INDIVISIBLE

Last bit of this article:

"It’s time for a reapplication of the Silver Rule. Only once we begin to leave each other alone can we talk about rebuilding our social fabric."

I like the 'social fabric' analogy - only fabric is WOVEN not 'built'.

We as a society are a cultural fabric of many threads woven together in a beautiful tapestry rich in colors and textures and a panoply of design unique in all the world. We are collectively We the People of the United States of America.

Any tearing of the fabric of our society is the tearing of our collective soul, and of the hearts of each of us who ARE the threads of our social fabric.

THAT is what 'indivisible' means, my friend.

[the rest of the article was okay, but that last bit made me think ... maybe we don't need to 'leave each other alone' so much as we need to recognize that each and all of us are necessary threads of this so very precious tapestry]

Went looking for tapestries to illustrate this post - holy cow! First the many tree tapestries caught my fancy, then I ran across a bunch of Maximo Laura Tapestries and thought - yes, those suit us better.

THIS LINK will take you to a place I think you'll really like.

It's an interview with the artist.

And photos of more of his work.

PLEASE click on the link. I'm betting you'll say, as I do: God bless Peru for having produced this amazing artist. I don't care if he's not an American - we are still reflected in his work even though we are weaving our OWN tapestry as a nation 

THIS. Memorial Day is a Day for Grief and Gratitude

As we honor our fallen, it's impossible not to remember 

what they lived, fought, and died for.

THIS is what it's all about, what it has been all about from the beginning.

Faith

Family

Friends

Freedom

Future

The United States of America

Feel free to read on if you choose, but the above pretty much says everything that's in my heart on this day.

Add THIS to the mix:

I pledge allegiance

to the Flag

of the United States of America

and to the Republic

for which it stands - 

one nation under God

indivisible

with liberty and justice for all.

If you can say the above, and mean it heart and soul, you are welcome here.

This next bit is for the Illegals among us, and for We the People of the United States of America.

We are not 'out to get you' unless you are out to do harm to us or anyone else within our borders, including each other. 

We realize that for the most part you were sold a bill of goods by some charlatans using you as a puppet population. 

Please know that We the People of the United States of America were NOT behind that. 

Please know that one of the reasons we've now chosen an entirely new and different administration for our nation is the result of at last seeing and recognizing what has been going on behind our backs and in front of our faces for a long time, including the lies told to you and the injustice perpetrated on you as well as on us.

No, we did not invite you to come here illegally. Somebody did, but it was not We the People of the United States of America. You, and we, have been used by the same charlatans.

We want you to know that the 'innocent' among you are NOT the babies we want thrown out with the proverbial (and in this case SWAMPY) bathwater.

The bad seed, yes. We want them gone from among us all, including you the 'innocent'.

No, you are not entirely 'innocent' because you broke our law by coming here illegally. For that yes, a penalty must be paid. 

But, once paid, let that be the end of it. Work here, live happy lives here, contribute to our culture and our society here, earn your way the same as the rest of us - and you will find your way to the welcome we were not expecting to extend but which we will extend if you do your part too. 

That Flag up there, that Pledge of Allegiance - they mean something. 

They represent what our families came to this continent to build for us, the Legacy they lived, fought, and died to protect and to preserve. 

And so I say to you: One day your own families will be able to say the same, if YOU give them the chance. 

Our families did not sneak - there is no pride to be taken in ancestors who snuck in through the back door instead of using the front one. 

Give your descendants pride in you. Fix what you have broken so they can live with pride instead of shame. 

You took a big risk in coming here. 

Take another, for the sake of your generations to come - the ones who will be proud Americans who know the meaning of that Flag, that Pledge, with their whole hearts and souls because you choose now to give them a gift. It's the same gift we Americans all share: a common Legacy.

For me, having Faith means not only Faith in the Creator, but in the Creation as well. In us, in you. Because my Faith has three parts I myself think that those three parts are important: Justice, Mercy, Peace - in that order.

