I knew I was in trouble when I bought Kal his rebel flag Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt.  Big sister, a high school junior, just looked at me with a puzzled expression, “Dad, is that the only kind they had?”

I had carefully selected this shirt, trying to pick something appropriate for a 9 year-old.  “No Maddie, they had others, but most of them were black with whiskey bottles or skull & crossbones.”  But I knew what she was getting at.  Apparently political correctness had already dug deep into our youth at our local high schools.  She had been infiltrated with the belief that the Confederate flag was a symbol of evil, hatred, racism, or whatever label folks have wanted to apply to it in recent years in an attempt to revise history.

It seems like a lot of things these days boil down to folks pretending to do something good when they’re really not……when they really can’t.  And all they really do is make things worse.  Stir the pot.  Worry about a squeaky door on a house that’s burning down.

In the name of political correctness, we have plenty of helpful souls spreading the word, telling everybody else what they SHOULD be offended by.  I don’t imagine the American Indians were up in arms 25 years ago about the name of an NFL franchise mascot.  It’s a darn good thing some people came along to let them know how offensive it is.  Now they can be properly “up in arms” about such an injustice that will surely wreck their lives.

We have become the most easily offended nation in the world.  We create problems where there are none.  Mountains out of molehills.  We deflect blame in the most ridiculous ways.

Those who loudly champion political correctness are the same ones who have systematically driven out society’s  moral codes and cast blame in moronic directions when the inevitable decay appears.

Racism is certainly alive today.  But it lives in a much different form than it did 40 years ago.  Different even than it was 20 years ago.  Systematic racism is dying.  True racism today lingers on today in the hearts and lives of those who simply make a choice to hate their fellow man.  Whites who hate blacks.  Blacks who hate whites.  Whites who hate Asians.  To listen to liberal news and a misguided president, one could easily be fooled into believing that whites are the only racists in the United States.

Obama has set racial harmony back 25 years with constant claims of systematic shortcomings and speaking only of white racism.

He has a gift for magnifying the ways that groups are different but insisting that the groups agree (with him of course).  His message continues to be, “the system (white men) is holding you back, and the government is gonna pick you up.”   Blame the cops.  Blame the whites.  Blame the system.  Do anything besides challenge people to take responsibility for the course of their own future.

It may be that we just have evolved into having too darn many people thinking about changing the past.  Let’s keep white America feeling eternally guilty for events they had nothing to do with 150 years ago.  Let’s shamefully convince large groups of people that everything that happens is somebody else’s fault.  Let’s create a nation of victims.  Debt and debtors. Dividing lines created.  Wallowing in the past instead of grasping the future.  Symbolic worthless apologies.  Lives cursed by dead-end excuses shamefully planted in their path.

The meaning of the rebel flag truly has evolved.  Maybe it really does need to go away.  Unfortunately, what may have once been a symbol of southern heritage and pride has been twisted into a symbol of evil.  Perception has been methodically changed.  That’s how political correctness works.  Strange things get demonized (I found out it’s not ok to continue to call a man by his birth name if he becomes a woman at some point in life).

Certain few receive the right to change the rules and sway public perception as the game goes on (liberal media and Hollywood).  Strangely enough, those who stick to the same set of standards (some call them morals) are portrayed as fools.

Shame on me……if I continue to cling to my right to flaunt it when I find it is truly hurtful to someone. (as long as they decided on their own it was hurtful).

Shame on you……if you choose to live your life as victim, easily offended by everything that somebody tells you to be offended by.

And the ultimate shame on you…….if you go around telling others what they should be offended by.

Bottom line is that I think it’s a complete nonsensical dang shame that it’s just a matter of weeks before my son could be assumed to be a racist if he wears his Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt.  How did that happen?  And are the people that are causing that shift really making anything better?

No, they are just shifting.  Blaming.  Sending thoughts and energy in the wrong direction.  Removing flags are empty gestures.  It doesn’t change the past.  Doesn’t take away slavery……rebel flags don’t glorify slavery as this movement would have us believe.

Most importantly, none of this nonsense really changes people.

Love or hate?

God or no God?

Personally responsible or blaming /dependency?

The answers to these simple questions will determine the course of our country’s future.

We’ll most likely continue to wear rebel flag Skynyrd shirts in my house.  I’ll probably buy a few more while I still can.  And we’ll also keep loving people.  I think that’s better than apologizing for stuff we didn’t do.

And Kal doesn’t know what racism is.  He only knows that we all are precious in God’s sight.  So shame on anyone who dares to shame him for wearing his favorite shirt!!