Author: Jason Zerbey

Posted on

Is Taxation Theft?

What happens if you don’t pay them? They come with guns and lock you up.

Credit agencies don’t do that and seem to get their job done (repo is for property, not freedom). Truth is that government has no moral right to your money, they must use force to take it. There’s no moral wrong in not paying taxes, we do it because we are afraid of losing our freedom.

Americans are rightfully terrified and spend millions in protection money to tax preparers.

Many say it’s not theft, but they sure act like it is.

Posted on

It Ain’t a Break

There is a lot of talk among homeschoolers this time of year about what kind of “break” to take. As much as I agree with the concept of taking a break from formal homeschooling, it’s not a “break.”

It’s a shift of priorities. In the wake of losing the mother of my two young sons, I shifted all my focus to our emotional, psychological, and spiritual wellbeing. There’s a lot of work in that. I’ve come to believe that learning the skills to cope with tragedy is more important than any book-based lesson.

An emotionally balanced, psycholgically self-aware, and spiritually grounded individual is unstoppable in whatever learning they desire. That individual can never be “behind.”

That work isn’t just for those in the throes of trauma, it is for everyone. Our society is sick with worry over where each of us exists in the rat race. The only real race is the one against ourselves. Finding deeper peace in each day will bring us ever greater riches until our last day.

The work is in yourself, always.

Posted on

Revisiting a Tradition

Every December, Mary would spend a full day making cookies. She saved takeout containers througout the year and filled them with her goodies to share with friends, family, and neighbors.

I’ve never baked and I didn’t intend on picking up this tradition. My sons loved helping their mom, but I didn’t know where to begin (I was/am lead dishwasher).

When I tossed the idea out to friends that my sons enjoyed baking, but I was inept, there was no hesitation in someone suggesting a cookie baking party. It came together in five days with two of my late wife’s recipes on the menu.

The music was wild and the grownups kept things rolling as the kids rotated in and out, eating and helping in turns.

We’ve cultivated this new group of friends out of a primal drive for community. My boys have videogame, wrestling, and troublemaking partners and I have found a group of unschoolers who value the strength we find in each other.

It was a thrill to revisit Mary’s tradition in a totally new way. I know she’s smiling on us today.

Posted on

Process and Progress

I didn’t want a tree this year. Lots of reasons, but I’ve never owned this tradition. Raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, it never entered my sense of nostalgia.
–
I mentioned opting out of a tree to my son, Isaac, and the disappointment on his face told me we needed a tree. Now I dreaded it as it felt out of my control.
–
Then my friend Julianne’s daughter mentioned that she wanted to surprise her mom with a tree when she got back from a weekend away.
–
Julianne is as hardworking as moms come. She’s a widow who has been a support and inspiration to me for almost two years. I never turn down an opportunity to help her out as she spends each and every day helping other people live their best lives.
–
That same day I picked up the McElroy children to find our trees. I love love love these kids. They’re the McElzerbs when we’re all together. Our youngest boys were born just four  days apart.
–
Julianne’s daughter, Kay, is all business and the trees were on top of my car in no time. She’s as independent as they come, but let me help get the tree inside and upright.
–
By the time I got myself home, I didn’t have the energy to get our tree off the roof of the car. It was down early the next day, but stood outside for a week as I prepared a space for it inside. Repeatedly that week, I thought how absurd it was that I was bringing this tree inside to die.
–
But, as I rearranged, cleaned, and generally improved our living space, I remembered how much my late wife enjoyed seasonal changes. Christmas  decorating was her favorite. Her sweet joy at all of it fueled me out of indifference. Isaac carries an inordinate amount of her DNA and spirit.
–
Now here we are. More than week after purchase, a dozen bulbs replaced, and ready for ornaments.
–
Certain things move more slowly as a single dad. It’s hard for me to accept that and forgive myself for being worn out before a job is done. The funny part is that sometimes Mary and I would get this done a few days before Christmas. In my self criticism I almost forgot that I’m doing a fine job. I almost ignored the progress we’ve made. This is my process.
–
Respect yourself. Respect your process. Merry Christmas.

Posted on

On Energy and Faith

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

When I read C.S. Lewis’s A Grief Observed, I felt dark sadness for how deeply the loss of his wife undermined his foundations. It’s written much like a journal and I could walk that early path of grief alongside him.

It struck me how my faith journey was strengthened by the loss of my wife. How my unique path towards salvation seemed specifically meant for this moment in time.

