Remember Our Heroes

Photo: Soldiers' Angels Facebook page

Speaking Shorthand

The English language is being tweeted to death.

The social networking site Twitter has conditioned an entire generation to crunch expression into 140 characters or less, a process involving clever applications such as "gr8" to mean "great." That's quite a verbal mutilation to save two letters. Lately, I've seen "gr8" pop up in e-mails--at work.

I've written about the decline and fall of the English language before. I most likely will again. There's no place else for a writer/editor/English major/word lover/book reader to go in this depressing situation other than the blank page. Or, if blogging, the empty text box.

Who "pens" an essay today? Nobody does; not even I. (Yes, it's "I," not "me"--is anyone listening as I scream into the grammatical void?) Today, we all "key" it. Or "text" it. Especially if it's 140 characters or less. But brevity has always been a challenge for me. No wonder I'm not much of a tweeter.

A Prayer Worth Saying

This prayer for the country is something I was drawn to share. It seems a fitting conclusion to the Independence Day holiday weekend.

Prayer for our country

Our God and God of our ancestors, we invoke Your blessing upon our country, on the government and leaders of our nation, and on all who exercise rightful authority in our community. Instruct them out of Your law, that they may administer all affairs of state in justice and equity. May peace and security, happiness and prosperity, right and freedom forever abide among us.

Unite the inhabitants of our country, of all backgrounds and creeds, into a bond of true kinship, to banish hatred and bigotry, and to safeguard our ideals and institutions of freedom.

May this land under Your Providence be an influence for good throughout the world, uniting all people in peace and freedom, and helping to fulfill the vision of Your prophets:

“Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war any more.”

“For all people, both great and small, 
Shall know the Lord.”

Independence Day, 2012

 “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.”

~ Thomas Jefferson

This year in particular, Independence Day is the perfect time to reflect upon our history and to remember how many brave souls have defended our freedoms throughout the past 236 years.

And, since it's rarely taught in the classroom anymore, read the Declaration of Independence in honor of Independence Day. The modern relevance of the charges by the 13 original colonies against the British king are striking and alarming.

We in the United States today stand at a crossroads. I can only pray to the "Creator...Nature's God...divine Providence...Supreme Judge" named in our Declaration of Independence that we, as one nation under God, choose the right road going forward.

Read and Weep

If you haven't read it yet, this might be a good year to read the Declaration of Independence. As my previous post mentioned, we have traveled in a complete circle. Don't believe me? Go ahead, read the list of grievances against the British King. They bear eerie similarities to today's headlines.

Think about today's issues. The Federal government is refusing to enforce the laws to defend our national borders, in Arizona especially. The "Fast and Furious" scandal reveals an executive branch willing to sacrifice its own citizens to further its gun control agenda. The president, acting alone, makes "Czar" and recess appointments--while Congress is in session, not recessed. The unfolding nightmare of Obamacare delivers us into the hungry maw of an ever-expanding bureaucracy.

What were the colonists of 1776 upset about? The king refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

Hmmm...sounds like Arizona and immigration.

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.      

Keystone Pipeline, anyone?

He also combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation...

Wow. Obamacare.

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.

Yes. According to the Supreme Court, no less, that's most definitely Obamacare.

There's plenty more that's relevant in the Declaration, but I highly recommend you read it for yourself and see just how much trouble we're in today. It's enough to make an American cry.

The brave colonists who founded our country concluded that:  

A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.                  

How could the Founders possibly have foreseen President Obama?

Full Circle

Let's look at things this way. We're back where we can make the difference. Now, come November, "We the People" will have the opportunity to decide the final fate of President Obama's healthcare bill.

There's no one left to look to except ourselves, friends. The emperor--oh, excuse me, the president--is completely absorbed with building his realm in the image and likeness of his cherished left-wing ideology. He really doesn't give a fig about the concerns of the little people.

The congressional oligarchy, from the very start of this wildly unpopular legislation, ignored the significant and steady public outcry against "Obamacare." They never gave us a thought when they shoved the bill through. Many are gone, shut out of office by outraged voters in 2010. But the Congress and Senate in place today are focused on preserving their jobs and the accompanying endless perks. Constituents enter their minds only when it's time to ask for donations.

And today, the chief justice of the country sold out over 300 million Americans so that he can look good in the history books. He actually changed the definition of "penalty" to "tax" to allow the law to stand. Talk about judicial activism. But where are the outraged media leftists now? Since their agenda benefited from this national betrayal, MSM is smugly silent on the activism issue.

It's up to us, fellow Americans. We've got to get a new president elected. OMG--Obama Must Go. Even with a new president and a new Congress and Senate, our future is murky. We are living in what Mark Levin calls a "post-constitutional" America.