Many of you have already paid a steep price to the charlatans who lied to you. They encouraged you to break our law and they are guilty. But you went along with it. Another price, a penalty, must be paid. Mostly by them, but also by you as you are also culpable. 

That's the Justice part, and Justice must come first.

Mercy can only come after Justice has been served.

Then, and only then, will there be a chance for Peace.

To my fellow Americans who might not agree with me on this particular issue I say:

It's all a matter of perspective.

To those who would welcome all and sundry, including the bad apples, I say a very blunt NO.

Period.

To those who would remove all and sundry, including the 'innocent', I say an equally blunt NO.

We can and we will find our Balance here, friends.

All things considered, our good neighbors wish us no harm. The bad neighbors, those who DO wish us harm, will be sent back home. 

We in the United States are among the fortunate of the world. Although we have had, now have, and will have charlatans among us, we have also a Legacy of which we can be proud, a Legacy that gives us the tools we need to do what we have to do when we have to do it.

I refer of course to our Constitution and our Bill of Rights.

We cannot blame those less fortunate for wanting to share in what we take for granted. 

We can and we do blame them for making rotten choices if they break our law in their quest to share the Legacy our own families have lived, fought, and died for. 

Hence Justice before Mercy.

But our ultimate goal is PEACE. 

Without Mercy there will come no PEACE.

God Bless the USA!

Something You Might Or Might Not Want To Hear

note: I have no idea why this blog isn't posting any of the photo images these past months :( 

A few years ago it would never have occurred to me that what you are about to read might possibly be anything that anyone would need to be reminded of, let alone be something that some people may not have even heard of. It’s not new news; it’s not a new take on anything; it’s not unique in any way – at least until these past few years … the growing up years of our young adults. 

Below you’ll find excerpts from three separate blog posts. Together they say something you might or might not want to hear.

this is an image of the Constitution of the United States of America, which isn't showing up

1)  We are governed not by any one sitting president, not by any single current congress, not even by our courts. 

We are governed by the Constitution of the United States of America which grants sovereign rights to the PEOPLE of the United States. It is We the People of the United States of America who wield the final authority. We are not just saying 'NO' to corruption in our government; we are also saying 'NO' to those who have for too long been disregarding the fundamental premise of our form of government. 

  

these are images of a flying Bald Eagle and a standing American Bison

2)  Both the National Bird of the United States and our (apparently soon-to-be) National Animal/Mammal - the Bald Eagle and the American Bison - were both around for that last big ELE (Extinction Level Event, almost 13,000 years ago) - and somehow survived.

In much more recent years, both were on the verge of extinction (again) and both were 'brought back' from that verge by the collective will of the American People.

That we as a people, once we recognized what we had done, were doing, did what we had to do to correct ourselves ... something about that is reassuring, gives me hope.

God Bless America

Indivisible

3)  … I refer you to the stars that grace the Flag of the United States of America. Yes I know they represent each and all of the States of our Nation. They can also represent the forging of this Nation, one made up of many. You notice that each of those stars is the same size; each is equal to all of the others. The fact that Texas and Alaska are far bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware is entirely moot. They share equal status, and our Flag needs ALL of her stars in order to be complete. Not a single one of those stars carries a label but together they, and the stripes of red and white that flank them, represent one nation. One. Recognizing and respecting individuality in NO way diminishes what that means but enhances it.

this is an image of a flying dove carrying an olive branch

All of the above having been said, here’s what I want to remind you of:

First, regardless of who is in the White House, regardless of who fills the Seats of Congress in Washington DC, even regardless of who sits the benches of our courtrooms, the United States of America’s Constitution and Bill of Rights are what govern us.

Administrations come and administrations go, one after another after another. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights cannot be changed, only added to by the collective Will of the People via amendments (which are not easily achieved).

Second, we as a people have made mistakes. That we have, and do, and will come to recognize our mistakes, speaks well of us. That we have, and do, and will take steps to correct our mistakes speaks even louder.

