My dream is to one day somehow be able to mix being a flight attendant with fashion. Oh, dream, you will come true.

Counterculture
by Dennis Prager

Following is the commencement address Dennis Prager gave to the 1997 graduating class of Pepperdine University.
would like to offer you seven ideas. That’s all I want to do. If you fall asleep during one of them, there are six remaining. If you fall asleep during five, maybe you’ll get two ideas.

But I want to just give you seven ideas culled from one human’s life that I think can be very powerful in the way you live your lives when you leave this institution.

In no order of importance:

One: The Greatest Struggle Is with Yourself
The greatest struggle in your life is not with society; it is with yourself. This idea is not taught in America today. We are taught that we are victims of a society that is sexist, racist, ageist, anti-Semitic, anti-Asian, anti-Hispanic, anti-woman, anti-old, anti-young — anti just about everyone. The temptation is therefore overwhelming to see your problems and challenges in life as being with America and not with yourself.

There is a man in Florida, a psychiatrist — he is, fortunately, not representative of his profession — who tells women, “Never take an anti-depressant, even if you are diagnosed with biological reasons for depression, because no woman is depressed for biological reasons. Any woman who is depressed is depressed because of sexism.” There are therefore thousands of women who do have biological origins of depression who will not take a medicine such as Prozac or some other psychopharmaceutical drug because they think their problems emanate from sexism.

Whatever you are, there is something to blame in today’s society: “I shot my parents, but it wasn’t my fault.” You yourselves have lived through this.

Please understand: In this society, my greatest challenge is Dennis, your greatest challenge is you. And if you can make you better, you will make this society better. Please don’t buy the rhetoric that the external is the problem. In a free and affluent country like this, we are the problem.

Two: Trust Your Common Sense
Mark Twain was right when he said, “Common sense isn’t common.” Nevertheless, please use this great gift of God, your common sense, when, outside of the natural sciences, you hear the words, “studies show,” and you find that the studies show the opposite of what common sense suggests.

As someone who is twice your age, who has been on radio fifteen years, and has debated these issues daily for fifteen years, may I tell you that I have never once come across a valid study that contravened common sense.

Nearly always studies either substantiate common sense or they are wrong. That is a general rule of life. That doesn’t mean, don’t take studies seriously. It means take common sense most seriously.

People call me up and tell me “studies show” that it doesn’t matter if a child has a mother and a father, that it is just as good to have one loving parent or two fathers or two mothers. “Studies show” this. That’s nonsense. Of course it matters if you don’t have a father or don’t have a mother. Does it mean you are doomed if you don’t have one — if one died or if one left? No, it doesn’t mean you’re doomed. The human spirit is powerfully resilient, thank God. Nevertheless, it’s a flawed “study” if it claims to show both parents aren’t necessary. A greater study — life in every civilization — leads to a different conclusion. The study of life shows that it is good for a child to have a mom and a dad.

This issue is a big battle in America today because of the powerful forces that say, “It’s just as wonderful for a single woman to be inseminated” or “It’s just as wonderful for two women or two men to raise a child,” as it is for a child to have a mother and father.

And know that this issue has nothing to do with women’s rights, and nothing to do with gay rights. It has to do with something too few people talk about — children’s rights. Children have a right to have a mother and a father. That’s common sense, simple common sense.

I was told when I was in your place, in college, in the heyday of certain ideas in the late ‘60s, that “studies show” that boys and girls are not inherently different, they differ only because parents give boys guns and give girls dolls. So the dummies who believed that “studies show” that boys and girls are essentially the same decided to raise their boys with dolls and their girls with trucks. And what happened? The boys broke the dolls’ arms, and the girls cuddled the trucks.

Of course, there are enormous differences between boys and girls — life and common sense show this, not necessarily “studies.” A woman professor at Stanford wrote an article in the New York Times about ten years ago. She wrote that she was one of those who believed that boys and girls are essentially the same, that all the differences (except the obvious biological) are all societally induced. Then she had a son, and then a daughter, and she saw how wrong she had been.

