Noting the Passing of the Boy Scouts of America

  

Symbol of the Sea Scouts, the Scouting Logo imposed on an anchor. The fleur-de-lis is a pointer to right paths, the three points of the fleur are the three parts of the Oath taken. The stars are Truth and Knowledge. The Eagle and Shield are the Country and readiness to defend the Country. The Boy Scout motto inscribed on the banner. The knot is a reminder to ‘Do a good turn daily’. The anchor indicates the intent to practice the virtues in service at sea.

          Lord Robert Baden-Powell served in the British army and rose to the rank of Lt. General.  This was a notable achievement.  However, his greatest achievement would be to establish an organization for boys beginning in England and growing into the world-wide organization of Scouting.  It began with his authoring of Scouting for Boys.  It began at the height of Victorian England, but was based on much earlier concepts of Knighthood and chivalry. He intended to teach boys how to become self-confident and self-reliant, and grow them into learning how to become interdependent teams of gentlemen in whatever they endeavored in their lives.

            The Oath taken by the boys is this:

On my honor

I will do my best to do my duty to God and my Country,

To obey the Scout Law,

To help other people at all times,

And to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

This is the Oath of a modern Knight of the Realm, as Baden-Powell imagined it.  It became the Oath of millions of American boys beginning in 1908 when the Boy Scouts came to the United States.  It would become the premier program for the physical, mental, and moral training of American boys for seventy years.  Boys became men of character under the close watch of their fathers and uncles, grandfathers and brothers.

            The Scout Law included twelve virtues a man should have.  Perfecting these ideals involved a life-long commitment, and that commitment began with a Tenderfoot’s journey.

A Scout is

Trustworthy	Loyal	Helpful	Friendly
Courteous	Kind	Obedient	Cheerful
Thrifty	Brave	Clean	Reverent

Boy Scout Handbook, Sixth Edition 1970, pp 38 – 51; Twelfth Edition 2009, pp 24, 25

These twelve virtues are what Lord Baden-Powell intended a grown man should know.  These were the foundations of modern chivalry.  My own tattered and worn 1970 copy of the Boy Scout Handbook shows a full page essay for each one of these twelve virtues.  By 1970, 24,525,00 copies of this handbook had been printed and distributed.  These were the foundation of the American social fabric for the 20^th century.  

            Two major social issues forced a change in the practices of Scouting.  No fault divorce and child custody battles would leave boys without routine fatherly influence.  More and more boys were entrusted to leaders unknown to their families. People lacking the chivalrous character built into the structure of the program took advantage of this same situation.  Unscrupulous people turned the Scout troops into hunting grounds and predators committed unspeakable acts against the trusting youths.  The Boy Scouts faced an era of pedophilia, breaking the sacred honor the program was intended to instill and uphold.

            Families, well meaning mothers in particular, rightly demanded accountability.  Scout leaders forced to resign and fewer men were willing to fill the leadership roles, mothers filled the voids.  Scouting, from the youngest Cubs to the oldest Explorers, found itself conducting open family events.  Though there is no harm in this practice, what was diminished was the role of the boys as chivalrous men in society, taught by those making a life around the principles of the Oath themselves.

            As the millennia turned over, outside influences took control of the Board of Directors of the Boy Scouts of America and forced programmatic changes.  The predatory nature of those in the 1980’s that was aghast to society became the norm for control of the finances and policies of the organization.  By the time the centennial celebrations were underway in 2008, the internal operations of the Boy Scouts of America were in a deep state of change.  Chapters about the Knightly virtues intended by Lord Baden-Powell became pages, then mere paragraphs in the official Handbook.  Scouting needed to ‘evolve’ with a changing society.  So all the virtues were not virtues any longer.

Thirty-nine years after I was a Scout the virtues of the Scout Law were reduced to less than a page in the twelfth edition of the handbook.  Inside the front cover a parental handbook concerning child abuse is pasted with exercises for the families to work through to help the boys and girls involved in the programs avoid ‘difficult’ situations.  The ‘Boy’ Scouts of America certainly had evolved, but away from the virtues it once focused on teaching to those who will one day lead our nation.