Bringing back the Bald Eagle and the American Bison from the brink … how many of our younger folk even realize what that means? How many care? I would venture to say  :  few – very few – too few. Yet it is symbolic, and perhaps therein lies the issue at the moment. It is symbolic of something we as a people did RIGHT. These days, everyone’s focusing on other symbols, interpreting them in ways that are twisted.

Third, connected to second (and to first when it comes right down to it) the individual groups that make up our larger population have been, are, and will be collectively We the People of the United States of America.

That’s a statement of fact folks, not a recommendation.

There was a time, brought to mind by recent events, when mistakes were made by more than one ‘faction’. The effect was not pretty. The result was a still-united nation, albeit a wounded one.

The three points merge.

Today we can, if we look, see what has come of ‘that time’ which is of course our own Civil War, something that I hear some people threatening again. We will not go there, people. We will not.

For those who think perhaps it is a viable option, think again.

You have only to look to our southern states of Texas and Louisiana, right now, in August of 2017, to see the incontrovertible conclusion of that war. In the midst of horror and pain We the People, once divided and again threatened with division, are oblivious to the factors that once divided us. Watch, and listen. You can’t help but see what I’m talking about. There is no South any more; there is no North. There is no Urban; there is no Rural. There is no Rich; there is no Poor. There is only ONE People of the United States.

What you will see, if you care to look, is the United States of America, full-blown and just doing what it does – pulling together in a time of crisis. Addressing with steadfast resolution (a cliché I know but here it fits so yes I’m going to use it) those who would use the hurt of others for their own ends – the looters are being arrested; the politicizers are being shouted down or ignored; the price gougers are being documented and will be dealt with; the haters are being called out and shown up for what they are.

So, contrary to what ‘current events’ in the form of riots and protests and the destruction of symbols of our past successes and the haters might want us to believe, our nation as a whole is actually reaffirming what we have needed to be reminded of: we are ONE nation, indivisible. Made up of many and many different folks, this is true, but nevertheless ONE.

In our ‘crisis mode’ nobody cares about anything that doesn’t matter. Nobody cares about who someone is sleeping with; nobody cares about skin tones; nobody cares about how big someone’s house is or how fancy their vehicle is; nobody cares about who anybody else voted for; nobody cares when or how or under what circumstances anybody else’s ancestors came to these shores. Nobody cares about what anybody else ‘identifies as’ – because at the moment the only ‘identity’ anybody has is ‘American’.

Part of me weeps that it has had to take a Powerful Act of Nature to bring home to us what should have been recognized and celebrated all along. Instead, we’ve had divisiveness shoved down our throats for so long that we were starting to believe in it, even while choking on the very thought of it.

So y’all haters can just sit down and shut up now. We do accept that even you are a part of us. You are the part of each and all of us that we know we have inside, the dark ugly part that we fight to subdue and overcome. You are in the dark corners of our internal ‘gardens’, where we put the rotting detritus that we don’t want to see. You are there, and we are not denying it – but just as we nurture and care for the beauty and productivity of our own selves and our nation and set the detritus aside in a dark corner, so too will we set you aside. You need no nurturing; natural processes will decay you until you become again something we can use to further nurture the beauty and productivity. In the meantime, we do not want you front and center – not of our own selves and not of our nation.

Going back to our points …

The laws that govern us as American citizens forbid harm to any, for any reason.

We the People of the United States of America have been making a mistake; we can and will take steps to correct ourselves.

We cannot, and do not, and will not deny the value and importance of any part of our collective population. We might have to put you haters in a corner for a while, but in so doing we are but protecting the beauty and productivity while you’re decaying enough to become again nurturers of said beauty and productivity.

Just as, at the moment, Houston and other places are addressing the weeds (haters) in their sodden garden while caring for the beauty so too will the United States as a whole.

So you can either go to the corner on your own or we can put you there. Your choice.

