The Trap of Equality

To the Equal Rights Activists,

Hear my plea and reasoning. I ask you to be free from the trap of "Equality" for it is indeed just that. You may consider this briefly controversial to hear, but Equality is impossible, making it the perfect tool for manipulation.

Consider this food payment problem. How much should we pay for a meal? Should it be the cost of the ingredients? Or should it be in respect to how much we enjoy it? How about the amount of food that is in the meal? Or should it be in relation to how much it fills our stomachs? What about in respect to our income? Note that you cannot obtain perfect equality here. If you lean towards one idea, which is fair in its line of reasoning, then you create inequality in some other aspect. There will always be something we may consider unfair and we need to accept that.

I'm not saying that Equality is evil, but that shouldn't be our goal. What we should really desire and fight for is Justice and Mercy. Why? Because Justice is what balances things. Physics dictates that if you place two differing weights on a teeter-totter, the way you get them to balance is to either move the smaller weight closer to the fulcrum or heavier weight away from the fulcrum. This idea of balance is why Justice is described as scales.

Let me show you an example of current Equal Rights ideas that would actually disrupt the balance: Equal number of Men and Women in the workforce. Are women capable of working as well as men? Certainly! However, there is a problem here. If this means that less women stay at home as mothers, and the number of men working stays the same, that means there are no parents taking care of the children. Why is this a problem? Two reasons: First is that babies are said to become the most healthy when breastfed for 6 months (and I also read this helps with reducing food allergies though I don't remember where). This means women need the time off from work for this to be the most effective but it would create a huge burden for the company to pay for this time off. The second reason is something I have observed. In households where both parents work, the children may have more toys to play with, they also appear more likely to do drugs or commit crimes. When parents are actively part of the child's life, the child grows up with virtue and becomes a model citizen, both emotionally and academically.

A third reason, which is not totally unrelated to children, is that the economy requires one spouse to be at home. Think about it. Why would shopping malls and retail stores be open all day, providing jobs for the people who work there, if no one can come to the store? Why should the post office and banks be open only at the hours that a typical person is supposed to be working? Seriously, I cannot go to either of those places, except on Saturdays when they are only open for part of the day. This makes Saturday a day of stress rather than work as those are just two things that can take a few hours to do, in addition to all the other things that need to be done. When one spouse is at home, then these things can be accomplished during the week and people have jobs to do during the week. The economy and society depends on stay-at-home mothers.

I may not know which side to be on in the "Gender Wage Gap Debate", but I do know we need most mothers to stay at home if possible. In fact, this could be part of why men might make more than women. Society is still in the middle of that "The man earns money to provide for the household" while "women are working for extra money" mentality. Is that fair? Yes and no. I do hold that women should be able to earn enough to provide for a household, especially if she's a single mother. However, I also hold that should be the exception, not the rule.

It's amazing that we can be so focused on Equality, that we attack those who show generosity. Did the workers deserve the raise given by that Washington CEO last April? Most likely not, but that's why his act of slashing his own salary to help them was so special. Those who needed a boost got one, while those who were earning a good amount got only a minor boost. In all cases, the CEO's action was generous and that is an "inequality" that is okay.

What I think is that we need to stop comparing salaries as that can lead to trouble. The amount you are paid should be what you think you are worth for the work you are doing, with extra pay being considered a gift to be appreciated. In my company, there are multiple employees in my division, but I don't care how much each makes as I occasionally consider myself overpaid, but I'm thankful for my bosses' generosity. So even if we have the same title, we do our jobs in different ways, resulting in covering a large area that one man could not do himself. So there is no way to determine "equal pay for equal work." We all do our job and our management appreciates it. As a result, I like my bosses and I try to do what I can to work hard for them for as long as I can.

Equality should not be our goal. We should care about Justice and be Merciful. There are cases where we may have the right to be angry or to demand reparation, but sometime it's when we show our mercy, generosity, and forgiveness that we and others can move on to become a more perfect society. Fighting for Equality is a trap that never ends, but True Equality comes when Justice and Mercy reign supreme.

With Love,

N. D. Moharo

P.S. I forgot to include this idea in my initial draft despite my intent to do so. The Justice aspect of stay-at-home mothers is that they should be praised and appreciated for all the work they do to maintain the house and care for the family, because it really is a lot of work, even when you don't have children. They are important and necessary, so NO ONE should ever say otherwise.