            Changing the name of the organization away from the Boy Scouts has been a necessity for several decades.  It is no longer an organization focused on guiding boys to become virtuous men, something our Country desperately needs.  That is a failure of leadership in society and a failure of the foundation of society, the family, to require of its leaders.

            However, it is not necessarily a complete failure.  I have a granddaughter who is part of a Scout troop and working through her programs with the diligent support of her mother and her troop leaders.  Diminished in presentation as they may be the twelve virtues currently remain an outline of what Scouting used to be.  And since Scouting has evolved to include entire families, the possibility that these virtues may still be instilled into the consciences of our youth remains.  This will only occur if the families involved remain vigilant about the program and the changes initiated by leadership.  Our society is no longer based on Victorian era chivalry and Knighthood. 

The principle virtues of Scouting no longer drive the goals of the Boardroom.  Other social engineering principles are used as guides, many that are in opposition to the virtues of Scouting. Participants in the new organization should be watchful of continuing ‘evolution’.  Some have decided that other organizations are more closely aligned with the intentions and have made their choice to move into those organizations.  The results will only be known to the successive generations of those boys and girls now participating.

Our Country’s future depends on the virtues we pass on.  Be Prepared!

It’s Just a Bathroom Bill

Anyone remember when this was ‘just a bathroom bill’ in NC?

Lake County Florida

“The Osceola, Lake and Citrus County School Boards faced angry parents demanding answers this week about a recent settlement between the State of Florida and the LGBTQ group Equality Florida that will weaken the Parental Rights in Education Act.”

“Although the settlement leaves the act in place, it provides a roadmap for activist teachers to violate the original intent of the law, including by allowing LGBTQ-promoting “safe space” stickers, student cross-dressing, and even discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, as long as they are not part of formal “instruction.””

The argument in Florida is between two extremes. One (Christian group) wants to ban all LGBTQ conversation in the schools. The other is the flagrant teaching in any/every venue of the LGBTQ lifestyle (‘story time’, library books, formal coursework). The in-between is always present. Older students especially want to know their teachers beyond the work at the head of the classroom and this cannot be legislated nor policed. So it is a matter of Character. It always has been, always will be.

In Ohio, the majority population recently enacted a law through the ballot box that parents may NOT have access to their 13 – 17 y/o medical records. [‘protection’ of the girls’ abortion rights and trans-treatments/counseling] At least in Florida, we do not have restrictions yet on what parents may/may not know about their childrens’ behavior, medical, and school records.

The fact should be plain 12 years later after North Carolina. It was never ‘just a bathroom bill’ and those tepid to social change are now subject to the LGBTQ agenda in law and social ‘justice’ as those of us who opposed that change. We are long-past the concept of the 1990’s where all the LGBTQ community was common respect for their personal dignity. Their activism has paid off and the majority are now bound to respect whatever laws (marriage and divorce, medical treatment, adoption services, family law, Christian denominational schisms, et al) is enacted until such time as the majority engages in dismantling the same legal structure.

Our 21st century social structure has been build over the last 50+ years. The 60’s liberals have won the argument. It will be the post millennial generations that make the next set of changes.

Who is the most committed? Who will fight harder for their principles/theologies/philosophies? My grandchildren’s children will know,… not I.

Louis, J. “A Three-Ply Cord: Making and Keeping Covenant Marriage”, Pittsburg; Dorrance Publishing Co. Print and e-book May 2024 to be released. A scripture based book intended to extend the Christian Gospel concepts of covenant marriage and how to hold it together. Marriage preparation, reaffirmation, and sacramental healing for those committing themselves to life-long commitments.

