240 Years of Experience, Not a single year of wisdom

We have 240 years of experience and not even 1 year of wisdom.  We should be celebrating that our Grand Experiment that we call the United States of America has once again survived.  Power will transition by the vote and civility not by bullets and bayonets; yet so many seek divisiveness even after the election.

Elections and campaigns are tough, demanding much from the candidates and the electorate.  Sometimes the dialogue dies and only demonizing exchanges of vitriol and acrimony remain in the final days before votes are cast.  But in decades past, Americans set aside their pettiness and supported whomever was elected, charging them to do what is best for this great nation.  Our differences could take a back seat to our patriotism and we could give those elected to office a chance to do right by the longstanding process that elected them.

The election just accomplished is not far off from the one on the horizon.  Wisdom beckons us to give those elected a chance to do right by the people and the Constitution and by almighty God.  Can we not open our eyes and see that many have won and lost in the past, to include many contests noted by nobility and others by mud wrestling, but a victor emerged and the country transitioned power.

I have embraced some elected officials, tolerated others, and was just outright unhappy over some elections that didn’t come out according to my view of the best for American; but my loyalty to this great nation demanded that I give those elected a chance to do the best that they could.

That meant praying for them instead of demeaning them.  That meant corresponding with them instead of taking public potshots at them.  That meant exercising wisdom over vitriol and patriotism over selfishness.  I plan to stay that course.  I ask that you join me.

In God is our Trust--straight from the National Anthem

We often learn theology from our music.  Perhaps that’s not the best way, but it is the way that sticks with us.  Who among us cannot call upon a verse or two from Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, When Peace Like a River, or Just As I Am in a moment of need.

Biblical reading and exegesis might be the better tools, but it is our music that we carry with us.

So too is the case for our patriotic music.  There isn’t too much new on the patriotic scene lately.  An occasional country and western artist will take a shot at it.  Nothing really compares to The Star Spangled Banner. 

We normally just sing the first verse of this at official gatherings and sporting events, but we would be well served to invest a full five minutes and sing or at least listen to all 4 verses.

The first verse begins and ends with a question. 

The first question is to those engaged in the battle for freedom in the American Colonies.  Can you see our flag on this new morning after the night long battle?

The second question is asked to each succeeding generation.  Does that Star Spangled Banner still wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave?  Have we preserved what was so nobly fought for?

The remaining verses offer no greater question.  Instead they include affirmations of patriots who have trusted their grand experiment to an almighty God.

The Star Spangled Banner

By Francis Scott Key 1814

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more!

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Let he who is without an American Flag cast out the first thought...What?

I received the following email about a dozen times today.  What should I think?

ABC News Joins Obama - Bans American Flag Lapel Pins

           Barbara Walters said that this was going to hurt ABC bad. As you know, she works for ABC.

                    YESTERDAY THE BRASS AT ABC NEWS ISSUED ORDERS FORBIDDING REPORTERS TO WEAR LAPEL PIN AMERICAN FLAGS OR OTHER PATRIOTIC INSIGNIA. THEIR  REASONING WAS THAT ABC  SHOULD REMAIN NEUTRAL ABOUT 'CAUSES'.

           SINCE WHEN IS PATRIOTISM TO BE DISCOURAGED?

           I URGE YOU TO BOYCOTT ABC AND ITS SPONSORS AND AFFILIATES.   WE ARE SLOWLY LOSING EVERYTHING OUR COUNTRY STANDS FOR AND

           EVERYTHING OUR MEN AND WOMEN FOUGHT AND DIED TO PRESERVE!  PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO AS MANY AS YOU CAN.

           THIS HAS BEEN VERIFIED THROUGH:

           http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/abcflag.htm

           THIS ONE NEEDS TO BE CIRCULATED...QUICKLY

What should I think?

I think that I should think before forwarding this.  It is one of those emails that once again plays upon ignorance and emotion.

What?  A Marine and a pastor who won’t immediately jump on the Obama-Free Press Bashing Band Wagon:  Who’d a thunk it?

First, ABC news did not join Barrack Obama in any campaign.  This lumping together of somewhat similar actions into a Presidential-Free Press Consortium or Conspiracy is what has put otherwise good hearted Americans at the bottom of the garbage heap of critical thinking.

Next, the press is patriotic when it seems the least patriotic.  It is the watchdog of government.  The watchdog has been tamed, taught tricks, and otherwise manipulated by greed, hunger for power and prominence, and other corrupting factors over the years; but it is still the best we have.

The press poses an interesting paradox. 

The very government that the free press must be critical of is the same government charged to protect its rights to be critical.  No free press would want the very instrument of its protection to succumb to any force—internal or external—that would remove this protection.

It is a delicate balance that exists only in controversy. 

The press and the government charged to provide for the common defense so that the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States remains intact must be frequently at odds.  There is nothing unpatriotic about that.

You may or may not like our current president.  That’s your prerogative.

You may or may not like ABC news.  That’s your prerogative.

Your reasonable act of patriotism is to thank God and thank two centuries worth of selfless Americans that you can disagree with your political leaders and have a free press to be upset with.

Think more.

Bash each other less.

Put others before self.

That will move us more towards patriotism than forwarding another email.

Click like, forward the link to this article to 10,000 of your most intimate friends, and hold your breath until you pass out; or not!

Wear your lapel pin if you like.  Mine has both the National Ensign and the Marine Corps Colors.

Let’s just agree to think before we forward.