When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
" Adrian Rogers, 1931
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An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had failed an entire class.
That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame, and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that.
Dear Family and Friends,
As usual a lot has happened in the Collier family this past year and I am just sitting down to write about it in my annual Christmas letter. I am much later than other years so you may not be receiving it until after the big day, but I think I have a good reason…
Last Christmas I told you about my desire to attend nursing school and that I would find out in June if I had been accepted. Well I was accepted! I was so excited and since then it has been a continuous challenge to keep up with all of the schoolwork. Hence, the delay in getting my Christmas cards out this year.
We just finished the first semester of nursing school and it was a little touch-and-go at the end. While I had A’s in three out of four classes, the last final exam was not quite what I expected and so I was not very successful with it… bringing my grade in that class to a C. However that is just the grade for tests and quizzes, so after adding in my other assignments I should have a solid B and I’ll be happy with that. The important thing is that I will be able to continue on in the program, unlike some of my fellow students. It will be sad to see which ones did not make it to return in January.
I also mentioned last year that we were heading east to visit Jason and Tara for Christmas. We had a good trip out there and back and truly enjoyed our time with them in their home. The dogs didn’t always get along so well, but that’s to be expected sometimes. Jason and Tara continue to do well in their jobs and seem happy and content having their home in the country and keeping busy making improvements when they have time. Jason was especially excited about putting new windows in the basement (without hiring a professional, other than Tara’s dad.) They have also acquired a new puppy, Chloe. It has been an adjustment for them all, most of all Toby… the first dog. He is not quite sure he likes this new “toy,” that bites and wants to play all the time (now he knows how it feels. LOL!)
Around the same time we were returning to our routine after the holiday last year, Christine (having just gotten settled in Grand Forks,) found out she was going to Iraq and only had about three weeks to get ready! She was NOT a happy camper! Anyway, she pulled it together, got a new dog sitter (her best friend, Mandy,) and was on her way by the end of February. Her actual trip… just getting out of the States was an experience… ask her sometime. Almost immediately upon arriving in Iraq, Christine began to have severe pain in her lower back, hip and leg. Diagnosed with sciatica, was not really very helpful to her because being over there, they couldn’t really do anything to help except give her drugs. She lived with the pain for those six months and returned back to ND in August. After a couple of long-planned trips for weddings, she ended up having back surgery in October. So far all is well and she is pain-free. Of course having precancerous lesions removed from her abdomen isn’t exactly fun either (and you say you still want to use a tanning bed!?)
Good news for Christine is she has been selected for Officer’s Training School (OTS) and that starts in March. She has been working on having this opportunity for quite some time and can’t wait! Guess “Grandma and Grandpa Collier” will be watching the grand-dogs, Bear and Rosco again. The school is three months and then she will be assigned to a new duty station. Meanwhile, her boyfriend, Benny, is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan after the first of the year. Please keep him in your prayers. He will be there until sometime next fall.
Gary continues having fun teaching JROTC. He really enjoys working with the high school kids and is often rewarded when one of them meets with some success and attributes it to their exposure to such a wonderful leadership program, and specifically to the guidance of MSG Collier.
Oh, I almost forgot… we moved! Some of you may already know about the move, but I just didn’t have time to notify everyone and figured Christmas would be soon enough. Anyway, last summer we were toying with the idea of looking at houses, just to see if we could actually afford to buy one. We figured out what kind of payment we could afford and started looking online. We found several houses that looked promising and eventually contacted a local Century 21 agent (actually she was the first to call us back with information.) She showed us several homes, and then the one we ultimately chose to buy. It is in a really nice neighborhood and although the yard is a big small, the layout of the house is unique and fits us quite well.