Influenced

  Remember when your Mom would say, don't hang out with that kid, he's a bad influence! Well, that kid is everywhere now, especially on X. He has become a star, a social media influencer. Well, Mom said you won't have a calculator everywhere you go either, guess we showed her. But I'm still hearing about those bad influences, mostly from the Democrats. There are those wanting to support efficiency in government and that's a bad influence on the youth of America. Imagine teaching your children that they should only spend their money on sensible things and not give it away. I mentioned that on social media and was informed that if we stopped giving money to all those foreign countries, China will! And then, the Chinese will have all the influence. You never know when you are being influenced, that's why Mom had to tell you that. Today, it's the democrats filling that role. 

 DEI is the only way to stop that influence. If everyone is allowed to do everything, no one will be influenced to do anything else. That's how that works. Simple enough right? Implementing policies and practices based solely on the "feelings" of people instead of their abilities removes that influence. You can't have people believing there is right and wrong. Everything must be on a spectrum. It's the only fair way. Of course that is a bit problematic as a spectrum suggests something can be classified as better or worse than the standard. The problem being, we can't have a standard because we have to have DEI. And DEI knows no spectrum. As the kids say, "it's all good." 

 The reality is we are all being influenced all the time. It's called living. Life has an effect on all of us. Influence has the ability to effect a change in our behavior. We attempt to keep all that in check with our personal moral and ethical code. That was influenced by our parents and our peers. Yeah, the ones your mother warned you about, the bad influences, were usually the most fun. The fact that it may be harmful in the future isn't the concern, the concern is for the moment. It can be a hard lesson to learn. The ones attempting to influence you are the ones attempting to shift the blame, to you. Everyone was doing it never works as an excuse or an explanation. 

 Today if you hear about influence, it is usually thought of as a bad thing. Why is that? It's because  whoever is attempting to influence you is doing so for their own benefit. Isn't that the thinking? They are also the ones that say they are the role models. You should be just like them, not influenced by others, but following their lead. Don't be influenced to think otherwise. Just because someone said something, that doesn't mean it is what they said. The truth is a spectrum. There are no lies, just misinformation. That information may be correct next week, or not. It all depends. The importance lies in convincing you to follow my influences. Don't let facts get in the way of that. No one will ever know. How many times did you hear that as a kid? They always knew. 

 What has been the biggest influence in the world? I'd agree with Grant, "Hold fast to the Bible. To the influence of this Book we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization and to this we must look as our guide in the future."  (Ulysses S. Grant) That is, after all, the purpose of the Bible, to influence our actions. This notion that the Bible exists just to glorify God and praise his Holy name is nonsense. The goal, the intent, was and remains to influence our behavior. "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." Yes, you can be readily be influenced by anything. All that is required is that you allow it. Don't blame the influencer, blame yourself. If you want to influence others don't bother them with facts. What you have to change is their belief. Facts disappear in the face of belief. You can believe in that, but don't let me influence you. I'm that kid your mother told you about.