The Personal Cost of Leadership

Paris, France, on April 23, 1910, Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt, former President of the United States of America

“The Man in the Arena”

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Former President Donald J. Trump personifies President Roosevelt’s comments, as well as those who signed away their lives, fortunes, and sacred honors by signing the Declaration of Independence.

Such is the price of Freedom.

For a review of Roosevelt’s full speech on the 100th anniversary of it’s presentation, see

file:///C:/Users/703153362/Downloads/Scott%20Astrada%20and%20Israel%20Nery%20Post-Conference%20Takeaway.pdf

Photo credit: gettyimages-1400906143-594×594

That Flag…

That ‘flag’ that so many have trashed, burned, defecated on, and knelt before? The one so many today state ‘It’s not my flag’?

That flag was raised in the middle of a pile of rubble. No one could see it, buried, surrounded by the remains of so many lives, those built erecting the structures that fell, those that died as those structures fell. Why did three men raise a flag there? Why did one take a photo of them doing it? Why did they raise that flag to the top of a fallen mast?

They did it to show the world we are still here. They did it because within them was the faith and honor of all our country stands for. They did it to honor those who fell. The did it because that’s what flags are for, to remind us all of that which binds us as one, and that under this banner stands a people who know what it means to be independent and because of that they can work interdependently to build a nation around “We, the People…”

That flag was raised before in a few places to remind us, and those who would bring us down, what the indominable character inspires “We, the People…” The wealth and power comes not from a strong economy, not from the planning, not from a media that attempts to direct our thoughts. The wealth of this nation is in the willingness to accept responsibility for our own actions individually, to give from within ourselves the gifts we have, and to willingly work together to build something greater. We overcome great odds, and in a few times and places that flag has been sent to the top of a mast to remind others of the stuff we are made of.

Francis Scott Key, captive aboard a British warship, observes the Star-Spangled Banner still flying.

Atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, naval ships in the fleet around the island knew the Marines had taken the peak.

Our flag represents a people at it’s best, a country that knows how to work together despite the differences in culture’s we come from. It represents the ideals we strive for. On this Patriot’s Day, let us pass this flame to a new generation of Americans so that when the future looks up they will always know the live in the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.”

The Corporate World Is Crowding Us Out

          Paying bills is never a ‘party’ but it’s fun when ‘a’ there’s enough money to do so, ‘b’ it can be done quickly, and ‘c’ there’s money left over for other diversions such as sailing and diving.  My sailing time was reduced today when I spent more than an hour trying to resolve a payment dispute with my ‘local’ pest control company.  Florida Pest Control had been a good company to work with since 2004 for our Florida homes.  Florida Pest Control is no longer a ‘local’ company.  My experience is just one example. 

            I received a late notice for payment of service the company said happened in May of this year (2023).  Due diligence means I look for the paperwork to see how I missed the payment.  I searched my desk for the signed service document typically left at the door, the counter where the mail is set down, some other ‘catch all’ surfaces.  No papers.  Nothing urgent, just as a couple of days roll by, “Oh, yea, I have those papers to find”.

            Next, my wife makes one of those noises from the master bath that indicates some annoyance.  She was busy killing a ‘pest’.  A day or so later I’m doing the same in the kitchen.  Time to call Florida pest control.  The local office was cheerful and happy to send out a tech.  “And what about this May service?  Did it really happen?”  I was assured, despite my lack of indications, the service was accomplished.  The technician for this interior service was scheduled and true to routine, a phone call was received before.  I met him at the door.  I escorted him to the master bath and kitchen, and he treated the other bathrooms as well.  He performed an outside service as well.  When complete, he knocked on my front door, presented me with paperwork which I signed, and cheerfully went on his way.  We were likewise cheerful with proper services rendered.

            I sent payment for the May billing, now overdue, on August 4^th.  A week later I received a “Final Attempt For Collection” letter for the May bill.  Did they pass in the mail?