The greatest of the “studies” is the study of life, not some abstract study. Keep studying it, and trust your common sense.

Three: Race is Unimportant
Be guided by an idea of a Jew who went through a Nazi death camp. He miraculously survived, though his wife and his parents were gassed.

After the Holocaust, he was asked, “Do you hate all Germans?”

And he said, “No, I don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” he said, “there are only two races, the decent and the indecent.”

Remember that, and you will never, ever, for one scintilla of a moment, have a racist belief. If you divide humanity between black and non-black, white and non-white, brown and non-brown, yellow and non-yellow, you are, by definition, racist. If you divide the world simply between decent people and indecent people, you can’t be a racist because every race has good and bad members. If you divide by moral rather than racial terms, you are liberated from even the possibility of ingesting the toxin of racism.

Remember that statement. His name is Viktor Frankl. I read his book Man’s Search for Meaning, when I was in high school, and it was one of the few books that changed my life.

Graduates, in this race-intoxicated society, please know that as countercultural, as politically incorrect as it is, race is trivial. Race means nothing. The color of a human’s skin is as trivial as the color of a human’s hair. That is not today’s politically correct belief. But it is the belief rooted in every sacred tradition from the East to the West — including my Judaism and your Christianity. God does not know the color of skin. God knows the character of a human heart. Period.

Four: Don’t Leave Your Values at Home
Whatever you do in your professional life, don’t leave your values at home when you go to work.

Most people in my profession are decent people — who leave their decent values at home when they go to work. At work, they produce a lot of garbage, garbage that many of them don’t want their own children to see. But they produce it because the gods of ratings — the god of Nielsen, the god of Arbitron — demand it.

The hardest of the Ten Commandments is not the commandment against adultery, nor the one against murder, nor the one against theft. It is the commandment against having false gods. Among most of those in my profession, the gods of Nielsen and Arbitron are worshipped far more than God.

You have to determine, when you walk out of your home, what god you will worship. And that is tough. It is tough to keep your integrity at work.

If you become a lawyer, it is tough. It is tough not to fool around with a courtroom in order to win a case. It is hard not to fiddle a little bit with the truth, though not really tell a lie, in order to win for your client. It is hard in business to be honest and not make a false claim for your product.

It will be tough for you. It is easy to succeed. It’s tough to succeed with your integrity intact.

Five: Beware of Bad Ideas
We are living in the last three years of the bloodiest, meanest, cruelest, most torturous and barbaric century in the history of human life. Please never assume that moral progress is inevitable. This century is the century of gas chambers and gulags. This is the century of totalitarianism, red and brown.

Do you know why most evil takes place? Not because people are bad, but because they have bad ideas. Be careful to avoid bad ideas.

I’ll give you a quick way to measure if an idea is good. Ask two questions: Does this make people kinder? Does this hold people morally accountable? Nazism could not answer that it makes people kinder. Communism could not answer that it holds people morally accountable; all you had to do was hasten the revolution.

I don’t know of an improvement over Leviticus 19:18. “Love your neighbor as yourself. I am God.” No new idea has supplanted that one.

Six: Behavior Matters More than Intentions
That you mean to do good or that you are sincere doesn’t mean a thing to the other six billion people on earth. The only thing that matters to all of us is how you act. God cares about your heart, but the rest of humanity cares about your behavior. Saying “I want good to be done” but not doing any good; crying for the poor, but not giving charity or hiring a poor person — none of your good intentions mean a thing.

And on the other side, having selfish intentions and doing good is okay. It’s better to have good intentions, but if good comes out of what’s selfish, that is what counts. The good that is done, not intended, is what matters.

Capitalism is rooted in selfishness much more than Communism, but communism murdered nearly one hundred million people this century, while capitalism has been the engine of democracy. So be very careful when you judge a system not to judge its intention or its rhetoric. Judge its results.

