They think he’s a righteous dude.

A couple days back Tam talked about the way Ferris Bueller has become an embedded piece of the American culture, and there are some pretty good reasons for that.

Bueller does a few important things for his classmates that make him popular among all groups. He represents freedom. He represents thumbing his nose at authority. He represents a subversive force that breaks free of its bonds. He represents all of those things that all of us really want to be. The only people who hate him are, in fact, those anxious to conform to an inflexible standard they neither understand nor -probably- agree with, but it’s the standard and must therefore be conformed to. He’s a sort of an ass, but we like him, because we wish we were him; willing to take the risks, willing to play the game, willing to be willfully free.

Breaking the law!!

In conversation with Pascal a few days ago, we discussed the underground railroad, and the moral imperative to become a lawbreaker, when the law is itself morally inept. The same night, in conversation with B, about the number of decent people I know, and how I hold them as assets to be nurtured and loved. I thought, why not have a national register of such people, so you can get in touch with decent folk wherever you are? then I thought of the danger inherent in that, and realized if someone has a list, someone else will use it for something nefarious.

Anonymity is not a crime

Recently, also, Joan of Arrrrggghhh!!! (I’ll never figure out how to spell that) spoke of Anonymity, and about how it isn’t a crime (yet) and it dawned on me that the very principle of the underground railroad is what is indicated here, and how having small local alliances who aren’t a part of a rigid organization but are rather a loosely knit group of like minded individuals. The magic of this is that a group in California cannot be forced to roll over on a group in Iowa, because they know nothing about them.

Be worth saving.

Where I am going with this, is not that you be worth saving to your Creator, (That’s up to you,and it is and should be a very personal thing) but that you be worth saving to your fellow man.

Mr B and I have a lot of complimentary skills- we can both wrench machines, weld, sling concrete or shingles, yadda yadda. We are a lot alike in many ways that do NOT involve politics at all. His significant other is a remarkably capable person in any number of ways as well. And though you may not think you are, if you’re reading this, you probably are. There are a LOT of skillsets that are useful that you may not even know you have. Can you tie a decent knot? Can you split firewood? Can you fix a car? A boat? Can you can and preserve food? can you garden efficiently? Can you sew, cook, pluck a chicken, skin a deer, stitch a cut, dress a wound, cure a fever, make medicines from herbs you find? Do you have a copy of “Petersons field guide to edible wild plants” in your car?

There are any number of skills you can bring to a party, and those skills could be the difference- not between life and death, because anyone should be able to figure out how to live- but between living in despair and living in joy- between, as B often says, being in a tragedy, or in an adventure.


Ten righteous men worth saving

Around me I find people like B, or Partner, or some of my co-workers, worthy, decent, right minded people whose aid I would seek if I needed it, and who could count on my aid if they needed it. I often joke with pascal about how a powerful lot of people just aren’t worth the time, and that’s true, but there are people who are.

Figure out how to be one. Most of my readers probably already are. Figure out who the others in your area are. And get to know them.

Sure, in California, you might only know four righteous men worth saving. In Iowa, it might be twenty. But get to know them.

Six degrees of righteousness

If you know ten righteous men, each of those ten also probably know ten. And their ten will possibly overlap yours, but not necesarily. If you cluster in groups this will not be a bad thing, but it is also good to know people outside your community. I am connected to handsful of decent people through the miracle of Algores internet, and it makes the network more valuable to us all.

So I know ten people, and Dick knows ten, and Pascal knows ten, and Vman knows ten, and so forth. I can get in my car and go to almost any state and find a group of like minded people, and sit around a campfire or a table or a pile of Nagants and swap stories.


Don’t let Jack Chick define righteousness for you.

I know that when I say “Righteous” everyone has an image of what I mean, and you’re probably wrong. In this context, at least, I mean “Someone worth saving”; and not “Saving” in the religious sense, but someone who will accentuate your existence by their presence, be it their skills, their comradeship, their example, or whatever.

Be worth saving. Hang close to those around you who are also worth saving. Reach out to others outside your local area who are worth saving, and get to know them as best you can.

it might be useful to have a little emblem that identifies us, a secret handshake, or a little gadsden flag on your bumper, or front door, or tatted on your shoulder, or whatever, but the bottomline is always not about outward appearances but about substance.

You don’t have to love or even always like, or agree with or not argue with those people who you consider worth saviing, but you need to understand their value to you, and to humanity. You Do need-regardless of any theological context at ALL-to understand how valuable and precious Humanity is.