Grief is strange. Over and over I return to that. Lewis was one of the great thinkers and witnesses to the Christian faith in the 20th century, producing influential works throughout a long life. I’m a thoughtful person who took a winding road to accepting Christ into my heart in my thirties. I wasn’t a head-on-fire convert when I lost Mary, but I was brand new in the church.

With a long standing drinking problem and an eruption of traumas ancient and new, why didn’t I descend into Hell? Or at least put Heaven on trial?

I suppose it’s the parts of me for which I can’t take credit. The parts of my being that seem immutable to my overthinking mind and ego-driven emotions. These are the gifts that God made for me: an indomitable optimism and a body filled with raw energy.

This is our third Christmas without Mary. These Decembers have called me to dip deep into those wells of optimism and energy. This is the hardest and loneliest one so far.

Damn. I’m usually able to write myself into an upturn. Seems silly to brag on my energy and optimism, then end on a down note. That’s where faith comes to help. I believe that I’m on the right path and understand it’s not always going to be sunny. I forgive myself for these low moments and I’m going to stop trying to write myself out of this one.

Posted on

Little Library Christmas Cheer

We got a wonderful surprise when one of our local Little Libraries started holding wrapped books.

My younger son found a Christmas book during his explorations and we drove my older over to find something.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

He was super excited to get two Roald Dahl books, The Magic Finger and George’s Marvelous Medicine. He hasn’t read either, but we are all big fans.

Posted on

What Are We Doing?

The Lockdowns don’t save lives. How many stay-at-home people are testing positive? Hoe many people trapped in care facilities have died? This is the season of respiratory infection. It won’t end until sometime in Spring. What will our society look like after a year of this?

From Tom Woods:

I just read a Florida reporter talking about a rise in hospitalizations in our state.

Is there some isolated issue in Florida right now?

Or are hospitalizations rising everywhere, regardless of policy?

No answer, of course.

Remember, too:

In Florida there are no restrictions on private gatherings, no restrictions on bars and restaurants, no restrictions on churches, no restrictions on gyms, and no curfews or stay-at-home orders.

Florida also has the fifth-oldest population in the country (as opposed to California, at 44th).

Yet in a graph of maybe a dozen states’ current hospitalizations per million, I see Florida doing better than such blue, “follow-the-science,” ruin-people’s-lives states as New York, California, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Mexico, and New Jersey.

Are any of those places going to be criticized?

You already know the answer.

We are living through the craziest moment in our lifetimes. Almost nobody is being rational, and almost nobody can even be trusted to report data properly.

I will never want to live “off the grid,” because I’d hate it, but I definitely want to live in a way that doesn’t rely on crazy people.

Hence my various businesses, all of which are insulated against the crazies.

I sat down and recorded over-the-shoulder videos of how you can do this. It’s called Net Profits Academy.

Coupon code woods lowers the price from $47 to a mere $19.95, but it expires at midnight.

Go learn:

http://www.tomwoods.com/woodstheteacher

Tom Woods

Posted on

A Darker Delaware

I don’t know how businesses will survive the latest restrictions, especially when they are given one business day to comply and threatened with a zero tolerance policy.

I don’t know if more people will rebel, or if more people will break under the rules. I feel close to breaking.

I don’t think serious consideration is given to those who are in difficult positions: single parents fighting to provide a healthy and positive environment for their children, grandparents and great-grandparents who may be isolated for their last holiday season, the people who have lost jobs and businesses, those struggling with addiction and depression, and every single human who has been shamed and insulted in this terrible Lockdown.

I go to sleep tonight with a weight on my chest. I will pray for peace and guidance. I will ask for wisdom and clarity as I have done repeatedly over the last nine months. I am ever hopeful, but that hope is thinning.

Posted on

Hooked on Healthy

I have five soccer games scheduled in five days. Before a hike and today’s game I took a cold shower for more than five minutes. It was the first time I stepped into a cold shower after eight months of hot showers followed by a couple minutes of cold.

Since I began Wim Hof Method breathing and cold therapy showers in April, I have had signifigant gains in physical recovery, cardiovascular endurance, and general wellbeing.

[Wim Hof with Jordan and Mikhaila Peterson on Castbox: https://castbox.fm/vb/333970245]

I’m super excited for the next few days. I had been preparing for less soccer in my life this winter and I’m blessed to find the opposite to be true.

I made it to yoga earlier this week and will sneak another one in soon. I’m glad that I’ve chosen to focus on my physical life. I truly didn’t know I had this much in me.