Frankly, it would be a great deal more pleasant if you choose to become a part of the beauty right away, for you and for the rest of us. I can’t imagine it would be at all pleasant to find myself rotting and decaying for as long as it takes to become fertilizer. You can skip that step. Pay the piper (can’t skip this step, sorry), be forgiven, and ‘come on home’ – if you want.

It took many of our folk a real long time to make that happen, but … look to Texas and Louisiana right now. Look to We the People of the United States of America as we respond to the needs of our own. Look to the various States kicking in and getting the job done. Look to our Federal Government doing its part.

Tell me you don’t want to be a part of that; tell me you’d rather be rotting in a dark corner instead. Go ahead; try to convince me; give it your best shot; tell me why you’d prefer divisiveness over unity. Your chances of convincing me are slim to none, and slim isn’t really in the running, but here’s your chance to try.

My words to you are: come home – just come home to the America who already accepts you and loves you enough to put you in a corner when need be. You don’t have to stay in that dark rotting corner. Your place is here in the beauty and productivity of this oh so precious nation that we all call Home.

Justice

+Mercy

=Peace

An Angel Story

I have a number of 'Angel Stories' but for today my focus is on a point that needs to be made about one of them in particular. The whole story will come in another post; for now the abbreviated version will make the point.

A recent topic of conversation was about angels; it reminded me of the reluctant angel I met when my vehicle overheated on I-25 between Pueblo and Colorado Springs, the one who drove a red corvette convertible. 

I needed help and he helped me, confused as all get-out because, as he told me, he just didn’t do stuff like help people because all people are inherently bad, hateful, and generally mean. Nevertheless he helped me in more ways than one and was on the receiving end of a blessing of his own.

He drove into the Springs to get the part my poor little beat-up S10 Blazer needed, leaving me with my vehicle because otherwise it probably wouldn't be there when we got back, and I was to stay IN the vehicle (doors locked and windows up). 

While he was gone, people pulled off of I-25 from both directions to check on me. I’m not even kidding you a little bit here. I started writing down plate numbers on the back of an envelope but stopped when I ran out of room and lost count. More than FORTY vehicles pulled into that little area, some of the folk choosing to stick around until my ‘angel’ got back with the part, which took better than an hour.

The point I want to make here is not so much that there are indeed an abundance of ‘angels among us’ (although that’s most certainly true and I’m here to tell you so) but ... 

Those angels showed up from all socio-economic backgrounds (going by their vehicles and clothes) and from all the ethnic-cultural backgrounds that the Front Range is home to, they were of all ages and both genders – and not a one of them gave any of the others so much as a sideways look, I’ll have you know. 

Each and all of them had pulled off of that highway urged by the exact same impulse, to help someone, and they all knew it. Grins and waves from each to the other and they were back on their own paths for the day. 

Few of them would have known how MANY they were a part of on that day, but I knew and so did a couple of the early stoppers who stayed to ‘stand guard’.

So it wasn’t just me who was blessed on that day, nor just my reluctant angel (who was shocked enough to find a group of folks waiting with me when he got back, let alone when we told him how MANY more had stopped), but also all those folk who took the time out of their days and made the effort to check on the well-being of a total stranger.

Do not ask me to explain because I flat out cannot do it. 

Such a thing may never have happened before and may not have happened since and may never happen again – but on that day it did I tell you true.

In today’s world we could have and would likely have recorded the whole thing and it would have gone viral on line. As it is, the memory makes me smile and having had the experience makes me believe very strongly in just the opposite of what my reluctant angel told me about people on that day.

Score one for the good folk!

From all walks of life, from all ages, from all ethnicities, from all cultures, male and female they stepped up to the plate and offered aid, support, good wishes, protection, and many a smile and/or hug as well. 

That I am still so impacted by that one short time speaks on behalf of everyone who was there on that day. 

I couldn’t tell you the name of a single one of them except that I remember Ric was the name of the reluctant angel. 

But I will never ever in my life forget the message they brought with them, each and all independently of everyone else. 

‘I care,’ they said. ‘I am here.’

*sentimental sigh*

I totally love remembering times like that.

