Monday
morning, March 7th, I was finishing the last hundred
yards of my predawn 11 mile run. Non-runners will
never understand the peacefulness of running the
streets alone in the darkness, so I won’t even try.
I was plodding down a sidewalk which passes under
the railroad tracks and was doing my best not to let
gravity entice me into running like a border collie
chasing a rabbit. Melting snow from the previous
afternoon had frozen into hidden patches of black
ice during the night. My right foot was planted on
solid pavement when my left foot stepped onto an ice
covered curb cut. I instantly did the splits and
momentum twisted my body forward. My right fibula
snapped allowing my ankle to dislocate 90 degrees to
the outside and I crashed to the icy sidewalk.
In less than ten seconds, and almost as if she had
been waiting for me, Laura was there. She was a
young lady driving to work who noticed the red
flashing light on my headlamp as I lay stretched out
on the sidewalk. She hopped from her car and asked
the customary, “Are you okay?”
“No, I just broke my leg,” I responded as I reached
down and snapped my right foot back where it
belonged. It didn’t hurt as bad as you might think,
but I knew I wasn’t going to just shake this one off
and crawl the last hundred yards home. Laura called
for an ambulance while good Samaritans gathered to
help in any manner they could. Later that morning
while sitting at the hospital, I pondered my
sidewalk crash. I am sorry to say, the names of all
the kind people who stopped in the darkness to help
a complete stranger, will never be known to me. God
knows though.
Five days later, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, with
my swollen and fractured leg in a splint, I crutched
my way back to the crash scene. Equipped with
sidewalk chalk, my trophy wife and I prepared to
draw a crime scene figure on the pavement and
photograph it for a facebook posting. I tossed my
crutches aside and dropped to my hands and knees to
draw. Within fifteen seconds a car stopped thinking
I had fallen from my crutches and needed help
getting up. (Apparently they don’t appreciate fine
sidewalk art in Helena.)
I told you that story to explain true charity—the
Godly principle of giving while expecting nothing in
return. It is even more generous to give at a level
requiring you to surrender something you want. Just
like King David refusing to offer a sacrifice which
costs him nothing, Laura gave of her time knowing
she was late for work. That is true charity.
Let me twist my story in a different manner to make
a point. Suppose Laura stopped and ordered someone
else to call for an ambulance and demanded they stay
with me until it arrived. She then hopped back in
her car and disappeared in the darkness. The end
result of both stories is exactly the same; however
do you think Laura is charitable in story number
two? Obviously, I think not. The lesson is this: You
can only be charitable with your own time and
property. It is impossible to be charitable with the
time and property of someone else, because that is
offering a sacrifice which costs you nothing.
Socialism is founded on the false principle of
providing charity with other people’s money.
This brings me to my point. James Madison warned in
the Federalist Papers charity is not a function of
government and should actually come from anyone but
government because feeding on the bounty of others
quickly becomes a dangerous entitlement. If you need
proof, look at last weekend’s riots in London. The
U.K., facing a 1.4 trillion dollar national debt, is
proposing austere budget cuts of social programs and
the people are discombobulating. Was Madison
predicting this pitfall of socialism could happen in
America?
We are entering the final 20 days of Montana’s
legislative session and the big spending bill, HB 2,
is front and center. Those of us on the fiscally
conservative wing of the political spectrum will be
chastised for cutting government programs. Headlines
will portray us as misers balancing the budget on
the backs of sick kids, college kids, poor people
and seniors. When you read them ask yourself this:
Has Montana dangerously slipped away from Christian
principles of true charity to the socialist
principles of entitlement? Time will tell. In terms
of restoring our republic, no one said it would be
easy, only worth it and undoubtedly there will be
challenging times ahead. Be careful you don’t slip
and fall.
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