Dakota Beacon

I was at a summer 2017 auction sale buying cedar boards for the storage structure I began building in 2016. After successfully purchasing $160 worth of 1” thick cedar boards, I stayed to see if there was anything else for sale that I could use on the structure. As I observed the sale of various items, I noticed that a young man had bid on a table saw but dropped out of the bidding when the bids exceeded the amount he was willing to pay. I approached him, introduced myself, and asked Cletus if he would like to see a Sears table saw that I had in storage. He agreed and we drove the 15 or so miles to see the saw. I could see that he was a young man just starting out in life and our conversation during the drive had convinced me that he had character beyond his years. I proposed that he take the saw that day and pay me at some point in the future when he could afford it; we agreed on a price of $75 for the saw.

I finished building the structure last summer and had not even considered since then whether I would ever be paid for the saw. We returned this spring from a two week vacation driving through the southwestern US and the first day we were back I received a letter in the mail post marked May 15 in a US Postal Service “forever” stamped envelope. I opened the letter and it contained a postal money order from Cletus for $75 with the words “table saw” written in the memo portion of the money order!

While my expectation all along was that Cletus would pay me, it was still very gratifying when it actually happened. As I looked at the money order, I reflected on God's presence in my life… Cletus had acted in a huge way to renew my faith in mankind. After thanking the Lord for good and decent people like Cletus, I decided to share our story with my friends who frequent the Dakota Beacon website.

Cletus and I had something in common… we are both very conservative. You see, Cletus is Amish and has likely worked very hard to make the $75 he paid to me for the saw. He wore the home-made clothing and straw hat that probably caused me to approach him in the first place. I have a loathing for banks that is likely the same reason that the payment was not a bank draft. I have a deep respect for those who work hard and have the courage to live within their convictions; and an equal loathing for those who's god is a belief in “entitlement” without the work and courage necessary for love to be shared.

Cletus and his Amish brethren believe in something bigger than themselves, God. Those who are successful in life have this basic understanding of life and their associated role as servants to God's will rather than supreme masters over men. Communal living in accordance with God's word has been common throughout history and examples abound concerning its success, especially when small numbers of people are involved. But when God's word is twisted, distorted or just ignored, communal living makes that disastrous leap into Godless communism, the “equality that is poverty itself”.

When man's concept of “communal living” has included one or more vices such as human sacrifices, human torture, thievery, rape, kidnapping, and the murder of innocents, such a culture has historically reaped the destruction it invited.

So be careful not to summarily dismiss communal living… unless it is devoid of the righteous spirituality that can make such communal living successful. And when you see “communal living” that is obviously failing… understand that man's vices, the products of Godlessness, are likely the cause.