Barack Obama: A Blessing of Light

In Hebrew, his name means “flash of lightning.”

But in his father’s language, which happened to be Swahili, his name means “blessing from God.”

To me, he is both.

He is Barack Obama.

And he is only presidential candidate who has willingly and openly supported The Americans with Disabilities Restoration Act.

To most people, that doesn’t mean a damn thing.

But to me, and to my family, a presidential candidate who supports the rights of Americans with disabilities is a beacon of hope on a long journey through an endless night of prejudice and discrimination, a darkness filled with shallow insults and unnecessary limits.

Because I’ve lost 60% of my hearing.  So far.

To me, Barack is a “blessing of light.”

And when you have to wait 214 years for a free country founded on the premise that all men are created equal to grant you the right of reasonable accommodation so you can get a job and keep it and live up to your potential to make a positive contribution to your community and to your country–instead of being held back my discrimination…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When your white grandfather is degraded daily and discriminated against his whole life because of his deafness to the point where the only option he has after 66 years is to donate his remains to medical research because discrimination never afforded him a decent burial…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When the only jobs your intelligent, hard-of-hearing mother can find after your father leaves are pumping gas and washing dishes…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

And when your mother is falsely accused of stealing and loses her job because her boss is a thief and a cheat who blames the deaf woman because she has no protections under the law and can’t afford a lawyer…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When your tenth grade English teacher embarasses you in front of the whole class because your ears can’t make any sense of iambic pentameter, and when you can’t say a single word about your hearing loss because you have no rights to reasonable accommodations…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When your friend invites you to a Christmas service and you can only understand ten words out of the whole sermon because the church doesn’t have assistive listening devices for the hard-of-hearing or sign language interpreters for the deaf, but you think you heard the pastor say something about “eternal salvation”…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When your first name is “That”, your middle name is “Deaf”, and your last name is “Guy”…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When you go to a five-star restaurant and the waiter spends more time staring at your hearing aids than he does telling you about the daily specials…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When you hard work all week and fill up your car at $3.75 a gallon and the clerk behind the counter calls you “Channel 5″ because you have hearing aids…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When you have to get a new vibrating alarm clock that costs $75…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When you pay $300 for two visual alert smoke detectors and you know hearing people can get two smoke detectors for $20 at Wal-Mart…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When your $5,000 hearing aids are “on sale” for $4,200…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When The United States Supreme Court rules that it is legal for a school not to provide a sign langauge interpreter for your deaf child because she only understands 57% of what the teacher says with hearing aids…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When your IQ is 148 but people think your stupid because you can’t hear as well as they can…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When your grade point average is 3.75 on a 4.0 scale in graduate school and your college professor tells you that writers need to be able to hear in order to be able to write…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

When you sit in the office of an ear, nose, and throat doctor to find out why your hearing loss is getting progressively worse but he tells you not to have children because he thinks you are genetically inferior…and your daughter died seven months ago…you will know why Barack Obama is a blessing of light.

And when you say all of these things because you’ve finally had enough and people still think you’re talking about a political issue instead of a personal matter that affects you every single day…you will know why I do not have the patience for meaningless political rhetoric.

“We must build a world free of unnecessary barriers, stereotypes, and discrimination…policies must be developed, attitudes must be shaped, and buildings and organizations must be designed to ensure that everyone has a chance to get the education they need and live independently as full citizens in their communities.”  ~Barack Obama

Will he win the presidency?  I certainly hope so.  Because he is the only candidate who has promised to make an effort on behalf of people with disabilities.

People like me.

And I.  Have had.  Enough.

 

Shadows In The Rain

Well, in just three days, “Hope Youse Guys…” has become my most popular post, surpassing significant Essays that have been on this site for months.

At last count, it had over twice as many hits as my previous most popular Essay.

As much as I enjoy making so many people laugh, I really have no interest in my fifteen minutes of fame.

And I certainly didn’t start this web log to win a popularity contest.

But I begin this blog to share the storms and sunrises in my spiritual life, that the blind may see, the deaf may hear, and the lame may run.

