

Unconditionally, while maintaining my responsibility to compassionately yet fiercely stand against those things that decay the natural rights of all men. And for the support of this declaration, and with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence we mutually pledge to each other our lives, fortunes and sacred honor.

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It makes me feel like I was there with the Founding Fathers as they signed their sacred documents, and the gravity and weight of the matter they must have felt. I wish there was something we could all sign together to stand united in this same cause. But as it is, I’ll settle for printing this document out and signing it to keep with me at all times. May we never forget the liberties this country was founded upon and the role we play in maintaining those freedoms. And may God still bless this country… land that I love.

Educational Preparedness: Know Your Rights!

There is an article from the Preparedness Pro that I want EVERYONE to read. It’s called The Foundation of Preparedness Under Attack. I won’t say much about it because I really want you to read the actual article, but in a nutshell, it explains the importance of knowing what our rights and freedoms are. This bit of knowledge truly is the foundation of not only our preparedness, but our way of life.

I don’t expect that any of us don’t care about what our rights are. However, I do believe that many of us simply do not know or understand what our actual rights are. How do I know? Because I’m one of those people. If CPS showed up at your door and said they were taking your kids away from you because there was an accusation that you were not raising them properly, would you know your rights? I don’t! I’m pretty sure I would choke all over myself and stand by helplessly as I watched them take my children and try to figure out my next course of action. What if you were hauled off by the police for an accusation and you are told your choices are to plead ‘guilty’ or ‘no contest’ and that a judge will hear your case in a private setting? I’m pretty sure I’d just pee my pants and say “yes sir” and cross my fingers that everything turned out alright!

But NOT after reading that article! I am DETERMINED to learn more about what my rights and freedoms are! I want to be CONFIDENT in my rights because I know that, although this is a country that I love, government agencies and officials are going WAY beyond their bounds and taking power away from the people that are not theirs to take, simply because we, the people, do not know enough to say otherwise! For too long we have trusted the people we elect into office to take care of us and to learn the legal matters of our system so that we don’t have to. We’ve been content to put it all in ‘their’ hands. This cannot happen anymore. WE need to have the knowledge for ourselves. The power needs to be in OUR hands! WE THE PEOPLE!

So here’s my challenge. I am going to start ridding myself of ignorance and I want you to join with me! My first step is to read the Constitution of the United States of America. Confession: I have never read it. That changes now. I will give myself to the end of this month to read it in full and write down my thoughts on it. I hope you will challenge yourself to do the same. Even if you have already read it before, read it again. Take notes. What stands out to you? Hopefully we can have some future conversations on any insights we find there. And then we’ll move on to other books and sources of information to continually expand and increase our understanding. I hope you will join me because this much I do know: If we do not know our rights, they will be taken from us and will no longer be ours to enjoy.

Here is a link to The Constitution on the Senate.gov website. It even includes some explanations in the margins about what different Articles mean (since we don’t all speak 18th century English anymore). 🙂

The Constitution of the United States of America

I look forward to hearing what insights you come across and sharing mine as well. May we never take this sacred document for granted! Happy Freedoms!

Educational Prep: Not Your Mama’s Crochet

So a while back I told you how I was learning more about gardening as part of my quest for more knowledge. That was a fun adventure, but I’m pretty sure I’m still not much of a gardener. I sure wish I had more of my Grandpa’s green thumb and my mother’s love of working the dirt. Oh well. But I’m still grateful for what I was able to learn and hope this year to make my garden even just a little bit better than it was before. And I will continue to learn more and more about the subject.

But now I’ve also moved on to another topic of learning: Crochet! (Random. I know.)

I was at the library again on one of my night’s out and just found myself wandering through the different sections of books (since I hadn’t brought anything with me to read). I found myself in the crafty section amidst a bunch of books on quilting, knitting, and crochet. Now, I have very little knowledge in any of these categories. I sew a little bit, I knit even less (I know one stitch for knitting and can implement it wellenough to maybe make a scarf or a hot pad), and I have never even attempted crochet before. But as I was staring at the books, with the memory of the cute little beanie hats my mom just crocheted for my daughters and me, I thought, “Hm… maybe that’s something I can learn.” So I skimmed through a couple of the books trying to find the one that would be the easiest for me to follow and learn crocheting from square 1! I ended up with ‘Not Your Mama’s Crochet’. I went to the store, picked up a crochet hook, I already have some yarn at home from my ‘once upon a time’ knitting attempts, and now I am learning how to crochet! It’s so much fun! I can only work on it in bits and pieces since my darling angels try to paw at the yarn and foil my efforts if I dare to bring it out when they want attention (you’d think I had cats!), but I am getting better and better with every bit of practice. The  book has some patterns of fun things to make, so hopefully I’ll have something productive to show for my efforts someday! 🙂

Anyway, I hope your quest for knowledge is also going well! It doesn’t matter where you are in life, NOW is always a perfect time to learn something new. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. 😀 Good luck and Happy Prepping!

