HybridTalk's Thought provoking Blog

Entering our home Saturday afternoon like a victorious soldier, our college student announced in triumphant terms, “Free laundry at last!”  Our student dumped three loads of laundry on our laundry room floor and began to avail themselves of our equipment. So began our student's visit for Mother's Day.

We visited for a while, and my student announced that everyone at their college was voting for Obama. That candidate was going to provide free healthcare, and pull us out of Iraq. Americans are tired of hearing about Iraq and want it to be over. This seemed an opportune time to tell my student that we had decided to charge two dollars per laundry load. 

“What?” our student cried, “You can’t charge me!” So I asked my student what laundry cost when they did their own back on campus. Seems it was $4.00 per load, “But” he complained, “you don’t pay that much, it doesn’t cost you $2.00 for a load of laundry!”

True enough, but it does cost us, and since we have the equipment we get to determine the cost, not the consumer. I made this economic lesson clear, and voice my surprise they didn’t understand basic economics. "But it shouldn't cost me anything!" They complained.

"Why should someone else pay your cost? What if others put the cost of their living expenses on your income?” I countered. “There is no such thing as FREE LAUNDRY. Someone has to pay for the water, the electricity and the detergent.”

Then, as the first spin cycle started, I walked to the washing machine, stopped it, and began to pull out the laundry, to the dismay of my student. “What are you doing; it wasn’t even finished! There is still soap on everything!!” he exclaimed. So I made the connection that it didn’t matter that it wasn’t finished. I was tired of hearing the noise produced by the wash, so it was time to end it. My student complained, “That doesn’t even make any sense! The load wasn’t done. You have to wait until it is finished. You don’t start a load of laundry unless you expect to finish it!!!” 

“Now that I have your attention, why is it wrong to end your laundry before it is finished, but it is right to end the battle in Iraq before it has been through all the cycles?” The blank stare, the confused look; I love getting college students to think on their own. I waited, then it came, “They aren’t the same thing.” [Brilliant.] “Why not?” I asked. “Because they are not.” was the reply.

I sighed, and asked again, “If it is wrong to stop cleaning dirt from your clothes before the cycle is finished then why isn’t it wrong to stop cleaning Muslim jihadists from Iraq when we have them on the run? And while your brain is working, why is it ok for your mom and I to pay for your laundry and for you to get it free? Better put, why should others be expected to pay for your health care needs, but you get it for free?” It was like looking at the deer who was confronted with the headlights of a Kenworth truck. 

While he was thinking this over, I saw my student’s wallet on the dinning room table. I retrieved the wallet, opened it up and produced a $20 and a $10 bill. I took the ten and said, “This is real life. I am taking a third of your income for the time you are here. This is what your government will do to you when you start to work.” Now my student was really agitated. They demanded I give the money back, but I pressed my position. “I have illustrated all the liberal policies you said you supported, and now you are angry. Does this mean that once you have those policies turned on you, your support for them expires?”

My student, defeated, understood my point. “This is why I only like visiting mom. She doesn’t make me think when I visit, she just pampers me. Mom doesn't make me think!”

I said, "That my dear student is the perfect summary of the Liberal position." as my student reached for any food to throw at me...