            August 28^th I sit down on my day off to pay bills and deal with this letter.  I phoned the customer service number and through the discussion, learned the May bill was still due.  “But, I have documentation from my bank account showing the payment was made and cleared” I said.  The Representative said I was also due for August 7^th service.  “I received no service on August 7^th” I told her. “I had a visit in July”.  Round and round we went.  I finally asked where she was located.  She declined to answer.  The gist of the rest of the lengthy conversation was as follows:

• Florida Pest Control was bought by an international company in May. There’s no local contact any longer.
• She would not take the confirmation information on my payment for her notes.
• She could not get a supervisor on the phone because she doesn’t have one (working from her home? Likely)
• And the back-breaking ‘straw’ was her comment “They’re going to get their money anyway.”

Conversation over.  I thanked her for her time, told her I was cancelling my account, and hung up my phone.

Next, I called the same ‘Customer Service’ number.  Instead of pressing ‘3’ for billing questions I pressed ‘2’ for New Accounts. (There’s no number to press to cancel accounts).  This lady, Sharon, told me she was in North? Carolina when asked.  Then, I told her I wanted to cancel my account.  She was very helpful in answering all my questions and curious about every detail of the situation (maybe she used to work in a local office?).  She was especially curious about the comment “They’re going to get their money anyway”.

Well, Sharon promised to call me back.  Polite as she was, I still cancelled my ‘local’ service.  There is no substitute for being able to look someone in the eye and talk with them about the work we agree they will perform.

Millennials and post-millennials are handing their money over to people they don’t even know.  And they will be poorer for having their accounts auto debited by faceless electronic entities they never see, but only sign electronic contracts.  Their phones are what they talk with.

Handling personal finances with my ‘hands’ is difficult and time consuming.  Most days it’s fun and easy.  Today it was not easy, and it wasn’t much fun.  But it was necessary for me to control my own bank account and for me to ensure the service I contracted for was actually rendered.  While I wait for Sharon to call me back, I hope you’ll consider, and maybe reconsider, just what it means to develop personal business relationships with those providing services to you.  It will cost you some of your time.  It may also save you lots of your money.  The Corporate world is crowding us out.  It’s time to ‘crowd back’.

On the Eucharist – Why are Catholics ‘Stingy’?

My brother-in-law- and his wife were visiting a few years back and decided to attend Catholic Mass with us for Sunday worship.  They got up, like everyone else, and walked up in the communion line and took the Eucharist as most of the others in attendance did.  I urged my wife to address the concerns with them, that the Eucharist, while offered to everyone, is intended as a sign of faith in the Sacrament and sacrifice it is.  After doing so, they haven’t attended Mass with us since.

            These past couple of years have been difficult politically for a similar reason.  Several local, State, and in particular Federal politicians have argued for the legality of abortions.  This is not unusual, except that many of these have stated they are ‘practicing Catholics’ who walk up the communion line thinking it normal that they receive the Eucharist, as everyone else.  Many in authority in the Church have argued they should not be allowed to receive the Sacrament.  These politicians’ positions and policies are outside the Church’s teaching.

            Why?  What is this stinginess with a Christian celebration of the Last Supper that orthodox Catholics exercise?  Why withhold something from the ‘faithful’ even if they aren’t living faithful lives?

            Let’s begin with the faithful of the Church.  One recent study from Pew Research indicates more than two-thirds do not have the faith taught by the Church (see below)  They simply do not believe that at Mass bread and water are changed into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus.  Like my In-laws, it’s just a symbol.  It’s only a remembrance.  It’s no wonder to me why they would be insulted at being cautioned against participating.  After all, most Catholics don’t believe it either.

            So, can anyone then blame the politicians who present themselves for receiving? If it’s only a Christian symbol then what is the ‘to-do’ all about?  And, if they don’t believe in the divinity of the Sacrament, why would they believe in the divine nature of the human being?  Why not support abortion, rather than respecting life as a guiding principle?  Why withhold one for a lack of faith in the other?