Educational Preparedness: Me & Gardening

* Don’t Forget! * Tomorrow is our first GIVEAWAY! * Don’t Miss Out! *{GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.}

Howdy y’all! Just thought I’d take the opportunity to report back to y’all on the challenge to educate ourselves. Ever since Hubby and I have been married, we’ve attempted to grow a garden each Spring/Summer.  And every year, we more or less fail. Sure, we sow, we plant, but we rarely get much of a harvest. We’ve even tried several different methods (including a raised garden this year). Granted, Hubby is much better at gardening than I am. If it were left to me, our garden wouldn’t make it past the “nice thought” phase. 🙂 But this is an area in which I’ve been wanting to improve. So on a recent trip to the library, I found two books on Texas gardening (actually they kind of found me… my 1-yr old started pulling books off the shelf and dumping them on the floor… these happened to be two of them. It was fate. :)) So I checked them out and started reading. Then, just this past week I purchased ‘Vegetable Gardening For Dummies’ (that would be me… I’m the dummy!) 😉 and have started reading that book as well. I’m learning all sorts of good information, but mostly I think our biggest issue is our soil. Texas isn’t known for having the best gardening soil in the world. So I’m learning about adding nutrients like nitrogen, testing the pH levels, etc. These are all terms which, previously, scared the heck out of me. I mean, seriously… testing pH levels? Isn’t that something you can only do in a science lab with protective clothing on?! 🙂 But I’m learning! And it’s becoming less scary! So I’m really looking forward to the next growing season (which, for me, will be this Fall). Hopefully we’ll have a better go at it this time around. I can’t wait to start enjoying some real fruits of our labors! 😀 So anyway, how are all your learning experiences coming? Have you learned anything new and exciting?! Photo courtesy of Piku

Educational Preparedness: Introduction

Education is a part of preparedness? Really?? You bet! Remember that all these preparedness categories are intertwined. Being more adept and prepared in one area will help you to succeed in another. A good education sets us up for success in a job/career, which sets us up for success in our financial goals, which sets us up for success in living a completely self-reliant and prepared life. This is why General Authorities have proclaimed ‘education and career development’ to be one of the areas in which we should focus our preparedness efforts.
But we’re not just talking about formal education to further our preparedness. Granted, a formal education is very important, but not all learning takes place in a classroom. There is so much to learn from life in general and the people around us that will equally (if not more so) help us to be successful in life and our personal/family goals.
Education is a life-long, ongoing process, so don’t get stuck thinking you have to sign up for classes at your local college or be working on a PhD in order to further your education. Opportunities to learn are everywhere. A good habit to get into would be to always have a book that you are reading or a topic you are studying. (Make the local library one of your best friends.) Think of a topic you would like to know more about (wood working skills, sewing, cooking/baking, finances, etc). Now set a goal to read at least one book on the subject. You can even set a goal to do something related to that topic (i.e. for wood working, set a goal to make a bookcase; for sewing, you could sign up for a class or learn online how to sew a cute skirt or a tote bag; for cooking, plan to host a fun dinner party featuring all new menu items; finances— learn about and do some investing… or set a goal to be debt free!:)) And don’t forget about all those knowledgeable family members and neighbors you have! Spend some time with them to learn what they know and let them pass on their valuable skills and knowledge.
So make it a goal TODAY to continually be learning something new. And yes, if you started college but never finished, or you still need to get that high school diploma, those would be excellent places to start. There are many colleges with programs available that will allow you to accomplish these goals while still holding your current job or staying at home to raise your children through night classes or online courses. (If you happened to start college at BYU, but never finished, they now have a new program to assist in completing your degree from home. Click HERE for more information.) So, get some courage and take the first step towards a smarter, more prepared YOU.
Educating ourselves will help us be better prepared for whatever challenges we have to face.
“When we have knowledge and wisdom, we are better able to discern truth from error and make good choices.” –Provident Living.org