Revolution by Eric Metaxas

"Many people called 1777 'the year of the hangman.'" Eric Metaxas, Revolution

This book... I don't even know where to start. But, one idea sinks in, we owe people. We owe these brilliant, self-sacrificing, forward thinking people who could hardly have given more than they did so that we can have what we have now. They lived in the shadow of the noose. They did courageous and impossible things. Of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration, nine died in the war. Several were financially ruined. Some were forced to live on the run. A few suffered most terribly by having family sorely mistreated by the enemy. They did all this in the middle of a  human experience, so they had sickness, toothaches, family concerns, and financial worries to boot. And grief, it must have been excruciating. Because of the time they lived in, they lost loved ones, frequently. (Sam Adams lost his first wife and four of his children before the Revolution got started.) Those that survived the revolution went on to sacrifice the rest of their whole lives so that we could pursue happiness.

And what is the pursuit of happiness anyway? They meant the pursuit of self-mastery. They meant the pursuit of virtue. It was never about, "I do what I want." It was something far finer. It is because of that finer purpose they were blessed and were able to help bring forth a miracle.

So, it bothers me quite a lot how misunderstood they are today. It bothers me that the misunderstandings are purposefully spread for political purposes especially when understanding would bring so much collective gratitude and a unity that would promptly civilize us a bit. We need our heroes; we need the real heroes. The men and women of the revolutionary period fit that designation. 

We are a blessed people. Those blessings came from God and the great and moral leaders he sent to found this country in order to prepare it for the gospel. They weren't perfect, they even irritated each other as they considered, debated, and even fundamentally disagreed on this or that idea or course. But, informed by the Bible, they built this country on sacrifice we can hardly comprehend. They were truly good and truly extraordinary and truly God-fearing. 

I have been forever fascinated by the founding. I have enjoyed many biographies of the founders and I just wasn't certain that this book was needed even if we are celebrating the 250. I am pleased to be wrong. This isn't the story of the founding. It's more important than that. This is the story of the providential founding of the county. This is the necessary history of the revolution, one of those books that you re-read and refer to. I hope you read it. 

Samuel Adams: 

I have long been convinced that our enemies have made it an object, to eradicate from the minds of the people in general a sense of true religion & virtue, in hopes thereby the more easily to carry their point of enslaving them. Indeed my friend, this is a subject so important to my mind that I know not how to leave it. Revelation assures us that "Righteousness exalted a nation." Communities are dealt with in their world by the wise and just Ruler of the Universe. He rewards or punishes them according to their general character. The diminution of public virtue is usually attended with that of public Happiness, and the public Liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals. pg. 341

The Candy Bombers by Andrei Cherny

If your patriotism is a little rusty in light of "Scandalpalooza" and celebrating Independence Day is feeling a little marred, this is the book for you. The Berlin Airlift was one of America's finest hours.
After the Allies defeated Nazi Germany in a total war, Berlin was a heap of burned rubble. When Germans heard the sound of American planes, they cowered. Americans and Germans were afraid of each other and there was a lot of hate. It is important to understand that in the recent war every American had lost a son, father, best friend, husband or brother to the Nazi's and America's anger ran deep. The Germans were crushed in every possible way.
Then, the Berlin Blockade: (from Wikipedia.12 May 1949 "was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany;  the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies; railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin; under Allied control. Their aim was to force the western powers to allow the Soviet zone to start supplying Berlin with food, fuel, and aid, thereby giving the Soviets practical control over the entire city.") This was literally a fight for the German Soul, would they turn to Communism and Slavery or would they begin to understand Republican government and choose liberty?

Enter, Hal Halvorsen who meets some starving German children near a fence while the children are watching the planes. He realizes that these children are so poor, that the pack of gum in his pocket could make their day. Breaking rules that could have had him court martialed, he promises to drop them some sweets. Realizing that dropping candy from a plane could literally make it dangerous, he devises little parachutes from his collection of handkerchiefs. Operation Little Vittles is born.
It is kindness that wins the hearts of the German people who suffer greatly through the days of the air lift and it is kindness that changes the city from the crime capitol of the world to something else entirely.
As you read the letters to the Candy Bomber from Germany's children and even some of their parents, you will weep and you will remember what a great nation America used to be and I believe, can be again.

 Fun NPR Story: HERE...

My car is in Mobile, all my handkerchiefs are in Berlin, and my heart is in Utah 
~Hal Halvorsen

U.S. Marine & his Sweetheart...