            The Truth (capitalized intentionally) of the Gospel is plain, and supported by the writings of St. Paul and second-century Fathers of the Church.  Transubstantiation is real, believed in from the Last Supper and taught at such through nearly 2000 years, though not very well in recent history.

            The Gospel of John, chapter six begins Jesus’ teaching.  First there is an event where bread is multiplied to feed thousands.  The crowds are awed at a miracle and wanted to make Him king.  He and the Twelve slip away, but Jesus remains ashore while sending them ahead in a boat.  He comes to them in the middle of the night.  Miracle two in less than a day is Jesus walking on water.  Tracking Jesus down, the people sit and listen to his next teaching.  He tells them they must eat His flesh and drink His blood!  Most leave.  First, who could do such a thing?  Who could become a cannibal?  Second, or first as you will, the Law of Moses forbids Jews from drinking the blood of an animal.  Yesterday, their king!  Today, their pereia!

            Jesus would fully answer the question a year later, and His Last Supper.  John’s Gospel shares messages of service and prayers for His disciples.  Mark, Matthew, and Luke record the events of the supper with the table.  “Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” And, likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.” (Luke 22:19, 20)

            John was the last to write, somewhere between A.D. 80 and 92.  Mark is suggested to be the first with a Gospel, as Peter’s scribe, writing in the early A.D. 60’s. Before them, oral Tradition carried the faith forward from that night until somewhere between A.D. 49 – 52, when Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians.  “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said,” This is my body that is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.” (1Cor 11:23-26)

            These records were at the beginning of the Christian movement.  Yet, a century later they are recalled as successors of the Apostles tried to convince their society of the validity of the Sacrament.  Hippolytus, Irenaeus of Lyons, and Justin Martyr all left letters to the same effect.  Irenaeus in his Apologies “He has declared the cup a part of creation, to be His own Blood, from which He causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, He has established as His own Body, from which He gives increase to our bodies.” These men died martyrs for their belief in this change of the materials of earth into the divine Body of Christ.

            Justin spoke to the opening questions I opened with.  Why be ‘stingy’?  Justin’s words are more severe than what is said and written today.  “Because this bread and wine have been made Eucharist (divine worship and celebration) we call this food Eucharist, and no one may take part in it unless he believes that wat we teach is true, has received baptism for the forgiveness of sins and new birth, and lives in keeping with what Christ taught.” (Justin; Apologies 1)

            I didn’t want to deny my in-laws access to the Table of the Lord.  I wanted them to understand what they were doing.  And, I wanted them to not do something they didn’t believe in.  The Eucharist has been the gift of the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus from that fated night in Jerusalem, as Jesus taught his disciples.  Most Christians today do not understand this.  Most Catholics, apparently, don’t either.

            Justin’s last condition is the condition of discipleship, and the reason those politicians fighting for the legality of abortion (and other non-Gospel Truths) should not present themselves to receive the Eucharist.  They are not keeping in living with what Christ taught.  Not because I say so, not because a priest or Bishop tells them so, but because their free-will choice is to live outside of the Gospel.  This is the case for any Catholic who chooses to live outside the Gospel.  Those who do so profane themselves and witness a lie to their own lives.  Doing so defines duplicity.

            Pope Francis and several Bishops disagree with me and those promoting these ideas.  The Pope says it is merciful to offer the Sacrament, that Bishops should not enter into political arguments.  Catholic News Agency presented St. Pope John Paul II’s, Pope Benedicts’ views as well.  The Saint points out the need for congruity in one’s conscience.  Pope Benedict simply said that it is incompatible to live outside the Gospel and then present oneself for communion.

            A summary is simple.  If one is a disciple and working to follow the teachings of Jesus, and believes Jesus is God as He claimed, then one believes in the Eucharist’s divine nature and makes a public statement in that belief by walking up to receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of the Sacrament.  A simple action that says ‘yes’.  When one does not believe this, then to do so profanes their own conscience, and teaches others to do the same.