Shared Essays: Christian Marriage

Sometimes coincidences are purely interesting. I recently attended a wedding and the bride and groom prepared some essays for their guests about why they were doing a Christian Marriage. I meant to share this earlier last week but lost access to my computer and only just received permission from the bride to share it. As a result, I'm posting this on Valentine's Day which is a Christian feast day but also famous for showing love to one another. Hope you enjoy the interesting insights this married couple wrote their their guests.

With Love,

N. D. Moharo

Why the Crucifix?

You may notice after entering the church there is a crucifix, an image of Jesus when he died. Why do we prominently display this image, which should seem to appear to be the worst thing to happen? This is because God is an interesting Director and used this event to show how much He loves us. By recalling the death and passion of our Lord, we remember how he took flesh and suffered one of the most painful deaths to show that even though we treat Him unjustly, desert Him, and even insult Him and speak words of hatred, He loves us so greatly that He died for our sins. We pray that this example of Love never leave our minds as there is no better example for Christian Marriage.

There will be times where we make mistakes and hurt each other emotionally, but it takes a strong will to endure the pain, forgive each other, and continue to love each other. We must willfully desire what is good for each other, even at the sacrifice of ourselves. Love is influenced by the heart, but it is an act of the will. This makes it possible to “Love our Enemies” and to love each other even when it is difficult.

Why Christian Marriage?

We often consider Marriage to be about Love even though the joke is that very few actually still love each other after a few years. Christianity, on the other hand, is and always has been about Love.  It is about true, authentic, and undying love. There is no other religion that can claim the title of Religion of Love.

Consider this chain of logic. God is Good. God is Love. God created Man in His Image.  God called Man very good.  If God is Good and Love, then Man’s perfection and Happiness lies in being Good and to Love. Christianity reveals that God created us out of Love in order to Love. God even became Man to show us that perfect model of Goodness and Love. Therefore, Christianity must be the Religion of Love.

Christianity has not only the perfect example of Love, but it challenges us to strive towards that perfect example. Even if we cannot reach the perfect model, there are many heroes called Saints that show us how we can still love greatly. The first heroes we have are our parents bound through marriage, committing to love each other “Through Good Times and Bad, For Better and Worse.”

In today’s society, it’s hard to maintain that commitment, but by focusing on Christian Models and Ideals, we look ahead with hope. We have adhered to its teachings while we dated, and now we shall work to thrive through them as we live as husband and wife.

Why the Mass?

The Mass consists of two liturgies. The first is where we listen and reflect on the Bible. This is to help us appreciate the Love of God and prepare our minds to participate in the second liturgy. The second is where we participate in the passion of Jesus by receiving Holy Communion and praying.

The Mass is where we see a miracle every time with transformation of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. While the physical attributes of Bread and Wine do not change, we believe that God has changed the substance within. This is amazing because it allows God to dwell within us.

In the Bible, Jesus states that those who want to enter heaven must eat His flesh. It’s a strong statement, but reading it carefully, we see that He was serious. But if Jesus is no longer present here on earth, how is this possible?

We believe the Mass to make present the sacrifice of Jesus. We do not believe that we offer up Jesus to die again and again, but that through a divine miracle, we are somehow present at the one sacrifice.  By this, He who created the world, turned a sea into blood and then back again, and turned water into wine, is perfectly capable of changing bread and wine into bodily flesh without changing anything physical. It’s called a Miracle.

How a Mother Killed her Son and Got Away With It

Warning: This story, though fiction, is a prediction of the not-so-distant future. It will happen because the defenses have been and currently being taken down. It may make you feel sick. My hope is that y sharing this with you, we may prevent it from happening. My points are below the "article".