Seven: Religion is the True Counterculture
People think counterculture is dressing weird, or having every possible part of the body pierced. That’s not counterculture. If you do this, I’m not commenting on whether you should or not. But don’t think for a moment that this is taking a stand for some counterculture or that it takes guts.

I’ll tell you what takes guts in America today. The ultimate counterculture is to take God and religion seriously. Do you want to stand independent? When I turned down an extremely lucrative offer of having an afternoon drive-time radio show, the most lucrative part of radio except for the morning drive I said, “I can’t. I do not broadcast on my Sabbath. When the sun goes down on Friday, I stop working.”

That’s my counterculture. My religion says you have to observe the Sabbath, and somehow or other I have found this to be more important than even a better job in my profession. I have been amply rewarded by that decision: I have a Sabbath with my family; I don’t work seven days a week; I don’t live in front of my computer; my wife isn’t a computer widow and my kids see their father.

Yes, it takes guts and even sometimes the loss of a job, though that has never been involved, thank God, in my life. But that’s counterculture.

When you can say, “No, I’m sorry; as tempting as that is [whatever that may be], I cannot do it,” others respect you, and you will respect you. When you know to whom you are accountable and you ultimately march to the beat of a higher drummer, you lead a more peaceful life.

The temptation to do what everybody else does is enormous, yet it is a guarantor of unhappiness, not just a guarantor of doing the wrong thing. Be true to your faith. It will ultimately work. And it’s perhaps even more powerful that I, being of a different faith than you — I am a religious Jew — am saying this to Christians. It’s more powerful because I obviously have no theological ax to grind.

I need you. I, a fellow American, need you to be a good Christian. As the Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis said about Jews, “A good Jew will be a good American,” I am telling you that a good Christian will be a good American.

I interviewed those black heroes who saved the white trucker Reginald Denny during the riots. Three of the four of them were active Christians. But the media, my profession, doesn’t report that. It shows you only the bad, the nihilistic. They don’t report about the religious impulse that animated such people because it doesn’t serve their own interest. Media people are almost all radically secular. But it was very moving to me to meet these people.

I conclude, therefore, with a prayer from my own religion. I will say it to you in the original Hebrew, but I will, do not fear, translate it for you. And as we pray in Judaism with a kippah, a yarmulke. I will put mine on and offer it to you.

May God bless and guard over you. May God shine His countenance lovingly upon you. And may He give you a peaceful life.

Copyright © 1998 Dennis Prager. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted, with permission, from The Prager Perspective.
Dennis Prager is author, lecturer and radio talk show host on KABC in Los Angeles. His books include Happiness Is a Serious Problem; Think a Second Time, 44 essays on 44 subjects; The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism; and Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism. In addition to writing for Commentary, the Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, he lectures internationally and on occaison, conducts orchestras.

Some architecture pictures from my trip to Victoria and Vancouver in British Columbia. I find that when I’m emotional and/or at this specific emotional state, I easily become artistic. Emotion really does foster arts, at least for me. I can’t recall a time when it was the other way around though. Sometimes I wonder if I should have gone down the artist road that I had planned before those 2 weeks at Don Mills. I wonder. I want to drop everything and go live near the beach in Tel-Aviv.

Doesn’t this look like something you would find in Tel-Aviv?

People do really see what they want to see. It just gets bad when people see in others what they dislike (hate) about themselves and aren’t able to accept it.

