I wrote this to my Congressman on Friday. Maybe you should do something similar.
Dear Sir:
My name is Jacob Roecker and I’ve been serving in the military for the past 11 years. My family and I are currently stationed at Fort Sill Oklahoma, though I maintain CT as my state of residency.
For years now I have spent time in uniform overseas to protect this great democracy. I have chosen my profession because my family taught me that freedom is a rare blessing. Thomas Paine once argued that the caliber of men in uniform ought to be those who wish not for peace in their day, but to fight so that peace may be given to their children.
Sir, I have lived those words. I have spent time in the deserts of Iraq. I have looked upon my sacrifices with hope that I may be able to give to my children a world free for democracy to thrive.
They do not need any baggage from my generation, or my parents. Their world contains enough challenges ahead. I don’t consider my efforts futile, but their world will just be more complex than it is now.
Sir, I cannot support the stimulus package, and I hope that you will not either. I have expected those in government to tackle their battles the same way I have taken on the challenges in my life. I do not want financial peace in my generation, so long as we can provide it for our future. This bill seems to pass along the bad decisions of others to my three children, and needs to stop.
My wife and I are already preparing for the inflation that is soon to follow. We’ve started adjusting our grocery budget to work out $10.00 for a gallon of milk. It is my estimation that it will take the government 18 months to respond to my paycheck being worth nothing once inflation kicks in. We’re scrambling to be prepared.
Sir, if you wonder why the economy isn’t getting better it’s because there’s a few of us who are seeing the signs and preparing for them. It’s more important to buy canned food and wheat than it is to buy toys. Vacations aren’t being planned. Large parts of the “american dream” have been put on hold.
I’ve had to learn to defend myself from incoming bullets, mortar fire, and rocket attacks. Now, I’m learning to defend myself from the government I’m sworn to defend, and the citizens who make up this republic.
We fought for our independence with the slogan of “no taxation without representation.” Sir, Eliza (7), Daniel (3), and Rainey (2), have no representation in our government. Please do not burden them with tax obligations. You do have the ability to make a choice. I pray you make the right one.
I expect some acknowledgement of this email from either you or your staff. As a uniformed citizen you owe me at least that much.
Shortly after watching the September 11th terrorist attacks I had an idea. I thought it was a good one. I felt that cogress should pass a resolution encouraging Americans to participate in a national day of fastig each year on September 11th. Those who chose to participate would then take the money they would have spent on food, or the cans of food themselves, and donate them to a charity of their choice.
It’s personal, it’s progressive, and I never even got a response from anyone in congress when I proposed the idea. Go figure.
Those of you familiar with the LDS religion will note that this is very similar to practices at church… Yeah, that’s where I got the idea. Rumor also has it that a similar program was used to help Germany out of the Great Depression.
Humanity needs to move forward. Our generation will build memorials for those who have fallen. If we visit those sites we can teach are children the significance of those events. To compliment all of that here’s an idea to memorialize those who have passed on, and to build a legacy that does something positive in the world.
I’ve created a group on facebook for this purpose and would encourage everyone who participates in social networking to join on that site. If you don’t comment your commitment below. Doing so will allow me to send you an email reminder as the date draws closer. In any case, it’ll be 8 years come September. Our American memory is short, and our sympathies desensatized. Please join me to do something to move humanity forward.
It seems they just don’t get it. When will people actually ditch the advertising platform known as myspace and start social networking on facebook? Here’s another example of why they just don’t seem to be “with it” anymore:
Checked my email today. There was a message from “Tom.” I figured it was my father in law. Instead it was the myspace “Tom.” You know, the guy who’s by default everyone’s friend. This is what it said:
Dear MySpace User,
MySpace has just launched support for maiden names where you can enter your maiden name, keep your new married name and still have all of your friends find you.
All you have to do is fill in your maiden name here.
So, um didn’t bother to check that I’ve selected that I’m “male” did you? Way to go Tom. Another fine example of bad coding, bad checking. Oh, and BTW in order for me to read the message I had to ignore more than 10% of my screen because it had been filled with your crap advertising.
NEWS ANCHOR: “Find out why people are dying from Peanut Butter and what you need to do to protect yourself. We’ll have the life-saving tips for you–right after the break.”
Let’s take a moment to reflect upon these profound words. It sounds like a crisis is looming. One of our basic American food staples has turned on us. It’s betrayal is at the level of Benedict Arnold or Anakin Skywalker joining the darkside. Surely such information marks a dark day for humanity.