References

https://www.ncronline.org/spirituality/pew-survey-shows-majority-catholics-dont-believe-real-presence

https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-francis-says-he-has-never-denied-communion-warns-against-politicizing-eucharist

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251309/what-have-popes-and-the-vatican-said-about-catholic-politicians-abortion-and-holy-communion

The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Vatican Library; USCCB. 1994, 1997. Print.

Catholic Study Bible, Third Edition. Senior, Collins, Getty GenEds. New York, Oxford UP; 2010. Print

Bennet, R. Four Witnesses. Ignatius Press, San Francisco; 2002. Print.

The Torch is Passing

The problem with a pure democracy is that the majority (us laborers) will vote in what we want as often as we want for our immediate needs. Society swings according to the popular vote until it doesn’t and then ‘mob rule’ (Summer of 2020) and the society struggles to provide/provide opportunity for all.

“We the People…” set up a Democratic-Republic, where we select our leaders. These leaders are supposed to meet in general assembly and decide on our laws for the benefit of all, and then execute and adjudicate those laws accordingly. Problems with the Republic come when those elected leaders begin working for their own benefit or their donors benefit instead of the benefit of the whole. 80*mil of you thought Mr. Trump wasn’t working for the ‘whole’. The decision wasn’t about his work, though, it was about how much his personality was hated. He lost* a popularity contest rather than an election.

It’s mid-term election time. What’s the plan now?

After the arrest of an anti-abortion protester by the FBI splashes in the news (after the case was adjudicated and dismissed in local courts; the man was defending his son from a belligerent) the question must be asked of the 80* mil….
1. You chose a dementia patient who didn’t campaign for Pres.
2. In Pennsylvania, your party is running a stroke victim for the U.S. Senate, who has demonstrated he cannot conduct business.
3. The Justice department has been lauded for its raids of private homes for political purposes.
4. Strategic oil reserved (meant for wartime use) have been reduced 30% in the last six months in a short-sighted attempt to cull your favor in gasoline prices.
5. The streets have become second and third world crime zones since 2020.

Is anarchy what you wanted? You’ve got it now…and it is easier to fall into chaos than it is to retain law and order.

My time is passing. This is not what I wanted for you. It is what 80*mil voters chose for their leadership. The torch is being passed. It’s your turn now… What do you choose?

https://www.kennedy-center.org/video/center/history/jfk-inauguration-speech/

*I dispute the validity of the 2020 Presidential election. The anomalous simultaneous halt of ballot counting in six States across two time zones, the failure of the Pennsylvania Courts to back the State election law, and the refusal of the Supreme Court of the United States to intervene in the case in Pennsylvania are all issues that were never resolved adequately. The treatment of those hundreds arrested at the Capitol on January 6th who remain in custody without charge, representation, or bail hearings is the first offense of the current repressive government our countries Constitution and Bill of Rights is intended to protect us against.

The Fathers/Founders: Did They Believe and Practice Faith in God?

An argumentative question brought forth by those of modern philosophies who attempt to force those of us so dedicated out of the public square. Be of stout heart! Speak! For it is those bringing the argument who lack the virtues needed to sustain this nation.

The Mayflower Compact

“In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, France and Ireland king, defender of the faith, etc. having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honour of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civill body politick, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just and equall laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and convenient for the generall good of the Colonie unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape-Codd the 11. of November, in the year of the raigne of our sovereigne lord, King James, of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fiftie-fourth. Anno Dom. 1620.”

Closing paragraph of the Declaration of Independence

“We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. —And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” (Closing paragraph of the Declaration of Independence)

First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

Amendment I

Freedoms, Petitions, Assembly

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Final paragraph of the Articles of Confederation; 1777

“And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said articles of confederation and perpetual union. Know Ye that we the undersigned delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that pur pose, do by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and every of the said articles of confederation and perpetual union, and all and singular the matters and things therein contained: And we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations of the united states in congress assembled, on all questions, which by the said confederation are submitted to them. And that the articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the states we respectively represent, and that the union shall be perpetual.”