So, without fanfare or formality, this week I get back to basics…

In certain cultures, blindness is considered a spiritual gift.  It is believed that when one cannot see the physical world, the attention shifts to the spiritual world, to the unseen.  So spiritual insight is gained at the cost of physical sight, but that gift is so great, so valuable, and so precious that it far outweighs the curse.  It is only when one cannot see that one truly begins to see.

I have lost 60% of my hearing.  Ten years ago, it was 40%.  Ten years before that, 20%.  A decade previously, well, I could hear just as well as anyone.  But, at this rate, I am losing about 2% of my hearing per year.  And, honestly, I don’t mind.  Because, as strange as it may seem, the more of my hearing that I lose, the better I listen.  I don’t read lips, of course, but I use my eyes to gauge visual clues.  For all our talent and all our technology, we still speak one word at a time.  This is not so with sight.

We hear sequentially, but we see simultaneously.

The five senses work so well together that when one is lost, the others compensate.  For instance, blind people can have a heightened sense of smell.  Deaf people can have a greater visual acuity–Sign is a completely visual language, after all–and they can also have a heightened sense of touch.  I am not Deaf; I am hard-of-hearing, but I remember when Star Wars was re-released on the twentieth anniversary.  I could feel Darth Vader breathing.  And not just in the soft cushions of my seat; I could feel Vader inhale and exhale in the hard cement beneath my feet.  With my shoes and socks on.  It sent chills down my spine.

There are also…other advantages.

For instance, several years ago I went to see a friend of mine who was married.  He was in his backyard spreading stones beneath his porch to alleviate the floodwaters that would accumulate in his backyard every time it rained.  I remember him working harder than necessary for such a hot day.  And when his wife, who was bipolar, asked what he wanted from the grocery store he snapped at her.  After she left, he and I talked.  But soon he started complaining about the stones and the floodwaters.  Even the men who had brought the stones and dumped them in the wrong place.  He hated his father-in-law, too.  And his brother.  Probably, I wasn’t too far behind.

So I said, “How’s your marriage?”

And he snapped, “What the hell has that got to do with anything?”

“Just asking.  How are things going between you two…intimately?“

“She just needs to take the list with her or she’ll buy things we can’t afford or forget something.  The doctor screwed up her meds and it’s going to take her a while to adjust.”

“Is that all?”

“What the @#$% are you asking me this for?”

“Just wondering.”

The next thing I knew, he took the shovel and swung it like a baseball bat against the concrete foundation of the house.  ”We made love last night.  I thought it was great, but afterwards she started bawling her eyes out like somebody died.  Try making love to your wife and then watching her bawl her eyes out afterwards!”

Needless to say, the rest of the afternoon made for quite a conversation.

He had never before talked about the intimate details of his marriage.  And I honestly don’t know how I knew something was off.  I just…knew.

I listened–to the pace and tone of his speech, his vocal inflections, word choice, and how he chose to use those words and when.  There were also avoidance tactics like no eye contact, changing the subject, and deflecting his anger by discussing insignificant and irrelevant matters.  And long before he swung that shovel, his body language gave away his stress with his tense shoulders, not to mention that he was working harder than necessary.

That is just one example from ten years ago; there are many more I could mention, though it would obviously be unwise of me to do so.  But Carl Jung called this sixth sense intuition.  In most cases, it defies logic.  But the insights are often true, though it takes years to develop the talent.  And besides, what we say can never adequately convey what we mean.

A contradiction?  Sure.

But in matters of humanity, what isn’t?

It is very easy to condemn a crack addict as a thief, a felon, and a loser you would never associate with.  But that man was still made in God’s Image.  To say that he wasn’t made in God’s Image is to say that God made a mistake.  Well, God doesn’t make mistakes.  So to condemn a drug addict with judgmental eyes is to commit the sin of idolatry–which, by the way, is the first command in The Mosiac Law:  ”You shall have no other gods before me.”

Besides, if you look long enough, you just might discover that that crack addict was sexually abused as a child.  Or that the alcoholic you make it a point to avoid lost his mother when he was just ten years old and that he spent the next seven years of his life going through twenty-five different foster homes.  Sometimes, the pain is so great that the only escape one can find is in drugs and alcohol.  Is it any wonder Christ taught His followers not to judge?