Of What Faith Are WE THE PEOPLE?

See that center circle right up there? That's our Faith. All of those circles are linked and cannot be separated. All are bound by that center circle - Faith.

Now, what the heck, right?

We here in the United States have all kinds of differences in our Faith. It's the truth - we do have a lot of differences among us. And that's okay, has been okay, generally speaking, for as long as there's been a United States. 

There's room for the differences among us, so long as one basic rule is followed: Believe what you choose, but you will will not do harm to others.

Our witch-hunting days were short-lived and are long past. We do not burn people here. We do not behead people. We do not mutilate people. We do not consider deceit and murder admirable.

There are all sorts here. We've got Pagans, Jews, Christians of all kinds, Wiccans, Hindi, Atheists, Traditionalists, Non-conformists, Scientists, Futurists, Buddhists,  and every other kind of '-ist'  and '-ism' you could possibly think of, with variations abounding among each and all of them. Lots and lots of sorts we've got, all different from one another.

Beneath the differences, through them, over-riding them, is that one basic rule. That is our fundamental Faith ... in one another ... whatever our differences, however much we can and do rant and rave and cuss blue streaks if we want to, there's a darned solid line in place between your fist and my nose so to speak. You cross that line and you're in trouble.

See, here's the deal.

If I were by chance sitting in a church pew and you came in, I would scoot over to make space for you, no matter what religion you are. If you want to sit alongside of whoever else happens to be at that service, you're certainly welcome. If, however, you came in and started shooting, somebody would shoot you because you just crossed that line. Whether we scoot or shoot is entirely up to you.

Because, as the kids would say, that's just how we roll here in the United States. Generally speaking, at least.

Our Faith is strong - in God, in one another, and in our own selves.

Those of us who live in well-armed snoopy little communities, we aren't particularly afraid of much of anything. The fact that everybody in town knows everybody else's business can be annoying as all get-out. It is also very much an effective security measure. 

The bad guys are better off just leaving us alone here in Small Town USA.

For one thing, we aren't all that interesting to anybody except ourselves. For another thing we don't have much of anything that anybody else might want. But mostly, what kind of publicity would get generated for the bad guys if all we did was shoot 'em when they opened fire on us? No media hoopla, no big deal - just like if a coyote threatened one of our kids. Bang, and the varmint ain't gonna bother us no more. 

Then there's that 'snoopy' factor. We are downright nosy. Somebody moves into town, we're gonna know it. We're gonna snoop and poke and pry and watch to see if they eat the bacon we're all so fond of. Even 'just passing through' people get the same treatment, yep. Call us paranoid if you want; we're okay with that. We've always been like this, you know. My family moved here fifty-odd years ago and we're still kind of the new folks in town, relatively speaking.

So yeah, we have our Faith. We also have Family, Friends, Freedom, and the Future - all linked securely together.

Our own Small Town USA is kind of a microcosm of our much larger national community. We can fuss and fret and call each other bad names and poke and prod each other over piddly stuff and make fun of folks for whatever ... but when push comes to shove we'll up and shoot whatever bad guy takes a shot at any of us, even if it's the guy we felt like shooting our own selves just yesterday because he's so damn dumb about lutefisk and thinks everybody ought to like it just because he does. He's been harping about that lutefisk for forty years or more and ain't nobody shot him yet. We aren't about to let anyone else shoot him. Feeling like doing something is a far cry from actually doing it.

Now don't think we aren't compassionate toward those who don't get to live out here among us. We are. We feel right sorry for you. And you're welcome to come sit beside us on that church pew any time you want. You are not welcome to come out here and start shooting us. We shoot back. And we eat a lot of bacon; lutefisk not so much, although some people do claim to like it.

Who Do You Think You Are!?

To those who ask this question, the answer lies in another question:

'Who' I am? What does that matter? Am I not, to you, 'who' you think I am, 'who' you see me as?

Who do you think you are?

Are we not all God's Children?