“Not Afraid”

[Chorus:]
I’m not afraid (I’m not afraid)
To take a stand (to take a stand)
Everybody (everybody)
Come take my hand (come take my hand)
We’ll walk this road together, through the storm
Whatever weather, cold or warm
Just lettin you know that, you’re not alone
Holla if you feel like you’ve been down the same road (same road)

[Intro (during Chorus):]
Yeah, it’s been a ride
I guess I had to, go to that place, to get to this one
Now some of you, might still be in that place
If you’re trying to get out, just follow me
I’ll get you there

You could try and read my lyrics off of this paper before I lay ‘em
But you won’t take the sting out these words before I say ‘em
Cause ain’t no way I’ma let you stop me from causin mayhem
When I say I’ma do somethin I do it,
I don’t give a damn what you think,
I’m doin this for me, so fuck the world
Feed it beans, it’s gassed up, if it thinks it’s stoppin me
I’ma be what I set out to be, without a doubt undoubtedly
And all those who look down on me I’m tearin down your balcony
No if ands or buts, don’t try to ask him why or how can he
From “Infinite” down to the last “Relapse” album
he’s still shittin, whether he’s on salary paid hourly
Until he bows out or he shits his bowels out of him
Whichever comes first, for better or worse
He’s married to the game, like a fuck you for Christmas
His gift is a curse, forget the Earth, he’s got the urge
to pull his dick from the dirt, and fuck the whole universe

[Chorus]

Okay quit playing with the scissors and shit, and cut the crap
I shouldn’t have to rhyme these words in the rhythm for you to know it’s a rap
You said you was king, you lied through your teeth, for that
Fuck your feelings, instead of gettin crowned you’re gettin capped
And to the fans, I’ll never let you down again, I’m back
I promise to never go back on that promise, in fact
Let’s be honest, that last “Relapse” CD was ehhh
Perhaps I ran them accents into the ground
Relax, I ain’t goin back to that now
All I’m tryin to say is get back, click-clack, blaow
Cause I ain’t playin around
It’s a game called circle and I don’t know how, I’m way too up to back down
But I think I’m still tryin to figure this crap out
Thought I had it mapped out but I guess I didn’t, this fuckin black cloud
still follows, me around but it’s time to exorcise these demons
These motherfuckers are doin jumpin jacks now!

[Chorus]

And I just can’t keep living this way
So starting today, I’m breaking out of this cage
I’m standing up, I’ma face my demons
I’m manning up, I’ma hold my ground
I’ve had enough, now I’m so fed up
Time to put my life back together right now! (now)

It was my decision to get clean, I did it for me
Admittedly, I probably did it subliminally
for you, so I could come back a brand new me you helped see me through
And don’t even realize what you did, believe me you
I been through the ringer, but they could do little to the middle finger
I think I got a tear in my eye, I feel like the king of
my world, haters can make like bees with no stingers
and drop dead, no more beef flingers
No more drama from now on, I promise
to focus solely on handlin my responsibilities as a father
So I solemnly swear to always treat this roof, like my daughters
and raise it, you couldn’t lift a single shingle on it!
Cause the way I feel, I’m strong enough to go to the club
or the corner p

ub,

and lift the whole liquor counter up
Cause I’m raising the

bar
I’d shoot for the moon but I’m too busy gazin at stars
I feel amazing and I’m
[Chorus]

[CL] You wear the shoes I gave you and walk along the streets with her
As if it were nothing, you kiss her
You spray the cologne I gave you and embrace her
You’ll probably repeat those promises you made to me with her

[Minzy] It seems that we’re already too late
Has our love already ended
Please at least say anything to me
We truly loved each other, can’t turn back?

[Dara] I’m the only one hurting tonight

[Bom] Have you changed?
Am I no longer in your heart now?
When I, I think about you
It hurts, hurts, hurts so much

[Minzy] You look at my tears as if it were nothing
You continue to talk calmly again
[CL] You told me cruely that you couldn’t deny
That you had absolutely no attachments or regrets

[Bom] Are we already too late? Is our love over?
Even if it’s a lie, please tell me it isn’t so
I can do better now, though we can’t meet again

[Dara] I’m the only one in pain tonight

[CL] Have you changed?
Am I no longer in your heart now?
When I, I think about you
It hurts, hurts, hurts so much

[Minzy] You’re no longer your old self
[CL] Because the you I loved
And the you now are so different
[Dara] Are you that shocked?
I just stood and cried
Watching you become further away
[Bom] No way, I can’t recognize
You’re not mine anymore

[Dara] Did you have to change?
Can’t you come back?
Did you really have to change?
Can’t you come back?