After years of being so judgmental and so arrogant, silence has taught me to listen.

“...was blind, but now I see.”

Because, I know that somewhere behind that crack addict…and somewhere beneath all that drinking…is The Image of The Almighty God, to whom I shall one day give an account.

Can you see the artistic masterpiece of God’s Image through the graffiti of a fallen world?

Can you see the shadows in the rain?

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“Hope Youse Guys Can Forgive Me!”

 

I think it’s about time I lightened up a little bit.  Not much.  But a little.  Just enough to spread a few laughs.  And get myself into some serious trouble.

Anyway.  If you haven’t seen the original videos, click here.

 

Part One:  Mini for Mandy

 

Part Two:  Trouble for Tam

 

Credits.

Camera Operator SHARLENE 

Technical Assistance BRENT

Writers TOTALLY IMPROV

Victims TAM & MANDY

Hoping She Laughs Really Hard MICHELLE

Not Playing With A Full Deck THENOREASTER

 

Golden Days

Every time I go grocery shopping, I always get the same thing.  Always.  And every night before I go to work for five hours, I put the Crock-pot on “warm” and I add (in this order):

-2 Whole Carrots

-1/2 Cup of Broccoli

-1/4 Cup of Green Peppers

-1/2 Cup of Spinach

-1 Garlic Clove

-1/4 Teaspoon of Ginger

-1/4 Teaspoon of Dry Mustard

-2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

-8 Ounces of Tofu

-8 Ounces of Hamburg (Cook, drain, and add on top of vegetables)

And when I come home from work, I feed all that to my dog, Sam.

 

 

Although I must confess that the above photograph has angus instead of hamburg.  It was on sale.  And I couldn’t resist getting it for Sam. Could you?  Honestly…?

 

 

But, before you think I’m off my rocker, let me explain a few things about me and Sam.  Because we have a lot in common.  

-When Sam was 5 years old, his father died of a heroine overdose.

-My father left when I was 7 years old.

-When Sam was 6 years old, his mother died in an accident while drinking and driving.

-My mother drank at home.  (And she wasn’t very nice when she was drinking.)

-Because his parents were drug addicts and alcoholics, Sam was neglected; he used to eat rocks because he was hungry and he didn’t know any better.  And he has had surgery three times to remove rocks from his stomach.  The damage to his digestive system was extensive.  Fortunately, he’s eating very well now.

-Because my mother drank so much when I was growing up, I used to steal money from her purse after she had passed out so that I could have lunch at school the next day.  I did know better, but I hated starving.  And, by the way, I had surgery eight years ago to remove three lymph nodes from my abdomen because my doctor thought I had cancer.  Fortunately, my doctor was wrong.

-There are times I know Sam still misses the little girl who had him since he was a puppy.  She was 5 years old when she got him.  And she was 11 years old when her parents passed away.  (She and her brother are now living with relatives.)  So I try to cheer Sam up with a good petting.

-There were plenty of times that I would curl up on the couch–or the floor–with Sam and bawl my eyes out after my friend, Britany, killed herself.  He would always cheer me up with a good tail-wagging.  (I still do that sometimes, but not as often.)

-Sam loves going for a ride in the car.

-I love taking Sam for a ride in the car.

-Sam loves scratching his back on the rug.

-I don’t mind all that vacuuming.

-Sam loves taking a bath.

-But, man, I hate giving him one.

(Of course, my father never did drugs.  And although our relationship has had its ups and downs over the years, we get along pretty good these days.  In fact, he and his wife just came for a visit in February.  And my mother finally stopped drinking when I was 15, which was quite some time ago.  A little forgiveness goes a long way.  So we get along pretty good these days, too.)

Now, when I first got Sam, it took him a while to adjust to being a new home with a new master and, heck, even drinking new water because his stomach is so sensitive.  And, Yes, I tried feeding Sam dog food, but the kid just wouldn’t eat.  Or he’d eat some of it one day and none of it the next day.  Well, of course, I started to get really worried because he wasn’t eating.

