Here's an observation that I had today: In almost of the history books that I read, the myth that Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burnt is refuted only by the fact that there were no fiddles at that time.  The original myth stated that he played the lyre, not the fiddle, but that is not the case.  He did work hard to save Rome, and he even opened up his personal gardens to the homeless.  He only played the lyre on a short break.  Please remember, I am not trying to excuse Nero's despicable behavior, because it has no defense.  He was terrible, murderous, cowardly, and preferred pursuing little pleasures rather than making decisions about Rome.  (But based on the decisions that he did make, that may have actually been a good thing.)

  My point is that people are so willing to make up things to make their grudges even more reasonable to them.  It's not needed; Nero did plenty of bad things, and we don't need to make up more.  But people do, because of their grudges.  But we shouldn't be that way.

  A while ago, Gen J's book of the month was Do Hard Things.  It's a great book; very informative.  And I think that just the title tells us something about what people are not doing: hard things.  How aren't they?  Well, it's easy to hold anger, hate, and grudges.  But what about keeping a grasp on reality?  That's harder, I'm sure, but it is better in the long run.  We don't need to make up stories just because Nero was a horrible person, but instead we should learn from his real mistakes.

  Learn the facts instead of making up fiction.  America needs thinkers, not people who let their hatred make decisions.  I challenge you.  Do the hard thing.  Do the right thing.