U.S. Marine & his Sweetheart at the Marine Corps Ball

by

Hand Painted Love Boxes



Election 2012

These are some comments that I made on November 7th. I want to keep them for posterity. You are welcome to read them or ignore them.

You know what makes me feel saddest of all... we're not special anymore. The United States is just another European socialist state. We didn't know the Constitution like we should have and therefore it can't protect us. It can't keep us free. It was our shield and we have abused and neglected it. It was a gift from God.
The great history of the world is one of tyranny and slavery, but for this one shining document that can change everything. Our Constitution was not just a blessing to Americans, but to the whole world.
We have lost so many freedoms that I don't know how we will ever regain them, I don't know how we will pass them to our children.
I feel like it was our turn to carry the torch and we dropped it.

It is presicely gratitude and a sense of duty to what is an incredible gift and resonsibility that makes me feel the way I do. It's not fear either. But, it is a deep sense of sadness and regret. Do we have it so good here because of our geography? It is our Constitution that has given us such great ease, such wonderful opportunity and relative peace and to the extent that we have been righteous, we have in times past been able to export those ideas to many other nations.
Instead of remembering what a sacred trust that is, we have copied something that is less, something that has failed many times, something that was invented by man and not inspired by God.
It's not about Mitt Romney either. Personality politics have little to do with it. It is the rejection of personal responsibility, the "Obamaphone" voter, the rejection of morality and the embrace of "free birth control" and "free abortion" over the larger and more foundational issue of religious liberty. It is the idea that we cannot be our brothers keeper, but that we should continue to shirk that responsibility to a government that has done nothing but increase dependence and poverty. It is the embrace of a party who fears mother nature more than it loves God.
God is in charge, but he will not interfere with our free agency. We have made this choice as a nation and elections have consequences. We will have to be responsible for our choices.

The Best Days...

These are just a few pictures of some of my best days. When I was little, my brother got a puppy for his birthday. I still remember how the present was moving.

4th of July one of Mom & Dad's amazing BBQs

Some of our prettiest dresses...

Dancing at Melissa's wedding...

c reaching the top!

Sun Valley

A&B.. a perfect match.

Mom & The Aunts & Uncle Monte w/ their fun cousins

my darling, wonderful and dear grandparents

best friends a girl could ever have...

a day at the beach..

cousins and dress ups

Christmas

All of these perfect days were made possible mostly by people I have not met and cannot see.

They leave comfortable homes, children, wives and families...

to fight and sometimes to die in far away places where they are beloved by some of the people

and hated and hunted by others.

They almost always lose something. Some lose limbs or sight. Some lose their minds. Some lose their friends... for us, so that we can have a perfect day. Days like these aren't possible without freedom.

Our FREEDOM is so taken for granted that most of us don't vote. When we do vote, we vote w/out learning and researching the issues or the character of the candidates. When we do pay attention, we are wooed by sound bites and media tricks. We know more about reality TV than our own history. We are so dumb, that our own government steals from us, lies to us and takes our liberties without protest.

There is no way that we can calculate the cost in blood and treasure that has been spent on our behalf.

May we make great strides to repent. That is the best way we can thank those who have sacrificed so much.

George Washington... Happy President's Day!

George Washington...

Hand Painted Love Boxes

No Man has a more perfect Reliance on teh alwise, and powerful dispensations of the Supreme Being than I have nor thinks his aid more necessary.

~George Washington to William Gordon, May 13, 1776.

September 11...

These words written by Tony Snow gave me some comfort 10 years ago.. I think it's appropriate to re-post them...

 

Good and evil almost never express themselves as harshly and clearly as they did Tuesday morning. People we don't know slaughtered people we do, and they did it with contemptuous glee.

Yet, even as clouds of dust and smoke rose from the from the rubble, even as family members tortured by hope and doubt took to the streets with pictures and pleas; even as mobs celebrated in Gaza, Cairo and Bagdad something shook itself to life.

That something was a sense of ourselves. Kindness flourished amid the flames. A couple carried a disabled man down 68 flights of stairs. A priest crouched to give last rites as a mighty tower collapsed and the hand of God closed about him. A man and woman, their hope gone, held each other and leaped. A solitary candle, a flag, a tear. These are the tokens of our renewal.

The United States had a spirit even before it had a name-- one of faith and freedom; of ambition tempered by public piety. We once were a nation of neighbors and friends. We are again today. We were once a nation of hardship-tested dreamers. We are again today. We once were a nation under God. We are again today. Our enemies attacked one nation,. They will encounter another for they underestimated us.

Today, in our grief and rage; our determination and hope, we have summoned what is best and noblest in us; The kinship that awes our enemies and friends alike. We are again -- Americans.