Actually, I was more than worried.

I was in a panic.

Because Sam had been neglected, I wanted to be a good Dad.  Really, I did.  But just as adopting a hurt child is vastly different than raising your own child from birth, adopting a hurt dog is also quite a challenge.  And so it was with Sam.

Parents can tell their kids to eat.  They can threaten to take away dessert.  And, if it comes down to it, parents can punish their kids for being disobedient.

But you can’t tell a dog to eat if he doesn’t want to eat and expect him to listen to you.  You can’t send him to his room and expect him to learn his lesson.  And when he wants to be disobedient, you can’t use the magic words–”Because I said so”–and expect that to settle it.

But you can train him to accept being on a leash when he goes outside.  You can train him to stay away from rocks–so he doesn’t eat them–by yanking on that leash when his mouth gets near one.  And you can watch and pray the first time he gets all that food you spent so much time and money on because you want him to be healthy again.

And that’s exactly what I did.  I prayed he would eat.  And, man, did he eat!  And he’s been eating ever since.  That kid literally will not eat anything else.

I got the recipe from Dr. Nancy, a veterinarian who goes to my church; she is also the only one I’ll allow to see Sam.  And there is another woman at my church who teaches obedience classes.  If all goes well, Sam may soon be a therapy dog, who will visit hospital patients.  I figure since he’s had surgery three times himself, Sam ought to be able to relate to people who are going through recovery.  I’ll keep you posted on how he’s doing.

This summer, I will have had Sam for a whole year.

It’s hard to believe it’s only been a year.

Because I don’t know how I ever got along without him.

 

SAM’S RULES

9.  I live here.  You don’t.  So just remember you are my guest here.  Or else.

7.  If you don’t want my hair on your clothes, stay off the FURniture.  Or else.

4.  My Daddy likes me better than he does most people.  Tough to blame him since people can be so mean to each other.  I don’t get it.  I think they should stop.  Or else.

6.  You may think I’m just a dumb animal who can’t count, but to my Daddy I’m an adopted son who walks on all fours.  In fact, I’m the perfect son because I never borrow the keys to the car or ask for money.  So think before you ask.  Or else.

10.  Besides, if you think I’m stupid, why do you work all the time while I stay at home and sleep?  So you just remember who is stupider.  Or else.

5.  If you say “OUT” and I start doing my Famous Snoopy Dance, that means I have to poop.  You better remember that, too.  Or else.

1.  I can’t speak too good, but I sure know how to bark when someone’s at the door or there’s trouble.  So you just watch yourself.  Or else.

3.  If I come up to you while you’re watching TV and give you my Famous Puppy Look, that means I think you’re watching too much TV so you’d better pet me.  Or else.

2.  I always do what my Daddy tells me to do.  But I’ve got a short attention span.  That doesn’t mean I’m stupid.  It just means I think life is fun and I want to enjoy it.  You should, too. Or else.

8.  When dogs start picking up people poop, we’ll be the masters and humans will be the pets.  Until then, we’ll just snicker when you aren’t looking.  So enjoy it while you can, “Master!”  Or else.

 

Once In A Blue Moon

 

“So how you know God really exists?”

 

Because.

My ex-girlfriend called.

Five years after

We broke up.

And she apologized–

For everything.

 

And that…is all the proof I need.

 

Category 5

 

* * * WARNING:  EXTREMELY GRAPHIC * * *

 

If a prophet had asked…

Oh, Lord!  How much longer?  How much longer must we endure these horrors at the hands of The Nazis?  Your people are suffering atrocities at Auschwitz untold in ages past!

These Nazis pluck babies from their mothers; these infants are tossed up in the air and fired upon as if they were target practice!  Their blood splatters over Your people, the prisoners!

Last night, my mother lay down beside me, but she suffered from a fever, a sickness brought on by malnutrition.  They refused to treat her; they were unwilling to feed her.

Last night, she was alive!  While I was sleeping she passed away, and the rats ate her body while it was still warm!  There is nothing left of my mother but a bloody skeleton!

