BARN RAISING

In Running Low On Rage, nooneofanyimport explains the problem.

I’m having a hard time maintaining interest in current events.  Perhaps this is already evident.  All you folks out there are doing a bang-up job, but oh, how I struggle to think of something original or even relevant to add. The thing is. Politics never did interest me much.  This blog isn’t really about politics.  It’s about, well . . . outrage.  I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it anymore!  Rage is the primary fuel that keeps me posting … Read More

via NoOneOfAnyImport’s Blog

I expect one reason nooneofanyimport‘s blog is popular is because she expresses well what many of us think and feel. And thanks to what our elites have done here of late, there is — or at least there was — a lot of rage out there. 

That rage is slowly waning, and we are fortunate that it is. Why? Consider the definition of “rage.”  

rage   [reyj] –noun

1. angry fury; violent anger.
2. a fit of violent anger.
3. fury or violence of wind, waves, fire, disease, etc.
4. violence of feeling, desire, or appetite: the rage of thirst.
5. a violent desire or passion.
6. ardor; fervor; enthusiasm: poetic rage.
7. the object of widespread enthusiasm, as for being popular or fashionable: Raccoon coats were the rage on campus.
8. Archaic: insanity.

Please note that “rage” can also be used as a verb. Here we have provided only the definition of the noun.

Look carefully at that last “archaic” definition, insanity. Anger has its place. Even Jesus occasionally found his voice in anger, but we cannot devote our lives to rage and still expect to make any sense. At some point we must set our rage aside and put love in its place.

For the sake of our neighbors, our friends, and our families, we must consider the consequences that must result when we each do not do our part to build up our republic.

• Our economy staggers.
• Our foreign policy lacks direction.
• Our national defense begins to crumble.
• Our neighbors, our friends, and our families soon lack the ability to protect both their property and their persons.
• The very concept God-given freedom slowly fades from the understanding of our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. 

In a land where government is of the People, by the People, and for the People, we must each learn to treat our duties as citizens as a voluntary public service, an obligation we take up for the sake of our neighbors, our friends, and our family. To save our republic, we must approach the work of government the same way our forebears built barns (see here, here, and here).

Barn Raising, a colonial American building practice in which as many as one hundred people from neighboring farms would volunteer to help a family construct the frame and rafters of their barn in a single day, using pre-cut lumber. The event had practical significance, in that every new farm bolstered the prosperity of the frontier, yet it also became a social celebration that strengthened families’ bonds with the community; women prepared food and men held competitions of speed and strength. Barn raisings were also held to rebuild barns after fires or other disasters. Occasionally still held in the Midwest and other rural areas, they are a cherished tradition among the Amish. (from here)

We each choose our attitude to politics. We can choose rage or kindness, neighborly love or hatred, greed or charity…. We can allow politics to bring us together in common cause, or we can use victory at the polls to decide how we divide the spoils, the taxes paid by our neighbors. We can choose to raise a barn, or we can set our neighbor’s barn afire.

On the first Tuesday of November 2011, Virginia will hold a general election. In the months ahead, conventions and primaries will precede those elections. Do you care about your neighbors, your friends, and your family. Then take the time to learn how our political system works. In praise to our Creator, please do your part to raise up our republic.

NOTE: At some point every analogy breaks down.  As the result a barn raising, the owner of a farm benefits from the volunteer labor of his friends, neighbors, and relatives. So using a barn raising as a model for good government might suggest to some that we should use government to provide charity. Think again. The participants in a barn raising are volunteers, not forced labor. Similarly, when take part in politics, the success of our endeavors requires that we be willing volunteers, not forced. If we want to keep our republic, we must each instill within ourself — with prayers to God — the right attitude.