Sunday, September 16, 2001 Tony Snow

Afghan from Afghanistan...

This is my cozy chair. This top white blanket is an Afghan that my cousin Jonna made for me while she was serving our country in Afghanistan. You wouldn't think something so comforting could be made in a war zone.. but there it is. I already felt like Jonna and all our servicemen and women had done something truly wonderful for me.. so I didn't need this blanket, but I sure LOVE IT. And, I will treasure it. Thank you Jonna. Thank you for the blanket and thank you for your service. I'm very touched and grateful for both gifts.

July 4th Inspiration Board...

You've got to pop over and see this flag painting enlarged. It's simply awe inspiring!

HERE...

Come with me to Roger's Garden's...

It feels like a secret garden.. California Style
Wouldn't you love to hang this just outside your window?

or have a Saint to pray over your flowers?

These little clumpy violets were so sweet.

Zinnias in a row with not one petal out of place.

Tell me you can't buy happiness? For forty dollars you could have this beautiful bougainvillea to blush at you every day... Sigh...

I love how they mix up the colors making them all more vibrant. Geraniums are huge in California.. Not these lovely geraniums, but some of the plants remind me of Dr. Seuss. I love them all though.. especially the crazy purple trees that line the streets in Long Beach.

Pink Dahlias.. bold and delicate at the same time.

I don't remember the name of this purple one.. but it's dream-like.

The Victory Garden is an idea perfect for our time too!

I don't know what type of succulents .. but they are lovely.

The past decade hybridizers have been bringing back scent in a big way. Some roses almost have a spicy scent. I wish this page was scratch-n-sniff.

The roses even grow over your head.

Of all the fun things I saw on my trip, this is the one I'm dreaming of... strawberry pots for the north fence line. Pretty and sweet.

Lobelia in four different shades.

Wouldn't it be fun to eat a 4th of July picnic on Starfish dishes?

Are these Orchid too amazing to be real? I'm not sure. There are silk flowers too, but if you don't touch them, you'll never be sure... so I don't. :)

The gardener here knows color and texture.

I so wanted to bring you this basket of blue... But, I hope you enjoyed looking at the flowers with me. They make my heart sing!

We Were Soldiers...

This film is brilliant, but not for the faint of heart. It is really a tribute to the men who fought in Vietnam in that it tells the truth about what these men were up against as they fought and the courage they showed. Whether the government was in this war for the right reasons or not does not matter here. Most of the soldiers were fighting for liberty for the people at home and those they didn't know. They received little thanks. Their government had a difficult time deciding the objective and how to achieve it. The lives of many talented, well-trained, valiant men were simply wasted . They had wives and children and parents and friends who loved them and grieved for them then and now.

And yet, we continue to give up our liberty in this country for a little security, for hollow bribes and empty promises. Half of us don't vote. Half of us don't pay taxes. Some of us don't even know there was a war in Vietnam. And, when I watch something like this film, I feel that the blood of those who payed the ultimate price will one day ask for an accounting of how we squandered the freedom they provided and protected.

To all those who have served and continue to serve now. ... Thank you. May God bless you.

Thomas Jefferson: A Film by Ken Burns...

Ken Burns is a brilliant film maker, but his collection of historical "scholars" was worse than pathetic. They want to shoot beyond the mark. They want to make their own careers with their slighting and cryptic comments, their little digs at a man whose boots they aren't worthy to polish.

I've read enough of Jefferson myself to know that while he was a brilliant writer, one whose prose was lofty and grand, his writing was also plain language, more beautiful because it can be understood by all.

Mr. Burns soared when he let Jefferson speak for himself. Thankfully, there is enough of that to make this documentary well worth watching.

I'm always rankled by those who will criticize the founders because they didn't give us back The Garden of Eden, for this is what these "scholars" criticize them for. What generation has solved all of the problems encountered? There has never been a generation of people who have solved so many, freed so many.

When Jefferson wrote these sacred words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness..." and then signed his name to that document. He risked his life. Had he been captured, his death would have been torture most painful and gruesome.

Certainly those words did not make men equal, they didn't make all men free at the time. But, they made freedom possible where it had never existed before. When that liberty took hold, it spread around the world. And, to the extent that the rest of the world has imitated the understanding of liberty and government these men created, is the extent to which they are free. To the extent that their ideas are rejected, even in the country they created, is the extent to which men are enslaved.

And even should the cloud of barbarism and despotism again obscure the science and libraries of Europe, this country remains to preserve and restore light and liberty to them. In short, the flames kindled on the fourth of July, 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them. Thomas Jefferson - Letter to John Adams (12 September 1821)

Waiting for Superman...