Did you have to change?
Can’t you come back?
Why did you have to change?
Can’t you keep loving me?

[Bom] Oh, is this the end?
Am I no longer in your heart now?
When I, I think about you
[Minzy] It hurts, hurts, hurts so much

[Minzy] It hurts, it hurts
[CL] It hurts, it hurts

My heart has completely stopped
At this rate I’m going to be in trouble
Who are you to make me cry?

Everyday I cried, everyday I starved
I lost weight, now my clothes don’t fit me
Why do you keep giving me pain?
That man you’re that man

I wanted you like crazy
My world cannot be without you
I want to love again; I want to go to your place
Will you give me your heart one more time?
I only want to look at you by your side
As long as we’ll love again, we won’t split up

The world without you baby
Just driving me so crazy
Tell me the way I can change your mind
How can I let you know you’re mine
I know that I don’t know
What made your heart broke so
All I want is to be your lady
Sick and tired of being a cry baby
{One day feels like a year
A word without you is like hell
What do I have to do to have you come back to me?
What do I do to make you know my feelings
Exactly what did I do wrong?
Not being able to see you like this
Makes me cry and laugh today}

My tears have completely dried
My heart is still stooped
Do you really not know my feelings?

I want you like crazy
My world cannot be without you
I want to love again; I want to go to your place
Will you give me your heart one more time?
I only want to look at you by your side
As long as we’ll love again, we won’t split up

It can’t be, it can’t be, come back
Even if I wish, even if I belive, there’s no news
Why do I keep doing this? I have to forget
But I can’t do it that well, I really can’t

I want you like crazy
My world cannot be without you
I want to love again; I want to go to your place
Will you give me your heart one more time?
I only want to look at you by my side
As long as we’ll love again, we won’t split up

That man, you’re that man
That man, you’re that man

Let’s go, S-I-S-T-A-R, Sistar!
Baby stop breaking my heart
Your heard me? No more “next time”
I hope you got that boy
Hey girls, it’s gonna be alright
Hey boys, better make it right
Hey girls, we got ya back

You said you knew even if I said nothing
You know my heart somehow, right?
So I believed, I was patient, and I waited
You said you wouldn’t leave me by myself
You promised, pinky-swore
So why are you lying again?

Is it that hard to say “I love you”?
It’s just one phrase
You keep changing, I’m becoming exhausted
As time passes I get more confused
The more I like you, the more I’m hurt
(Why you trippin’ boy?) Look at me

Oh ma boy, oh ma boy, baby
You don’t know love, my heart hurts
Oh ma boy, oh ma boy, baby
There’s no way you know how I feel
Don’t let me down boy

I’m going crazy because of you
Why ya try ‘n play games with me?
Because of you everyday
I go up and down several times
Don’t let me down
I cry every night (no, no)
Stop breaking my heart

You don’t know how I feel, your eyes wander
I got what you’re looking for.
Don’t look at other women
This is my last warning (oh no)
This gon’ be the last time

Is it that hard to say “I love you”?
It’s just one phrase
You keep changing, I’m becoming exhausted
As time passes I get more confused
The more I like you, the more I’m hurt
(Why you trippin’ boy?) Look at me

Oh ma boy, oh ma boy, baby
You don’t know love, my heart hurts
Oh ma boy, oh ma boy, baby
There’s no way you know how I feel
Don’t let me down boy

Woo boy, the more I like you
Woo boy, do you know how I feel?
The small whispers of my heart
The warm looks you give me sometimes
I just need one of those, I only want you
You still don’t know my heart

Oh ma boy, oh ma boy, baby
You don’t know love, my heart hurts
Oh ma boy, oh ma boy, baby
There’s no way you know how I feel
Don’t let me down boy

Ma boy

Translation Credits: https://theblackcat1236.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/sistar-19-ma-boy-english-translation/