My father died at Dachau.  For The Nazis came for him in the middle of the night, stripped his clothes in the dead of winter, and bound his hands and feet to the ground!

And I listened as every hour on the hour a Nazi would throw cold water over my father in the middle of that long winter night! My father died screaming, praying for deliverance!

He passed away as a guinea pig because of those Nazis!  My father died of hypothermia just so they could see the best way to warm up their pilots who eject over the ocean!

A man of medicine ordered this, but even their doctors are killers!  How long, O Lord, must we endure this atrocity?  How soon until we are delivered from the gas chambers?

Shall Your people simply march to their deaths?  Will You not, O Lord, remember the promise You made to our ancestors, the covenant You established with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?

For if we are Your people, then surely this abomination shall not continue!  I may stand in the line to the gas chamber, but still I will await deliverance from The God of My Fathers!

…then would The Almighty have answered?

Behold!  For I have heard your suffering, and as surely as I live, this abomination shall not continue; this atrocity shall end!  Stop walking!  Stand in your faith that I AM faithful!

Listen to me very carefully; do not lose sight of My words.  For the answers you seek can be found in the pages of long ago, in The Books written in days of old.

Those who say I have been silent throughout the ages, do not know Me.  They have forsaken My commands to fill their own desires; because things did not go their way,

They have turned away from their faith, but the strength of My people shall stand as a testimony against their weakness.  There is no love between neighbors.

For the peoples of this world have a knowledge they were never meant to have–the knowledge of good and evil–therefore, they will never master it.  Instead, it has mastered them.

Children are violated, mothers are scorned, the rich exploit the poor, governments are corrupt, and rape and murder are everywhere.  But love does no harm,

And perfect love drives out fear.  This I have told you ages ago, but you did not listen.  Therefore, I shall send a reckoning so great it will purge the hypocrisy from the people’s hearts.

Does the lion with a full stomach hunt the lamb?  Does a woman give birth without pain?  Does a plant grow from a living seed?  No, for the seed must die that the plant may live.

How shall a man ever know courage without facing tragedy?  How can a woman know sacrifice without her children’s needs?  And how shall the peoples of the earth ever know

Just how much they need Me unless I let them taste their own degradation?  For the lion with the full stomach ignores the lamb until hunger aches and drives it to hunt again.

So shall it be with the people I have created, those who have turned their back on Me from the beginning.  For since so many have chosen to ignore Me,

Then I will show them what happens when they ignore My command to love their neighbors; and from that reckoning there shall come an awakening–as it was in days of old.

For I am going to do something you will not believe even when you see it with your own eyes:  I am raising up The Soviets to capture your captors, and The Americans to liberate My people.

The wounded bear is on the prowl, and it shall devour your enemies.  Its strength cannot be counted, its muscles are beyond measure, and its teeth shall chew on your captors–

For the most dangerous animal is a bleeding mother protecting her cubs.  And after the hammer pounds the swastika, the sickle shall shall cut it down once and for all.

Gaze upon The Soviets and see their cruelty, for if they kill their own soldiers who retreat in battle then they shall surely show no mercy to those who have shown you no mercy.

Your enemies will live in shame for an entire generation, that once proud nation shall know humility while held in the fangs of the bear, crushed under the sharpest claws.

And while the bear shall rule your captors from the east, the eagle shall soar in the west.  A nation united shall also divide your enemies, for I am raising up The Americans.

Even now, they stand in breadlines awaiting their ration of food; their lives are miserable because a great depression has swept over their lands, and their ground is but a dustbowl.

But as surely as I made a promise to your ancestor, Abraham, I will raise up The Americans from the throes of this great depression, and they shall release you from your captors.

Today the skies billow with smoke as My enemies attempt to extinguish My people, but tomorrow The Americans will attack in fire, for I shall rouse a sleeping giant;

And you shall see the dogfights in the skies and hear the thunder of their weapons.  For the factories that make cosmetic casings today shall turn out arrows of lightning tomorrow;

Just one of their weapons will strike down many, but they shall beat their swords into plowshares, for that which fuels their explosives today shall fertilize their crops tomorrow.