I was lucky. I went to a great school. However, I still had teachers who didn't teach. I had one teacher who would put on a movie and leave the classroom. But, she was one teacher out of eight. I got A's in German, but I didn't learn any. What if you had 6 out of 8 teachers who refused to teach, who were paid the same whether or not they worked.
I admired the NYC approach because they try to put the kids first, but it's awfully costly to the tax payers to side line people and still pay them, not as costly as having classrooms full of children with no real teacher in them.
I kept thinking of the cost to the teachers who come to work, but don't work. Soul killing. In the end, when the unions protect them from being fired, they aren't doing those teachers any favor.
What will it take for us to side line the teachers unions? They are holding the future hostage.
In the proper environment, any kid can learn. I loved Geoffrey Canada's enthusiasm and I'm going to take the time to read some more about him and his ideas. But, God bless him for putting those children from broken cities and broken homes in shirts and ties and teaching them that they CAN do and they CAN learn!
Anyway, I'm rambling, but if you haven't seen this film. It's certainly worth your time.

Osama bin Laden...

I'm glad he's gone. I'm grateful to those who brought him to justice. But, I will wave a flag and celebrate in the street only when our soldiers can all come home. Until then, I'll pray for our military and for their families and for peace.

Winston Churchill PBS

PBS documentaries of great men and women are a little too much like reading a newspaper these days. While no man is perfect, it is difficult for people to put into perspective a man's accomplishments vs. his sins. Just ask Dan Quayle what happens if you happen to not like a particular episode of Murphy Brown, for example. I think that "scandal" is what most people know about him. Or, if you are a favorite friend of the liberal media, like for example George H.W. Bush, you might be flayed in the media because of what great sin.. Yep, he doesn't like Broccoli. It almost got as much coverage as the death of Michael Jackson or even the O.J. Simpson trial.

I'm not saying that we should gloss over people. But, a little bit of perspective would be healthy. PBS often lacks that perspective and so while I learned a little bit, I can't highly recommend this program.

Winston Churchill in a nutshell: This is a man who smoked like a chimney and drank like a sailor, but when he was a young boy, he had an impression that he would have an opportunity to save his country and he spent his whole life preparing to do just that. And, when the time came, he was prepared and he did save his country and ours too.

He did not fall for the charm of "the great bear" like our own more shallow FDR. He knew the evils of communism and tried to prepare his people. He worked tirelessly to save Poland and in that he failed, but he knew liberty and when he held up a two fingered salute, it was not for peace, but for Victory.

God bless you Prime minister... We still have so much to learn from you.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. ~Winston Churchill

Socialism and the United Order...

Recently, the S.L. Tribune posted an article called The case for Book of Mormon Socialism. This topic crops up periodically and so I want to offer up some information here from the most reliable sources I know. And, I hope that if you have any questions on this issue, you will do some further study. This is one of the important questions of our time and each member of the church ought to have this settled in their own mind.

“[The Constitution] is the keystone of our nation. It is the guarantee of our liberty. That original document, with the Bill of Rights, constitutes the charter of our freedom. Through all of the years that have followed we have had some ambitious men who have sought to subvert the great principles of the Constitution, but somehow we have endured one crisis after another. We have been involved in terrible wars during this, the bloodiest of all centuries in the history of man. All of this is part of the miracle that is America, the struggle, the travail, the bitterness, the jealousies, the cynicism, and the criticism. But beyond and above it all is the wonder of a nation that for more than two centuries has remained free and independent and strong, the envy of the world, the hope of the world, the protection of free men everywhere, the manifestation of the power of the Almighty.” ["Keep Faith with America", commencement address given at Weber State University, Ogden, Utah on 6 May 1999.] President Gordon B. Hinckley

The practice of coveting and receiving unearned benefits has now become so fixed in our society that even men of great wealth, and possessing the means to produce more wealth, are expecting the government to guarantee them a profit. Elections often turn on what the candidates promise to do for voters from government funds. This practice, if universally accepted and implemented in any society, will make slaves of its citizens.
We cannot afford to become wards of the government, even though we have a legal right to do so. It requires too great a sacrifice in self-respect and in political, temporal, and spiritual independence. In Mine Own Way ~President Marion G. Romney (This whole talk is very helpful on this subject).

According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the fights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;
That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.
Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.
And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood. (D. & C. 101:77-80)

More HERE...

I have included 4 different talks on my other blog if you are interested... but, if you look just a little, there is much more.