Big Headed Lifeguards

While were on vacation this summer, I spent some time with my kids in a hotel pool.
There were no life-guards on duty – and we were having a blast. Having contests of holding our breath – jumping off the edge of the pool together – letting the kids hold onto my back while I swam as fast as I could.

We didn’t rough-house, or drown anyone – or even run on the wet pool apron.

 

I honestly hadn’t even noticed the lack of lifeguards.

Then we went to the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. We learned about the founders of Pennsylvania – their vision for our fair state and our young country – and I took advantage of that time to talk to my kids about government, and it’s role in the lives of the people.

I tried hard not to pull a Ron Swanson.

But I expressed my discontent. I don’t want to sour my kids on America. I don’t want to make them resentful of our government – but I truly believe the system is broken, and I wanted to give them a chance to hear my thoughts on it, and to see what their thoughts were.

We were sprawled out on the lawn next to the mammoth capital dome, enjoying our picnic lunch, and discussing politics. I explained that it feels to me like the government has been influenced by lobbyists and corporate greed.
And somewhere along the line – the government has started to be more concerned about “safety” than about “freedom.” There will always be a delicate balance between the two – but we’re definitely at the furthest point of that pendulum.

Just as I was explaining my frustrations, two white haired bureaucrat looking gentlemen started making their way across the lawn, headed straight for our little picnic.

My six year old said, “SHHH! Dad. The politicians are coming right toward us!”
I said, “Shiloh, hunny, we still have freedom of speech. They can’t do anything to me.”

My twelve year old daughter responded, “I don’t know dad, that briefcase he’s carrying looks huge.”

We had a long laugh, rolling in the grass and enjoying the shade of those ancient oak trees before we made our way back to the hotel. I still didn’t feel like my kids really understood what I was trying to say…

and as we entered the hotel pool, I realized an analogy they could understand.

“Kids, you know when we normally go swimming, there are life guards there right?”
“Yeah, dad.”
“You know that we have to obey and respect those life guards, and that they are at the pool to keep us safe, and to rescue us if we are drowning, right?”
“Yup.”
“Do you know how sometimes the life guard blows his whistle at you and tells you to WALK when you really weren’t running?”
“Oh, yeah!”
“Or remember the time that we got yelled at because we jumped off the deep end holding hands?”
“Yeah! And when the lifeguard wouldn’t let me hang on your back!”
“The next question – is have you enjoyed the past three days of swimming without a life guard? We’ve had a little more freedom, haven’t we?”

And it all started to click. It’s GOOD to have a government who wants to keep us safe – but often that same government can be a bit like a big-headed life guard – and we struggle back and forth with the balance of freedom and safety, while they enjoy the power of their whistle and authority.

I can’t say that I have the answers. Obviously we need rules and we need order to keep our country safe, strong, and healthy. Obviously we need government to make and enforce those rules. And citizenship involves a reasonable obeisance to those rules. But we need to be active in that process if we want to keep government in check. We need to speak out against the things that we see that are unjust. We need to engage our government, and hold them accountable to the constitution.

I’m not recommending that we go running along the pool deck -
but it may be time for a well-placed cannonball into the pool, so that the life guards can get a little bit wet.