And look!  Far to the east!  See The Empire of The Sun rising in the peaceful sea, but My Hand is against them, My Arm stretched out before them.

For their loyalty is voracious; they will not stop unless I turn them back.  And turn them back I shall; for even now, their kamakazies are proud to mark their deaths.

See their soldiers as they march in Myanmar, their well-trained warriors who put their trust in their own weapons shall fall before Me on the island of Ramree.

As they have feasted on their enemies, so shall the saltwater crocodiles feast upon them; for 10,000 of their troops will march through the dark swamps, but only 20 will see daylight.

Darkness is falling upon The Empire of The Sun, and they shall see such calamity upon their lands as was never seen before and shall never be seen in times to come.

For when the smallest particle is split, the greatest destruction comes; a sheet of sun shall conquer The Empire of The Sun, a devastation so great it shall be seen from the heavens.

So terrible will be this fire from the sky and this fallout from the heavens that in times to come even the American victors will speak of it as an unprecedented evil.

But after these things have taken place, after I have raised you up, you must teach your children to remember the atrocities you have endured that this shall happen Never Again!

And if a prophet had also asked…

O Lord, how can The Americans possibly liberate Your people?  That nation has been plagued by prejudice and has reeked of racism since its conception!

How can we be delivered by the arms of America when their own people cannot sit at a lunch counter and eat?  For they have passed laws that are detestable in Your sight!

Their people delight in lynchings and rejoice in killings!  They speak of freedom and sing of liberty, but their own people are segregated and degraded daily!

Since The Empire of The Sun has attacked them, their own citizens have been sent to camps, prisoners in their own nation–even though they have foresworn their native lands.

And if The Americans are that brutal toward their own people, how can we possibly believe that they shall liberate us from The Nazis?  Shall we live like the sons of slaves?

O Lord, can You not see fires blazing America?  Shall Your people live in fear from the intimidation of the white men in white sheets?  The killers who dress up in cone-heads?

Like the snake in The Garden, those religious leaders have twisted Your words to serve their own evil purposes; they mock those living in poverty, and murder men

And women, while those made in Your Image are forced to live in segregation and disgrace!  Shall we see the light of day from the atrocities at Auschwitz only to be delivered

Into the hands of men whose evil rivals that of our captors?  For how long, O Lord, shall it be before such men are elected to power in America?  How soon until their hatred

Consumes that nation because of those who spew such venom?  For there are no noble kings in that land, no good shepherds to hunt down the wolves arising in America.

…then would The Almighty have also answered?

Behold!  Do not despair, My people!  For it is I who causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, Me who sends the rains down upon the righteous and the unrighteous.

Remember, too, the day the sun stood still over Gibeon, and the moon did not move over The Valley of Aijalon.  For there has never been a day like it before or since,

When the hailstones fell upon the frightened people who were fleeing on the road from Beth Horon to Azakah, a single nation struck down many, so shall it be again.

And even those who shall reap the spoils of the victory I am granting, will speak of the unspeakable, and will utter words against the power I am giving them, in times to come.

But I am not yet finished with America!  For when that nation was young, I sent My Sojourner of Truth to warn them of the weasel within their lands, the snake striking from the weeds.

But they did not heed My messenger.  I spoke to her, and she spoke for Me, but those with ears could not hear, those with eyes could not see, and the wise could not comprehend.

I commanded her to travel up and down the land, to show these people their sins and to be a sign to them, and though she could not read or write

I chose her, a former slave whose family was sold, to speak against a nation that promised justice but legalized brutal slavery and denied rights to her citizens.

Yet, they delight in telling their children of the ten plagues I sent against Pharaoh and Egypt, but their eyes are closed; they do not realize that with each one I showed

My blatant contempt for brutal slavery.  And though Sojourner Truth was thought to be a fool in eyes of the slave-holders, the brutality of America shall soon be seen all around the world.

Have I not chosen the foolish in the eyes of this world to shame the wise of this world?  Is there any nation, any race, any people who shall not answer to Me?