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SAN FRANCISCO WOMAN FREED AFTER KILLING TODDLER

    In a decision from the 9th Circuit Court, a woman guilty of killing her one-year old male offspring has been released in a victory for Human Rights. Following the precedents of major Women's Rights cases such as Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and Roe vs Wade (1973), the court found no valid argument for imprisoning a woman who decided to free herself from the slavery of a white-male parasite.
    Nancy Smith, age 27, stabbed her one-year old toddler in the heart when he wouldn't stop crying. "I just could not take it anymore," she said with no regret. As a single mother after divorcing her ex-husband, George Smith, she was deep in debt from student loans and found the burden of a toddler unbearable. Her attorney, Hilary Sanger, successfully argued that "that toddler threatened her Constitutional Rights... It sucked the life out of Ms. Smith by its excessive crying, keeping up from sleep which has been clinically proven to be necessary. It also produced an undue burden financially that would only grow the longer she kept it." She provided studies that showed the estimated cost of raising a toddler to age 18 would be at least $1,000,000. "Since Ms. Smith was already deep in debt, it would escalate to the point beyond repayment. No only that, but the mere existence of the toddler limited her career options, proving to be an undue burden that threatened her Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness."
    The DA, a white male from Silicon Valley, argued that the toddler should have been given to the father, who previously fought for custody after the divorce. However, precedents paved the way that the woman, who held the burden of carrying the fetus to term, should have the say in how its life is lived. This Right to Choose meant that even after the fetus was born, if she no longer wanted it, she could dispose of it. Ms. Sanger pointed out that if a woman could terminate a pregnancy by the 9th month, why should she be constrained because of going through the most painful experience? She continued to argue that a woman could complete an abortion even after it "fails" and the fetus emerges alive. This was supported by President Obama, who as a state senator, voted against a bill that would have prevented such an action because it would undermine Roe vs Wade. President Obama is currently being appointed to the Supreme Court by President Hilary Clinton.
    The DA tried to argue that the toddler was a person and had a right to live. The defense scored another victory by proving that even in conservative philosophy, a child is not able to reason until age 5. Also, by reminding the court that the toddler could not vote or serve on a jury, it could not be considered a citizen. It was only a burden to the client and society, taking tax dollars which could be better spent on college scholarships and nature preservation projects. The closest the toddler could be considered being a person is 1/18th of one as it would take another 17 years before it could perform any services. Since 1/18th is not even close to 1, then the toddler was not a person...

End of Fictional Story
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Start of Opinion Piece

    Now this is prediction and such a case may not go entirely like that. However, I do beg the question, "How do you fight against this?" When a child can be killed even after being born alive, which the issue has been brought up many times but shot down, how can we prevent murder of toddlers when they are considered "inconvenient"? There are still some barriers as some members of Congress and some State Legislatures fight for the protection of those still in the womb. Unfortunately, the U.S. Democratic party is strictly in favor for abortion, as stated by the party platform and one thing it appears very united on.
    So what arguments do I have for against abortion? First, something you must know is that women do require love and support, especially when caring for a child. Therefore, the debate actually stems to the current culture attacking true love. Husbands should be caring for their wives and be fully loving at all times. Children create a very strong bond for married couples to stay together and exercise their love. Those who father children should not be freed of their responsibilities. Yes, abortion and contraception was actually a trick in order that men could free themselves from having to love a woman. After all, by having abortions and contraception, they think they can hide their adulterous acts. Abortion doesn't free women from men, it enables males to avoid being men.
    You may have noticed many of the tactics I placed in that article. The biggest thing was the personhood of a child. In order for this to be considered a "Human Rights" victory, the child would have to be declared "Not Human". Hence, the pronoun used was "It" which describes objects. This is appropriate because children have become considered objects rather than living things. This mentality exists in Human Trafficking, the artificial creation of children, and even in adoption in some cases (which is why adoption agencies can be strict about who can adopt).
    A question we must ask ourselves is "At what point did we become human?" Is it when we are born? Then how about those babies who were born alive as part of the abortion procedure? What about those after 6 months of being in the womb? A baby born after 6 months can survive and grow up if taken care of. I actually know someone with that situation.
    Another heavy question is "What gives us the right to say who can live?" We were all embryos and fetuses, and we were all given the opportunity to live. How can we deny that? We were in that situation and were given the right to live.
    There is a joke where someone asks God, "If you are so great, why haven't you sent us someone to cure cancer?" and God replies, "I did. You killed her in an abortion." When you consider how many great figures in history were unwanted or unexpected children (including Jesus for Christians), you can't help but wonder how many more great people were killed through an abortion.
    In terms of politicians and their stances, if they support abortion, which would mean the death of the defenseless and those who need support the most, why should they care to defend you? The inconvenient truth here is that they just want your votes for power.
    The current situation is that the courts continually recently strike down laws that attempt to restrict abortions. Things will only get worse as the next president can possibly appoint 4 Supreme Court justices. Hilary has already stated that she thinks it would be a great idea to appoint Obama, and we know his position on babies born alive being killed (as well as how big of a liar he is when he's campaigning thanks to information revealed by his Campaign Manager). Now do I approve of any of the Republicans? Not really but I am curious about Carly Fiorina, but she also needs to clean up her campaign a bit if she want to win. On the other hand, at least I can have more faith that she won't appoint people who will legalize murder of children. If a woman president, I would definitely prefer her over Hilary. We cannot trust Hilary who wants all restrictions on abortions removed and also expressed dissatisfaction with a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the ban of partial-birth abortion in 2007.