What would it be like if Barack Obama is elected to a second term, with no fear of facing a re-election campaign? I shiver to think of the further wreckage. The country would be unrecognizable by 2016.

Today was a wake-up call for action, for every U.S. citizen who cares about our country and its future. We must push hard for our own hope and change come November. Americans have been in this spot before, in the 1770s, and we prevailed then. We can do it again. We're still Americans and we're still patriots, even if our so-called leaders are not. "To arms, to arms"--to the ballot box.

Fortnight for Freedom

I heard about the Fortnight for Freedom on the radio yesterday, the day it launched. It will conclude on Independence Day, July 4th.

The Fortnight for Freedom is a nationwide effort of prayer for protection of our God-given, First Amendment right to religious liberty. It's not "freedom of worship," a distinction that has so slyly been slipped into political jargon in recent months. Catholics, and many other Christians, are praying for God's protection of Freedom of religion.

There is a significant difference. Worship is private and personal to the individual. Religion is public and all-encompassing to the entire congregation of faithful. And those in government who want to limit religious liberty know this full well.

Think about it. A president waits until the eleventh hour of the "Fast and Furious" investigation to invoke Executive Privilege. He does it because he thinks he can.

The same president states several times over many years that he does not have the power to usurp the country's laws regarding illegal immigrants, then he reverses that stand and does it. He does it because he thinks he can.

The same president issued the HHS mandate ordering Catholic institutions to provide contraception, abortion and sterilization coverage in violation of the doctrines of the Catholic Church. He does it because he thinks he can. This man answers to no one, not even God. Going forward, little peasants, the free exercise of religion will be at the king's pleasure. Get used to it.

It says somewhere in that good book known as the Bible that pride and arrogance precede a tumble. The Fortnight for Freedom may reach well beyond the Fourth of July. Perhaps even to Election Day.

The Power of Dad

For those of us fortunate enough to have grown up with a good father, Father's Day is always an occasion for fond memories. It's sometimes surprising, the things we remember from childhood, and the startling occasions they pop to mind.

For example, whenever I see Old Spice men's products, I think of Dad. Since my earliest memories, Old Spice was his brand. It makes me happy that my son sometimes uses Old Spice now.

If I'm hurrying through an airport and see a man getting his shoes shined, it reminds of Dad. He was meticulous about shining his shoes before work. He often told me that his mother had trained him and his four brothers, raised on the brink of poverty, to have shined shoes, a haircut, and a clean handkerchief at all times. 

There's a message in that for today's tough financial times. No matter our circumstances, it's within our power to present a dignified front and take pride in our appearance.

Dad grew up before Kleenex was a household word, so I suppose a supply of clean tissues would suffice today. But I still like "hankies." Dad's handkerchiefs were my training ground when mom taught me to iron. "First iron the center, then follow the borders; fold it in half, then iron the crease; fold into a square, press it flat..." On those rare occasions when I see a handkerchief, I think of my father. 

There are so many other reminders...baseball games, beer bottles, bowling balls, bathrobes--and those are just the "B"s.  Even 25 years after his passing, almost every day I'm reminded of my father. It's sufficient proof, to me, that whether he's with us in the here and now or watching from beyond, a good dad stays with us for life.

Thanks, Dad. Happy Father's Day.

The Forgotten Holiday

Flag Day ~ June 14, 2012

Long may it wave...

Connecting Across a Century

I visited the Titanic exhibit in San Diego last weekend. Each visitor receives a "boarding pass" with a passenger's name. You carry this card throughout the exhibit, and the last display is the memorial wall. It's at this wall, inscribed with all 2,200 names of those aboard, that you learn whether your person lived or died. 

These photos are of my passenger's card.  Her name was Mrs. Stanton Abbott. A native of England, she was traveling with her two teenaged sons. She had taken her children back to England from Rhode Island when she left her husband, and she was returning to the U.S. because her boys were homesick. The Abbotts were traveling in third class.

At the memorial wall, I saw that Mrs. Abbott had survived, but her sons had not. I was surprised by how much this fact bothered me. In the one hour I had spent exploring the recreated atmosphere of the lost ship, marveling at the artifacts and reading the history, I discovered I had become quite attached to the Abbott family. This warranted further research.

The Titanic actually offers its own online encyclopedia, so there I learned more about the tragic fate of the Abbotts. While reading, I considered the fact that although times may change, people don't. The Titanic sank 100 years ago, but here was a mother from a failed marriage trying to start fresh and make things right for her children. Don't all of us today know someone just like Mrs. Abbott?

History is the connective tissue of the human race. It's all our story, with dates, places, and people changing ceaselessly but human emotions anchored in constancy. Poor Mrs. Abbott. The sinking of the Titanic was only the beginning of her sorrows.