By Anna Von Reitz
When I was about fifteen and full of beans and would do something a bit rash or get above myself in making comments to adults, my Mother would wag her head and say, “If you don’t govern yourself, someone else will have to do it for you! And it will be at your cost!”
What she meant by this was not totally, crystal clear to me at the time, but it has become one of those nagging mantras that expands and clarifies its meaning over the rough road of experience and time.
Like all great truths, it’s deceptively simple. We have to self-discipline ourselves and choose what is right, or we run the risk of having other parties and powers come into our lives to do the job we have avoided doing for ourselves.
For me as a young girl, it had more to do with minding my tongue and being patient.
For many people, failing to self-govern means landing in jail.
For a nation, it is the fundamental requirement of existence.
And for a 150 years, America has not been fully self-governing.