N. D. Moharo

P.S. I did not write this piece with the intent of condemning just Hilary Clinton, but all presidential candidates who support abortion. I just know more about Hilary than the others.

Tips on Budgeting

To the Tight-Budgeted,
    I am by no means a financial expert, but there are things that I do which I have found helpful with my own finances and planning my future. I won't give advice about investments, just the mentality about the cash you have now or receive. A lot of people have a bad mentality when it comes to cash. They coins as burdensome and a waste. However, coins are what make up the dollar bill which makes up the $5 bill, and then the $10, and so on. It's weird to think, but while we can't really buy anything in the United States for a penny, it's worth a lot to other countries. Also, it can save you time.
    So the United States finally got the chips in the credit cards that Europe has had for quite some time. However, it's slower than the old method and a waste of time if all you are trying to do is pay for a quick snack in the grocery store for lunch. After all, grocery store lunches are more affordable than going to restaurants or even vending machines. And yes, that was tip number one for budgeting. Anyways, in these times, cash is fast, especially if you have exact change, which is a fantastic feeling.
    I mentioned it before that I learned how to use pennies. In fact, my wallet barely ever has more than 10 coins, which is pretty manageable. What you do is occasionally overpay at the cash register so that the cashier will give you a bigger coin instead of a bunch of small coins. For example, if the bill is $4.96 and you pay $5, you will get 4 pennies. If you have 1 penny already, use it with the $5 bill and the cashier will give you a nickel. Since it's the cashiers that always dispense the pennies, and hence the ones that need them, they'll appreciate you giving one back. It's actually less of a hassle for them. The result will eventually be that you will have exact change quite a bit and you don't waste anything.
    My third tip is to have a spreadsheet and track your spending. I find this helpful because it helps you predict how much you will spend in a given month and where you can cut on spending. I know I don't need to pay for car insurance every month, but when it comes, it'll be a lot. Hence, I do need to budget for it every month. If an unexpected fee comes, then I know I can save some money by not going to my favorite pizza place a few times and get the cheaper, and probably healthier, sushi from the grocery store.

    For a bonus tip, I suggest use services like Bing Rewards which give you points for using the search engine. After about a month of doing the searches, you can get a $5 Amazon Gift Card or other credit to different stores and services. The Skype ones pretty nice since you can use it for phone calls. With one being free unlimited calling to US and Canada for a month, you can possibly save quite a bit on your phone bill assuming you are using wi-fi instead of your data plan. This is bonus tip because the service could always disappear or change its terms. However, right now it's pretty useful.

    What about credit card rewards points? Don't bother unless you can fully pay for a big purchase right away. It's a trick to get you to spend more and the conversions aren't favorable even if you don't incur fees. My one praise for Bank of America is that the conversion was pretty simple for 100 points equaling $1. Other banks like Citi make it confusing like crazy. For Citi, you can use the points to pay your credit card bill but it's 133 points for every $1. You can use them on Amazon, but you spend 125 points for $1. You can get gift cards with a 100 points to $1 conversion, but you need 2500 points before you can use it. Considering that you have to spend $100 for 100 points, but you need at least 2500 points before you can redeem... Not worth counting on. The only people who earn money from you using a credit card is the credit card company. Not only because they charge the merchants a fee (Apple Pay adds an additional fee as well), but then they also charge you interest if you cannot pay the full amount right away. In fact, they will charge you as much as they can even if you could and did pay the full amount (Bank of America). If you use cash, then you know how much you can spend.

So there is my quick advice for some better money-sense. Hopefully it helps you out. After all, if you can save a few dollars, that's another meal, which can possibly get you through until you can get into a better situation.

Good Luck,

N. D. Moharo

P.S. Have your own helpful advice you wish to share? Feel free to leave it in the comments below

New Design

So I decided to change the template of the blog. I feel like the old design made it difficult to read my writings sometimes. This new style I hope accommodates reading more. I'll probably see about removing the background image but at least you should be able to see the text more clearly.

Here's the before image

And here's the new

If you prefer the older style, feel free to comment. Right now I'm experimenting with styles so I may go through a few more tweaks before I'm done. I'm open to suggestions.

