Inglorious Gluttony

“A nation cannot long remain strong when every man belonging to it is individually weak.” -Alexis de Tocqueville.

What makes man weak? It is the continual misuse of free will that weakens us in body and soul. The weaker we become, the more easily we will be brought to servitude.

The American people have a sickness. This disease is brought on by excess. Never in the history of the world have a people been so rich, yet they are convinced that they need ever more to have a “good life”. What began as a free and industrious people has turned into a sea of men who feel that they are entitled to the best of everything. The question that has to be asked is why do they feel that way? Have they worked hard and smart enough to deserve those things?

Our government has enabled the entitlement crowd to flourish by giving in to these demands for equality. Tocqueville said that “the principle of equality begets two tendencies; the one leads men straight to independence, and may suddenly drive them into anarchy; the other conducts them by a longer, more secret, but more certain road, to servitude.” By the continual lust for self-gratification and greed for more, at the expense of government coffers, Americans have weakened themselves as a people. This can only lead to bondage.

St. Augustine, in his book “Confessions” described his life before his conversion as being an essential slave to his appetites. Though he had good intentions, was highly educated and a prominent member of society, he felt enslaved to bodily passions. We are like this in so many ways. Many of us have great intentions, but we are held back by the pleasures of life from achieving great accomplishments. “Wretched is every soul bound by the friendship of perishable things” says Augustine. 

Anyone truly great has paid dearly for his greatness. Louis L’Amour wrote in “To the Far Blue Mountains” that “A fat prophet could never start a new religion, while a lean, ascetic-looking one could do it easily.  A prophet should always come down from the mountain or out of the desert.  He should never arise from the table.” America has sat at the table too long. To be a truly great people again we will need to sacrifice greatly.

Sacrifice can come in many forms. What it will be for me will most assuredly be different from what will be sacrificed by others. Perhaps the sacrifice will be cutting the cord off the television or growing your own food so as to make a connection with the land again. Most likely it will, and should, take the form of giving of ourselves and our riches to benefit the down-trodden.

If we sacrifice willingly, the road to greatness will be short. But if the sacrifice is forced upon us by the loss of our liberty, brought upon us by our greed, the road will be long and treacherous. Let’s steer our own course to greatness.

Work it Together!

Today at work I was involved in installing pine tongue and groove paneling on a high vaulted ceiling. There was a crew of four people working on this project and we got a lot done. I contrasted this to doing the same job on my own home, by myself. What an incredible difference! I don't know how many times I climbed up and down scaffolding with an armful full of boards before I completed the job, but it was several. Today only a few trips were made up and down because there were installers up high and a cutman on the ground delivering boards to the installers.

I bring all this up for a reason. We may be doing the same work as others, but how are we doing it? Am I on my own? Am I working with someone who has the same interests? In many of our pursuits, would they go better if we had a little help? Rather than trying to be Superman(as I have done most of my adult life)we should find like-minded people to work with towards accomplishing our goals. The work will progress much faster and will be dynamic in it's growth. We all have a lot to do, so let's team up and get it done.

Just a thought from the chain saw carpenter.

Don't Take the Shortcut

I got an e-mail today on my company website http://timberlinelogcabins.com/ from a person who bought a log home from a supposed log home builder. After the first winter, in which they could hardly heat their home, they are looking for a contractor to come in and fix their home so it is liveable. I felt terrible for them that they had spent their hard-earned money on a poorly built home. I gave them a few references to people who do that kind of work and then I started thinking. Why do people cut corners and essentially cheat their customers to make more money?

I learned long ago that if you offer a quality product and great service that you will never lack customers. In a tough economy, the best advertising you can get is a good referral. You get good referrals by doing your best for each and every customer. If business people would live by this mantra, we would have little need for bonding, insurance and attorneys. Whatever it is that you do, try to do it the best you can.

Just a thought from the chainsaw carpenter.

"Timber"

I helped a friend fall some very large cottonwood trees in his yard today. I always feel a little sadness at seeing such a large tree fall. Though these large trees were beautiful, they were also a nuisance, they scattered branches and "cotton" all over the yard each summer. Also nothing else would grow around them because they used all the water and blocked the sunlight.

 Life is like that at times. For instance, if a corporation or a government becomes too large, they smother everything else around them, choking the life out of smaller entities. What is there in your life that is blocking out everything else? Take stock to see if there is an "elephant" in the room that no one wants to talk about. Remember, the first step to making corrections is to identify the problem. Once identified, then steps can be taken to progress in life.

Just a thought from the chain saw carpenter.