Listen closely!  For I am not yet finished with America!  In times to come–and this shall happen quickly–another woman shall rise by staying in her seat.

A single woman sitting on a bus shall spark a revolution among her people.  I made her feet; they are not tired.  I created her heart, and it is tired–of giving in to segregation.

And from that spark, there shall come a prophet, a man I have chosen to end segregation in America.  In a land without royalty, he shall be called King, and I will grant him The Crown of Life.

Many attempts will be made upon his life, to take him from his people, but he will not pass until he has done what I have appointed him to do, and though a knife will penetrate his chest–

Fractions from his heart–he shall not even sneeze.  Though today his enemies claim victory in their lynchings, tomorrow all children shall sit together at the same schools–in peace.

His voice shall echo through the lands like the thunder roars, his words shall strike like lightning at the hearts of the hypocrites who twist my words like the snake in The Garden.

Like a Category 5 hurricane, his words shall purge a land filled with the degrading segregation of the south, and he shall speak against the poverty of the northern land.

He will fight without raising a fist, and battle for the oppressed while never drawing a weapon.  Though his enemies strike him, he will not strike back, but he shall stand on faith,

And the whole world will know that I am with him.  For he shall have a dream, a great vision of unity among the divided peoples of his country, and righteousness shall flow like

A mighty stream.  For this dream will shatter the barriers of segregation and break the chains of discrimination, and freedom shall ring at last from the land called America.

He shall humble the sole power to emerge from the conflict that now threatens My people, and a risen giant shall know humility like the shepherd David brought down the warrior Goliath.

For this power I am granting The Americans is far, far too great for any one nation to hold.  So after four years, I shall test them for forty years; allies today shall be enemies tomorrow.

For forty years, they shall live in fear of the sheets of sun; their children shall duck under their desks, their parents shall build bomb shelters in their backyards–so great is their fear!

But when these two great powers of the west and of the east overstep their bounds, I shall turn My hand against them.  In the jungles of Vietnam, the soaring eagle

Shall be brought low, and in the deserts of Afghanistan the proud bear shall be humbled.  Though they aim their arrows of lightning and launch their fires from the skies,

The peoples of the jungles and of the deserts shall be victorious against them.  Do I, the Lord, show favoritism?  Has everyone forgotten what the commander of My army told

Joshua before the fall of Jericho?  For when Joshua asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” My messenger said, “Neither.”  Remember, too, that I had brought My people out of Egypt,

From a land where they were slaves, and for forty years I fed them.  Still, My answer was, “Neither.”  Therefore, let it be known that I, the Lord, do not show favoritism.

And let all the nations know:  it is not the weapons that win the war, nor the soldiers who achieve victories. but only I, the Lord, grant victory or defeat–as I decree.

And when these powers do, indeed, overstep their bounds, then they, too, shall fall before Me; for those who live by the sword shall die by the sword at the hands of those who are left;

For whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed, and those that plunder many nations shall themselves be plundered by the peoples who are left.

So shall it be for the great powers of the west and the east, if they should use their power for their own greed instead of helping their neighbors across the seas.

I have heard the suffering of my people, and as surely as I live, this abomination shall not continue; this atrocity shall end!  Stop walking!  Stand in your faith that I AM faithful!

For I will give you back the land I promised to your fathers, the ground I declared would be your mothers.  As it was in days of old, so shall it be again.  For as surely as I live

I will restore My people to the land of their ancestors.  Many shall rise against you, but all of them shall fail, and you will know that I am with you.  In times to come,

For six days you shall battle against your enemies, but on the seventh day, you shall rest; and all the peoples of the earth shall know that I am with you once more.

But look closely at that wall in the east!  Gaze upon the words and be warned!  For it says, “Jews go back to Israel!”  And you shall return, as I decree, but the hatred of My people

Shall continue.  For I tell you the truth, within a generation that same wall will be covered in new words but tell of old hatred.  For it shall say, “Jews get out of Palestine!”

Therefore, be vigilant!  Keep my commands and honor my decress.  For you have spent thousands of years wandering among the nations, you were like a child without a father.