More than that, it looks as though my own life, and the life of my children, might be threatened by such a betrayal. This is more than just the selling of land in New York, or the entire destruction of the Jedi Order. This isn’t fantasy, or history, this is happening now. My life could be in jeopardy! It’s like I’m hanging on the edge of a cliff noticing and someone from up top says, “Oh yeah, those rocks are slippery. Let me finish sending this text message, and I’ll throw you a rope.”
Sure we all know that I’m probably not going to slip to my death while the text message is being sent. We all know I’m probably not going to die while the commercials are rolling, but what does it say about their priorities. C’mon now, if you truly cared about me you’d put down the stinkin’ phone, stop running commercials, and help me out.
Then there’s the people who only patronize one news agency. I know people who only watch CNN, and wont get their news from anywhere else. Then there’s the people who only watch the news from FOX News because it’s just more patriotic. The worst folks, are the ones that only get their news from the comedy shows. These people generally have the same enthusiastic brand loyalty toward their news as some sports fan do towards football.
Actual office conversation (paraphrased for anonymity and grammar): “Last week I was wearing this shirt while watching my team play the game. They won, so it must be their lucky shirt. I’m wearing it again for this weekend.” Really, someone at work actually believes that the shirt they wear in their living room helps their team win…. yeah….. um……. Moving on:
It doesn’t matter who you are, what news source you turn to. Really, none of them care about “you” the way they should. Sure, there are notable exceptions, but I’m not mentioning any here. It’s all one giant pickle-sucking, capitalist, routine to sell advertising. Just admit that’s what you’re watching. There may be smatterings of patriotism, social progression, or good humor, but those are all packages, they’re not the product.
That doesn’t mean I would stop watching the news, but it’s important to realize that what you watch, your brain consumes. There’s a big difference between “good news” and “what’s good for the news.” I just wish they’d finally come out and say that they’ve based their formats on Greek Tragedy. In case you didn’t know, that’s where they got it from:
So this isn’t another blog entry where I will try and wake up the world to the threat of inflation, terrorist ideologies, or anything else that matters. No this post is entirely about me. That’s enough reason to stop reading now, but if you’re really bored I could imagine that you might continue perusing a little further down the page. You may want to read because dedicating an entire blog entry to “me” displays pride, and as we all know “pride goeth before the fall.” So if you’re one of those sick people that’s reading to see me crash in a few days on another blog entry please continue on. I’ll be happy to keep 50% of all the earnings from your bet (for or against). Please send the checks made out to “cash” my current address.
In less than7 days I’ve made two local news outlets. The first was Channel 7 KSWO in Lawton, and the second occurred today when the Lawton Constitution published an article on my “Reprise Computer Solutions” project. The attention has been great for the project. I also think it’ll help out the Lawton/Ft. Sill area in getting people to step up their game and help their neighbors. We’ll have to see.
It’s customary when you make the news to tell your family members about it. So when I told my sister-in-law, Lindsay had a rather interesting response.
L: “You’ve been slacking”
J: “What do you mean?”
L: “You made The Herald Journal the first week you were in Logan. You’ve been in Oklahoma for months and they’re just now paying attention to you.”
I laughed. It was poetic, funny, and well-timed. Lindsay gets some serious cool points for that one. We chatted for a while online and discussed having her start the same project up in Logan. If someone would do it, it’s sure to be a hit.
I’ve been loosing cool points all over the place these days. This morning I lost cool points to the crock pot.
When Chrissy and I were first married I managed to volunteer to do the dishes. She smiled, I got hosed. Although she’s helped out now and again, it’s been my job for pretty much the past 8+ years. Sometime last week we had dinner cooked in the crock pot. I didn’t get to cleaning it right after it was done. It took a couple of days. Of course, after a couple of days, it stunk and it got cleaned.
This morning the crock pot was back in the sink defiantly pointing a finger at me and screaming! “HA” it said. “HA!” “Less than 24 hours after you cleaned me, I’m dirty again!” Oooohhhh it was an obnoxious conversation! I was loosing.
Now in my degree we were taught about escalating and descalating conversations. I’ve really wanted to escalate things. I knew just how I was going to do it. I was going to get the last word. I was going to win. I was going to get the sledge hammer.
You could imagine what would have happened if I followed through with the hammer. I mean, really. Whenever you do something violent there’s always someone in the background with a video camera. Whatever you do is bound to end up on youtube.
