WillThink4Wine

Yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr Day. It has been nearly 40 years since he was assassinated.

If he were allowed to come back and speak to us today, what would he say? How has Society done as far as turning his Dream into a reality? How wisely has Society used these 40 years?

I would surely like to hear that speech.

Honestly, I don’t think he’d be pleased. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, he referred to Time as being neutral. He said that Time could be used destructively or constructively, and that without effort and hard work, Time becomes an ally of “Social Stagnation”.

Oops.

Society may have left segregation in the past, but prejudice, discrimination, bias and bigotry still rear their ugly heads every day in every corner of the world. The major difference is that it’s no longer burning crosses and the Ku Klux Klan; now it’s Smart Bombs, IED’s and the Taliban. And guess what? It just doesn’t matter to them what the color of our skin is, or what our religion may be. They want to kill all Americans and our allies.

History is replete with examples of predjudice, bias, and bigotry; a people assuming that their race or religion was superior to another. It is Timeless. Yet we still haven’t learned the lesson.

Dr. King also said that Time is always ripe to do right. I hope we still have Time.

Tags: MLK, Social Stagnation, Thought for the Day

The Internet never ceases to amaze me. Truly. You start typing in your own little corner of the world and before you know it, a few clicks later you are flung all around the world. Amazing.

Sam:

If I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been.

Frodo:

Come on Sam. Remember what Bilbo used to say: ‘It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.’

 

This morning my journey brought me to somewhere and someone quite remarkable. I started off reading a blog on the Bipolar Net Ring, which took me to Boston, Maine, Colorado, and Iraq. I followed Maj. Andrew Olmsted.

Andy was the first US soldier killed in 2008. The first post I read was Andy’s last. He asked a friend to post it in the event of his death. It’s quite long and totally worth your time.

I wish I had known Andy. I ache for the grief his wife Amanda is suffering now. It makes me cry for all the family and friends of every soldier who has served or has ever fallen.

It makes the rhetoric the polititians throw about seem all the more pale and callous.

Hello, Andy. Thank you for serving your country.

Tags: Andy Olmsted, Support Our Troops, Thought for the Day

Some days, you’re flying high!

And some days, you’re the Statue.

“Far Out”, just one of the incredible Sculptures by Artist J. Seward Johnson

Tags: Thought for the Day

I got an email forward that got me thinking about my brother. He is one of the kindest, sweetest people I know. Watch our home movies and you will always see one kid with the brightest, widest smile you’ll ever hope to see. That kid will be my sweet brother! He always has the most innocent, serene expression. That is exactly the image my mind always conjures up when I think of him.

He was diagnosed with a chemical imbalance when he was about 20 years old. I have never been clear on his actual diagnosis, so for now I’ll leave it at that. However, without his meds, his behavior has had at least one schizophrenic symptom: he has in the past occasionally heard voices that will encourage him to do things, such as move a picture from the wall into the attic.

He is incapable of telling a lie. Seriously, he’s incapable. To prove my assertion I once asked him to say his name was John. He smiled and said “But my name is ..”. I know dear, but just for fun, say it’s John, just this once. “But it’s not, it’s ..”.

This one observation, recognizing this one ‘flaw in his character’, I believe is key to understanding him as a person. He is so honest because it is inconceivable to him that there is ever a reason to lie, or that anybody might ever lie to him. It is also why he so often gets deeply hurt and let down by all the many ‘normal’ people that cross his path during any given day. He is naive. He is gullible. He will believe anything and everything you tell him. Why shouldn’t he? People wouldn’t lie.

My brother is a Christian, a husband and a father. He is happy, loving, courteous, thoughtful, helpful, frugal, responsible, dependable and hardworking. He is our Dad’s best friend. He lives to be the best Dad in the universe for his daughter.

God doesn’t live under the bed. He lives in my dear brother’s heart.

Tags: Brothers, Chemical Imbalance, Family, Thought for the Day