I am a Daughter of the Creator and the Holy Spirit, Sister to Jesus, as are you Daughter and Sister, or Son and Brother. The titles are ours by birthright, gifts of the Holy Trinity, whether we claim them or not.

Because part of the gift is also freedom to choose to accept or to reject the path we are given. Choosing Acceptance carries the responsibility of Being, to the best of our ability, Daughters and Sons of God - yet even Rejection can be reversed; therein lies Hope ... and Mercy ... 

See, the Creator knows who we are, has known us since before our births, each and all of us.

Heaven knows we are not perfect Beings. We're going to fall flat on our faces time and again, we're going to get tired and cranky and whiny, we're going to know fear and pain and loss, we're going to doubt ourselves and the Creator who made us, we're going to say, 'What, are You crazy? We can't do this! We don't want to do this. We're falling down exhausted, our feet hurt, our backs are killing us, our hearts and wills are broken ... You're nuts if you think we can just keep going the way we are!' 

And then, just when we're absolutely positive that we can't and won't carry on any further comes another breath, another bit of strength, a little more will ... and we take just one more step. And another. And another.

By that third step we might be coming to realize something.

We don't have to do this thing, whatever it may be, all alone.

For one thing, we have one another. When the time comes that each and all of us are about to go down in flames, we look around us and know that together we're going to make it through that next step, and the next, and the next. And so we do.

More importantly, when we've reached the end of our collective rope will come something we may have been too tired, too hurt, too disheartened to have thought much about. And within us something will stir; we'll find what it takes to get us the rest we need, the healing we need, the heart and the will that we need.

That, my friend, is a part of the gift as well.

Do you think the Spirit who dwells within us each and all doesn't know full well (having been a part of many more than just us from the dawn of Creation) that we're going to become tired and cranky and whiny, know fear and loss and doubt, fall flat on our faces? 

When those times are upon us we'll find that sure enough we aren't strong enough, we aren't smart enough, we aren't tough enough, we aren't anything enough.

We aren't.

We don't have to be.

Someone Else already is.

Someone already has our aching backs. And our hurting feet. And our broken hearts, our exhausted wills.

What we are given to do we will also be given the means to do.

When we realize that, something inside of us relaxes. The absence of tensions we weren't even aware of frees up our own internal resources - believe that because it's true. It also opens a door, or a window perhaps, or maybe even just a bit of a chink in our walls (it doesn't really take all that much) that Hope can walk through, or come in like a breeze, or sneak up on us unexpectedly.

Such a simple thing, but so very hard to find out how to do - yet all we have to do is do it.

We are given a Command: Fear Not

That's not just a suggestion, folks.

That's a Command.

And it's followed by a Promise: I am with you

In other words: Don't worry. I've got this.

All that's required of us is to do the best we can with what we have to work with at any given time. What we need will come when it is most needed.

We, each and all, are gifted before birth with everything we'll ever need. We are known, cherished, Children of the Creator. 

So really ... think about it ... 

Someone who created the universes tells us, 'Don't worry. I've got this,' and proves it time and time and time again - and we're still fretting and fussing?

Well yeah, we are. 

Not that it does us any good. 

We've been doing it since we were old enough to know what worry is, we're doing it now, and we'll continue to do it. Probably most of us will spend our entire grown up lives that way - because we tend to forget that we are Children, Daughters and Sons, Sisters and Brothers, of ... hmmm ... 

Do you remember the powerful arms of your father from when you were a very little child? The comforting ones of your mother? The hugs of a strong sibling? Not worrying about stuff like bills and fatigue and pain and all that?

Yep.

Guess what.

Confidence in yourself is not required. Strength of your own isn't mandatory.

And it doesn't really matter a whit 'who' you are or 'who' you are not in your own eyes or in the eyes of others. You are not just your own self. You have never been 'only' anything or anyone. There's no 'only' about you, never has been. God doesn't create us to be 'only'; we are created to be Daughters and Sons, Sisters and Brothers.

So:

Who Do You Think You Are!?