I graduated cum laude from USU. My professors would have read the blog and taken my degree back. Then the Army would have to take away my commissioning, and Chrissy would have to work longer hours at the “pizza biz.” That would mean more time away from the kids, and more babysitters. The babysitters we’ve hired are already getting a bit worn out from our kids. . . They’re high school students that need to be focussed on grades, not raising my children.
Ada, Mikkel, in the interest of your future, I left the sledge hammer in the garage, and walked away.
Generally when I want to win an argument with Chrissy I say, ” I’m a speech communication graduate, don’t mess with me.” The line doesn’t seem to be working on the dishes. So, if any of you guys have any extra cool points please send them along. I seem to be drastically short these days.
I’ve told Chrissy that she’s not the woman I married. No, that person is gone, and she’s been replaced with someone else. Someone I love better. I don’t take the time to comment on this blog about how much she means to me, because it takes a lot of emotional energy to put down in words feelings that I consider beyond words.
I prefer to leave certain emotions in abstract. They are better left as the colours of my mind. Although the English language has an immense lexicon of words, and an immense amount of flexibility with adopting new ones, none seem adequate. Sure I meet new words every week. This week’s word was pulchritudinous. It’s a rather poetically clever word. I like it a lot, but it just doesn’t seem good enough. Pulchritudinous has part of the colors of my mind, but it’s awkward to pronounce, and doesn’t match the sounds that go with the colours.
So all of this is a bit abstract, and maybe too complicated to understand. There have been times when I’ve highlighted some of the people in my life on this blog, and there are some who are wondering when I will highlight their influence on my life. Honestly, I’m just not ready to do that. For the same reason I can’t say good-bye to people. I simply let them leave, and after a time, pick up life from the last encounter. To me describing a person’s influence in my life, is confining that influence.
I recently was asked to write a letter of recommendation for a professor. It was a difficult task, because as much as I knew I had learned from her, I wanted to leave space to learn more. It’s uncomfortable to write the obituary of influence about someone you care about
The few times I have practiced writing about people here on the blog have been hard tasks to be sure. I have had to train myself to construct something on paper from a “thank-you” perspective or a “hello” perspective. Trying to write others though, it feels too much like I’ve said “goodbye.” It’s considerably easier to post blogs with neat little youtube videos than it is to write about the people who’ve helped make me, me.
What’s brought this all on? I’ve been facebooking and finding old friends from High School. Some are just now getting married, others celebrated their second Christmas’ together. A few have children. A small number of those have more than one. All of them have politely responded to seeing the photos on my facebook account. “You have a gorgeous family” and variations, have appeared in response recently. “Certainly you are blessed.”
What did I do to get these blessings? Well, some of it’s me doing the right things. A lot of it is God’s influence on my life, and a LOT of his influence comes from the good people I’ve been surrounded by, and how I’ve framed the learning opportunities in each relationship. Looking back it doesn’t feel like it took a lot of effort from me. The same thing would happen while hiking. The climb upward would be exhausting, but after reaching the summit it would feel like I could tackle more.
Constructing the obituaries for friendships also feels a bit like putting a limit on the hand of the Lord. Unlike Handel I don’t think I could claim to have seen God on his throne, but I have felt the influence of the angels he has sent me in the friendships I cherish deeply.
I will try and muster the courage to write thank-you introductions. My abilities seem lacking in the very thought, but there’s a void of “thank-yous” hitting the media, and since roeckerfam.com is a media I control, it should be used to this end.
We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
Oh yeah, that’s right. I was TV in SouthWest Oklahoma. KSWO channel 7 did a news story on me. Read more here.
It’s nice to have attracted the attention of the news media around here. It seems that on a national level no one can say anything good about anyone else. On a local level, the stories of folks doing something good still get some attention.
Thanks to the KSWO news crew! They’re a great bunch of folks.
There are those who believe that our Republic is in a greater crisis than ever before in its history. They believe that between ongoing military campaigns, the economic struggles, and the idealogical struggle against terrorist jihad (which is sanctioned by religious doctrine) our nation is in great peril. I have listened as some have remarked that the general American public is merely a bunch of drones working out their lives. It is true our society & media seems to favour education that helps the population make money only so they can spend it before they have it.
There is certainly much to be criticized and concerned about in our day.