Excerpts from Washington’s Farewell Address: 1796

“With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.”

“Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. ”

Fourth stanza, The Star-Spangled Banner

Thirty-years later, a young lawyer would include this prayer in a poem commemorating the defense of his home town…

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Too easy is it to thwart the argument of those who choose Humanism and point out their error in virtue. It is our responsibility to point out these errors and quell the falsehoods, so when the question is asked, the Virtue of Truth may prevail.

“Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave, o’re the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

Timely…and Timeless

Timely when it was written and produced on stage.  Timely when it went to the screen from Hollywood.  Timely again on December 21, 2021.  Timely because it is timeless.  Disney and Spielberg show the current generations what ‘the Greatest’ generation did to work through the problems of race and ethnicity.

polygon.com, vanityfair.com

Arthur Laurents wrote an American Romeo and Juliet story in the streets of New York city.  It went to the stage in that same city, and to the silver screen twice now.  (www.imdb.com/title/tt3581652/) Spielberg’s direction brings a darker and yet brighter view of an eternal struggle each generation must face.  He and Laurents both switch up the conversation from the ‘black vs. white’ to which the news media and politics typically revert.

A new generation of Puerto Rican immigrants find themselves opposed by a second and third generation of Irish and Polish European immigrant families.  Neither is aware of the others’ past family struggles.  School is a point of intersection yet neither seems to learn there that America is a melting pot of both skill and opportunity.

And that is the lesson we all need to learn, the lesson of Emma Watson’s from 1883, the New Colossus. This country was built by the wretched refuse washing up on the teaming shores of our experiment in a democratic republic. The principles of this republic have taken time to develop and spread to all.  The persecuted from the old world made their way to the new.  Those displaced and many dragged over only began to get the full benefits of those principles in the last century.  Some mistakenly believe there is still no justice nor access, while others continue to work to deny anyone but their kind just access.  This will never change.

empire on-line.com

There will always be those who cling to being victims. There will always be those who believe they are better.  The lesson is plainly set to music in the American version of Shakespeare’s tragic love story. The puertoriquenio druggist, the Polish boy, and the Puerto Rican girl believe race doesn’t matter, only the dedication of one to the other.  The world around them believes differently.  Only the boy dies in this American version, while Shakespeare’s Juliet dies as well.

The key is what each character believes in.  The majority chooses not to believe until their beloved is gone.  Three murders, three deaths, then peace.

Every generation has to fight this fight.  Spielberg’s West Side Story shows the generations in the fight.  Since 2018 and before, the melting post boiled over again.  One provokes the other because they don’t believe, and people die, businesses are burned, lives and lively-hoods are lost.  Schools, designed for education are made to socialize instead, and the failure of learning leads to another generation of discontent.

I was only three when JFK was shot. I was five when the Civil Rights Bill was passes and signed.  I was nine when Bobby and MLK were shot and the race riots in Chicago.  I was thirteen when Russel Means and the American Indian Movement took over Wounded Knee.  My parents’ generation fought through the struggle.  I learned to live with everyone as Dr. King suggested, by the content of character.  Then, in the nineteen-nineties Rodney King was assaulted, the riots in South-Central LA pitted ethnic communities against each other.  A trucker was dragged from his vehicle and beaten; stores were burned.  We worked through it. We all used our guiding principles.

‘It’ never stops.  ‘It’ will happen again.  We didn’t handle the last three years well.  We’ll have to learn to do better before it all happens again.  Perhaps if the schools were allowed to teach our Republic’s guiding principles?…  Here’s one reminder to start:

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Emma Lazarus
November 2, 1883

travel triangle.com

Sequential Photos in My Feed

It’s Celebrate Women month in March, right? So these two photos show up in my LinkedKIN feed.

Ohio State women celebrate making the Sweet Sixteen…

Glean what you will…

…meanwhile, in Ukraine.