N. D. Moharo

Warning about "Friends"

To Those with Frenemies,
    While everyone is giving Daisy Ridley advice about life and fame, I might as well chip in: Beware of the Entourage! Why? "Be careful of who your friends are" because "a friend is another self." The moment when you are first friends with someone is when they comment that they like something and you say, "you too?!" This is because friendship is built on common ground and your best friends are the ones you share a lot in common. This is also part of the reason why your spouse does not need to be your best friend despite what young people say on social media.
     That sort of example of a group voicing their thoughts is exactly why the entourage is so dangerous. If your crowd of "friends" are all bad examples, then you will become a bad example yourself. Is it possible to overcome this? Yes, but that is dangerous in itself because you risk becoming too prideful. What I mean is that it's only possible if you have a very strong spirit and stick to ground.
    My father would often say that he was proud that I knew how to pick friends. It's not exactly that I didn't hang out with "bad friends", but I was the leader who generally decided what would be done. I was also the one who would determine what was appropriate to do. Age was probably part of the reason why I was able to do this. The combination of Sanguine and Choleric (Fun and Leadership) blood was also likely beneficial. However, the core was that I stuck to my core values and was respected for it. Even in college, I didn't have to say anything for my friends and roommates to know what I would watch with them and what would cause me to leave.
    That ability to leave is powerful and is probably the best way that show you are above the influence. If my friends did something I really didn't like, such as gossiping and talking bad about "friends" behind their backs, I would just leave and find another group to hang with. That's how you find out who are your friends and who is just trying to control you. Eventually, only those who really want to be your friend will come and follow you, and to be honest, you really only need maybe 3 good friends to be happy with life. It's fine to have lots of friends, but very rarely would you have more than 5 good friends. There's no need to worry because it's not the numbers that matters but the quality of those few friendships. If you can find good friends, those who encourage virtue and love you as a friend, then there's hope that you can survive even fame and fortune.

With Love,

N. D. Moharo

Critical Thinking: Blue Light and Sleep

To the Idle Mind,
    Whether or not a theory is correct is not always important. Sometimes, the important thing is to exercise the mind by practicing critical thinking. Musing is essentially just that: critical thinking. When we speak out our thoughts, it can help put them in order. We might find flaws in the thinking, but the lessons we learn from the process can assist us in finding those flaws faster in the future. In today's post, I don't really care so much about if my theory is true, but rather that you have an example of the critical thinking process. More research could certainly go into this topic and if you have comments and thoughts, I would be glad to hear it. Enjoy.

N. D. Moharo

    I've lately been having trouble sleeping. It's not so much about falling asleep at night anymore but waking up in the middle of the night and being unable to return to dreamland. I'm certainly guilty of using computer screens at night, but I try to at least have them off 1 hour before going to bed. Unfortunately, I might need more than one hour, but what's the problem with computer screens to begin with?
    I've heard that the culprit is Blue Light and maybe bloggers recommend installing a program called f.lux to adjust your PC's light at night. In fact, Google and Amazon recently updated their own applications and tablets to enable the same thing. Apparently, using warm colors like orange and yellow instead of Blue is more conducive to sleep, but why?
    I recall reading that the warm colored light might remind our brains about candlelight or the incandescent lights we used before bedtime and therefore our bodies get ready for bed. I will note that I recall finding it easier to fall asleep when I have the light on. Maybe the reason why was because of the warm orange glow filled the room and that helped negate the blue light from electronics. However, I doubt that's the case since that doesn't explain the physiological aspects of our bodies. We didn't always have fire (or maybe we have, but that's up for debate), so how can warm color lights have been useful for telling our bodies to prepare for sleep? In fact, when I look outside at night, I often think of the Moon as giving off a blue light, even more so than the Sun. So where in nature do we see Warm Colors to signal going to bed?
    Sunset! If you think about it, most people in the old days probably didn't stay awake long after sunset until the discovery of fire. With the warm colors of the sky to signal the day is about to end, our bodies probably took that cue to say, "prepare for sleep." Since the farming life was work while the sun is out, people would wake at or before sunrise and then sleep after sunset. There must be a reason that it used to be that the day was considered over after sunset (Hence, the Sabbath for the Jews began on Friday night, not Saturday morning).
    What do you think? Is the blue light thing a myth or reality? Is there somewhere else in nature that we see warm colors to signal going to sleep? Don't be afraid to share your respectable thoughts.