It’s odd, a few weeks ago Chrissy and I were discussing inflation & food storage. It started with the idea: How much will our grocery budget change when we have to pay $10 for a gallon of milk? It’s not a pleasant thought, nor at this time of having three children in the home do we feel prepared to deal with such circumstances. Inflation is a concern of several economists. There are those who are extremely polarized who believe that the US may see a form of hyperinflation the likes of which no nation has before seen.
I’m no doom-sayer, but I do know that I have a job which is not as succeptable to the turbulant waves of economic discord as others in my family. I’ve even slighly played out the scenario where the month Chrissy and I get out of debt (oh yeah, BTW we’ve been told by the media that it’s our fault the economy is tanking–cause we’re saving instead of spending) we have to financially assist those in the family who are having trouble making ends meet. I’m concerned that our small income, combined with some form of inflation, in conjunction with our foodstorage, will only be enough for our family and I may not have any left to help. You all know me, I’ll find other ways to help somehow, and let’s hope that day never comes. But I play out the scenario anyway because the Church’s welfare system can’t sustain its entire membership, and tough times will require family involvement before they require the Church’s help.
I was sitting across the table from a man last night who was discussing the grievances outlined in the Declaration of Independence. Among the many accusations outlined against King George is this one: “For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.” This grievance was often popularized by the slogan of “No Taxation Without Representation.”
Ok, now here, Let me introduce you to some folks: These are my children. Their names are Eliza, Daniel, and Rainey. Their ages are 7, 3, and 2, respectively. Every dime and dollar of bailout money and stimulus package is a tax they will have to pay in their future. If this democracy endures long enough for them to vote then they will shoulder the economic fallout of this generation’s spending.
Our representative government appears less and less to represent who I am: a father concerned for the future of his children.
I’m reminded of a section of Thomas Paine’s great document, “The Crisis“ while describing a Tori in his day he remarked: a noted one, who kept a tavern at Amboy, was standing at his door, with as pretty a child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as I ever saw, and after speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this unfatherly expression, “Well! give me peace in my day.” Not a man lives on the continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace;” and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty. Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade with them. A man can distinguish himself between temper and principle, and I am as confident, as I am that God governs the world, that America will never be happy till she gets clear of foreign dominion. Wars, without ceasing, will break out till that period arrives, and the continent must in the end be conqueror; for though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire.
I probably quoted too much here. But no one talks like this on the news, in our congress, and rarely in our conversations. I find it refreshing.I have several times made remarks of this sentiment. It’s one of the ways I justify being in the military.
Maybe I should stop watching the news. After all when I drive to work it’s hard to see that there is potential for the economic, idealistic, and physical worlds to come crumbling down upon me. It just looks like gray winter skies, and highway. Or maybe we ought to stop letting our politicians label us, and our children as “The Silent Majority” (thank you Richard Nixon). Maybe somewhere someone will get these folks organized in some way so congress will pay attention. In the meantime I’m working on a letter it goes something like this:
Dear Sir/Madam:
Thank you for taxing the future income of my children and unborn grandchildren. I appreciate that half of the $700 billion is gone without any oversight. If I were that sloppy with my money I wouldn’t have food on the table. It’s nice to know we have more compassion for corporations than we do our citizens.
Were you aware of how much money you allocated without consulting any expert witnesses? Let’s put this into perspective. Line up a bunch of $100 bills and start putting them across America. At it’s widest point you’d be able to cross the country twice with the money you alloted. Oh, and did you know that if you actually had to “print” that money it would take your presses 5 years printing only $100 bills (your largest denomination) working 24/7?
Maybe this is all my fault. After all you might argue that I only participate in this demoncracy every November when I get to vote, and that I’m silent the rest of the year. For this I’d like to apologize, but I figured wearing a uniform with an American flag on it for the past 11 years was participating in deomocracy. If my country now requires that I not only spend long hours defending its freedom, but have to influence its politics, and raise my children, then I’d like you to propose legislation to change the number of hours in the day. I’ll need about 32.
If legislation to change the hours of the day is impractical than please consider acting as a representative of me, my children, my grandchildren, and every generation that follows. I know when I cast my vote that’s who I’m representing. I thought I made a good choice. Please prove me right.
Thank you for your time.
-Jacob Roecker
So what’s next? Well, if you’ve got it in mind to do something about this issue, help get people mobilized. Take this same idea of “Taxation without representation” and make some noise. Link to this blog, cut and paste the entire thing and email it around, DO something. Otherwise our nonrepresentative government will label us the Silent Majority and tell us what we’re thinking.
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