Brain Food

After a long hard day of work my body is tired but my mind feels like it needs some exercise. So at the end of a long day I like to read something. I have started a study of the "Great Books", a compilation of classics from western civilization. Some of the books are very hard to read and understand, others are very enjoyable. I have learned a great deal about our cultural origins from them. So if you want a little brain exercise, try one out.

A little challenge for you from the chainsaw carpenter.

Get Off The Merry-Go-Round

In business if you do the same things expecting different results, you'll get very frustrated. The same result can be expected in the fight for freedom.With our freedoms eroding year by year, it is time to get out of our comfort zones and let our voice be heard by those who may not have heard it before.

I tend to keep to all that is familiar, don't you? I go to the same restaurants, hang out with the same friends, complain about politics with the same like-minded people. We grumble about the same things and the same politicians. It is ironic that since this has never changed anything that we would keep doing it. I recently read a book titled "Freedom Shift" by Oliver DeMille, in it he calls on us to form a new "freedom tribe" to make America freer. In order for this to happen he says that "many citizens must get past the natural human tendency to isolate ourselves in cocoons of people who agree with us. Freedom only comes when people of differing views work together on the common goal of liberty."

If you have conservative views, find someone who is more liberal leaning and try to find common ground. Everyone wants liberty, we just see different ways of getting there.

A thought on freedom from the chain saw carpenter.

Make it Great

My work takes me all over the state in which I live. Usually these locations are back in the woods off the beaten path. On rare occasions, I get to do a project that is visible by everyone. Of course, on these occasions I want my work to be at its best.

A thought came to mind that our quality should be at its best not only when it is on display, but all the time. If everyone would commit to their best work at all times, the world would be a more beautiful place. Contract lawyers would be out of a job, and we could all feel great at the end of each work day.

Just a thought from a chainsaw carpenter.

Keep an Edge on Your Tools

Have you ever tried to use a dull chainsaw? With a dull tool it takes twice as long and twice the amount of effort to get the job done. Not to mention the fact that the job becomes more dangerous.

Our mind and body are the same. A person who is healthy and in shape can accomplish more than someone who is otherwise. Likewise, a sharp mind is much more useful than a dull and unexercised one. Our minds and bodies stay sharp and in shape by concentrated effort. Want to get in shape? Guess what, watching Richard
Simmons won't work unless you do the moves with him. Want to get your brain in shape? Pick up a difficult book and stretch your mind.

With a sharp intellect we will keep ourselves above the crowd of mediocrity and accomplish great things.
 Just a thought from the chainsaw carpenter.

Flex Those Muscles

When I pick up a log to set it in place I think of myself as a strong person. This begs the question, in what does my true strength lie? Is it in the bones and muscles or in something else? Ultimately our strength comes from God. 

For those of us who may be lacking faith, Robert Hutchins had some thoughts about what makes America strong, he said, "We have repeated to ourselves so much of late the slogan, 'America must be strong,' that we have forgotten what strength is. We appear to believe that strength consists of masses of men and machines. I do not deny that they have their role.

 

"But surely the essential ingredients of strength are trained intelligence, love of country, the understanding of its ideals, and such devotion to those ideals that they become a part of the thought and life of every citizen." 

It is time that we dust off our history books and find out what the American ideals are, before they are lost completely. 

Just a thought from the chainsaw carpenter.

A Cut Above

Today I was cutting lumber on my sawmill. Operating machinery such as this can be a bit monotonous, but I find that I have lots of time to think. As I watched the logs run back and forth through the blade I began to think about what I was actually doing. I was taking a tree, which has many great qualities in it's own right, and making something different and useful from it. Whether it be a log for a cabin or a board for a fence, that tree was changed into something different than it was before.
Many people think that we kill trees when we do this and in a way I guess they are right. I think that it is given a new life in the product that comes from it. Our lives are the same. Generally we live our lives the same each day, go to work, come home,go to work, come home, day in, day out. Then suddenly we are cut down, the bark is taken off us and when the process is done we are changed into something new. What a marvelous thing this can be, only by going through the milling process per se, can we be changed. To what new uses can we apply ourselves now that we have had value added to ourselves?
Changes or trials are never easy, but in them is where our true strength is found. Just a thought from a chain saw carpenter.

Sawdust in Your Collar

At the end of a day of working on a cabin, generally there is an accumulation of dust under my collar. This reminds me a little of life. One tends to gather a bit of debris on the road of life. If it wasn't there, how would you know if you had accomplished anything? Though aggravating, the "sawdust" of life is a reminder that, yes, I did something today. So don't be afraid to get dirty, as that is generally a sign of some of great progress.