There are very few things that I keep on my mind because
they get written down. My father used
to tell me that anything written down is permanent and that it could be used
against you at some point in the future…and he was right. The problem, if you want to call it that, is
that it works both ways…something written can be used in your defense, as well
as against you. You might have thought
one way when you were younger, and then as you got older your values may have
changed. Thoughts cannot be interpreted,
and words can be, both ways. I like
words and especially words that people much smarter than I am, have used. Quotes from those kinds of people are almost
always better than anything I could have said…so I use them. Not everything is a good quote, and some are
better than others, but if they get your point across then that’s what
matters. Let’s look at a few things
that have been on my mind and maybe there’s a quote about them.
The flag, the pledge, and the vision
Recently in a small town
in Oklahoma,
Owasso to be exact, the police refused to allow the American flag in the
football stadium. They were acting on
orders from school officials and students were made to put the flags back in
their vehicles. This happened on the
same day that, in South Carolina,
another high school said that American flags were not welcome at the football
game. Folks, they would have to put me
in jail before I would NOT bring an American flag to a game, if I so desired. On the face of it you might think that it’s
an insignificant event, but stack it alongside the other things that are going
on, which demean the flag, the armed forces and our country, and it’s a really
big deal. I daresay that we’re on a
slippery slope and we’re wearing very slick shoes.
Back in
May, at a Trump rally, his people were told not to sing the national
anthem. The excuse given was that there
wasn’t enough time, and Trump responded that yes, there was time, and brought
out Sherry Wilkins to sing it. At a
softball game in Louisiana the story was the same…not enough time to sing the
Star Spangled Banner, so the fans started singing it and the game was held up
for a brief time. In April at, of all
places, the 911 Memorial, some children from a middle school in North Carolina were told
they could not sing the national anthem there.
The guards said they needed a permit.
A spokesperson for the memorial said that the situation could have been
handled in a more gentle manner. Let’s
suppose, for a moment, that you wanted to visit the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. This is a place where many tourists go. Would it be against the rules somehow, if a
class of children, visibly impressed, started singing the Star Spangled Banner? It very well might be…and that’s wrong.
The
United States Ninth Circuit Court recently ruled that a teacher cannot lead the
Pledge Of Allegiance because the court ruled that reciting this phrase is a
violation of the alleged Constitutional separation of church and state. So, if the teacher doesn’t lead them, can
the students say it by themselves? That
question has yet to be raised as a test case.
When I went to school, we said the Pledge Of Allegiance every morning,
but the phrase “under God” was not in it then. Looking at this in a simplistic manner, the
pledge is for the flag, so if the phrase offends you, remain silent for that
part, and say the rest of it. The
largest group of faiths in the country are lumped together as “Christian”, but
they don’t have exclusive rights to God, so the phrase could apply to
everyone…except atheists and Muslims, that is.
There have been several
incidents involving a person wearing a uniform…and it could have been a member
of the armed forces, a law enforcement person, even a firefighter.
There
have been recent events where members of a police department were refused
service…in restaurants, in WalMart and I believe one was in a donut shop, but I
couldn’t trace that one. The point here
is that some people simply do not understand that the police, the fire
department or the military, are not their enemies. If something happens in their city, they’re
most likely to call upon these uniformed personnel to come to their aid. Consider what has taken place in some
locales in this country…police and firefighters are afraid to go to the aid of
the caller because it might be an ambush.
In Europe they are even more involved
than we are because they have entire neighborhoods that are off-limits to
“infidels”. We are only a few years
behind Europe, believe me, and we’re gaining
fast. When law and order go out the
window, do you want to know what comes in?
Anarchy, that’s what comes in…fighting in the streets, and neighborhoods
being carved up and placed under the protection of the local strongman.
When you
listen or watch the news you won’t hear a lot of this stuff because they have a
vested interest in keeping it from you.
Until the news is so bad that they just cannot avoid saying something,
and that will be couched in the softest of terms, you will think everything is
just hunky-dory. There is dirty work
afoot in this country and the sooner the population understands what is
happening, the better off they will be.
Forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes. As far back as 2006, an author was writing
about how he thought the world was going…and re-reading that book today it
amazes me to see just how accurate his thinking was. George Orwell, when he wrote 1984, had no
idea how close he was coming to the truth of things. Since he died in 1950, his book has been
examined and re-examined to check on his predictions…which are becoming
realities at a dizzying pace. There are
always visionaries among us…Thomas Jefferson was one of the greats and both the
Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution are testaments
to that vision.
This
quote, by Winston Churchill, was during World War Two, but it could easily
apply to the United States
now. “We shall defend our island,
whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the
landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall
fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
C’mon America,
wake up…your country needs you…desperately.
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