Because you were oppressed by those in the lands you lived, you must not oppress those who live in your lands.  You cried out to me because you were oppressed by your captors;

Therefore, you must not become captors.  For after I have raised you up, you must teach your children to remember the atrocities you have endured that this shall happen Never Again!

Though today you long for death to end your suffering at the hands of The Nazis, tomorrow you shall again feast in the land of your ancestors–as surely as I, The Lord God Almighty, live.

 

 

A Few Notes From The Author…

-All comments are moderated.

-Inappropriate comments will be deleted.

-Comments that stray from the subject will be deleted.

-Dr. Sigmund Rascher conducted hypothermia experiments at Dachau.

-Ammonium nitrate is a key ingredient in explosives.  After the war it was used to fertilize crops in The United States.

-Certain graphic details were taken from In The Hell Of Auschwitz by Judith Sternberg Newman.  I actually have an autographed copy and, on the inside cover, she wrote, “Free Again.”

-The Soviet Union tested its first nuclear bomb four years after the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  The Berlin Wall, the most distinct symbol of The Cold War, fell 40 years later.

-Was it right for The United States to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?  The people of the time certainly thought so, but, for the sake of the future, I hope nobody else ever sees it that way.

-The writing on the “wall in the east” is taken from Amos Oz’s How to Cure a Fanatic.  Oz also makes a very significant distinction between war and aggression when he brings up a very valid point about the unfortunate necessity of war:  ”If everyone but The Nazis had believed in war in 1939 then Hitler would have been lord of the universe by now…War can be the answer, but aggression is the problem.” 

-According to The 2007 Guinness Book of Records, the “Most Fatalities In A Crocodile Attack” took place on February 19th 1945 when “a Japanese Army unit was forced to cross 10 miles of mangrove swamps on the Burmese (now Myanmar) island of Ramree.  The swamps are home to many saltwater crocodiles, which can grow up to 15 feet long.  By the morning, of the 10,000 soldiers that had entered the swamp, only 20 had survived” (page 165).

Michelle

Well, it seems my good friend, Michelle, has gone “incognito,” for lack of a better term.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I miss her.  She is a great writer and has a wonderful sense of humor.

So I got myself an idea.

I have her mailing address so I thought I’d write her a letter to see how she’s doing.  But then it occurred to me–Why don’t I just let Michelle’s blog buddies send their best wishes in comments to this post and then I’ll print them up and send them to her so she knows how much we miss her?

Mind you, not very many people visit my blog so if you’re reading this, please pass it on to someone you know who might like to say “Hi!”

Comment as often as you like.

My Place In The Field

For those of you wondering, I am not finished revising my manuscript.  Not even close, actually.  I have just started The New Chapter Nine– so named because it’s a whole new chapter–and I’ve still got miles to go before I sleep.  But even though I’m Lost On The Green, I figured I might as well get back on the golf course and start hacking away at that ball.

In the rain.  And the mud.

Just like that famous golfer from my favorite movie.

Junuh knew that if he had any chance of winning the match, he had to come to terms with his own personal demons.

And as a famous author once said:

It’s the journey that matters, not the destination.

I was too focused on the journey, not the destination.  But In that journey, I’ll face my demons.

And that begins here.

I started this site because I believed I had something to say, and I wanted the freedom to say it without answering to anyone but myself–no professors, no peer critics, no editors.  No reviewers writing about my work without ever having read it.  No, not this time.

But I will say that this is the most extensive revision of a single manuscript that I have ever done. That is not an easy task to undertake when one is being “tested by adversity,” as director Robert Redford put it when discussing The Legend of Bagger Vance.

But no storm lasts forever.  Once the gale hits land, the winds encounter resistance.  And the storm starts to die.  Run, and you give the wind less resistance.  So the storm lasts longer.

Stand your ground against the gale, and, in the end, you will last longer than the storm.

While this is not quite the celebratory return I had hoped for–no flags of mine are flying–I am going to enjoy being on the green, searching for my place in the field.

But I hope you’ll enjoy my writing again.

The sleeping bear has woken.

My hibernation is over.

Night

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