I can simply not write a
“typical” October newsletter - I have, like all of you, had my life shaken
rather badly on 9/11/01 - a day that truly will live in infamy. Thank G-d for
letting all of my friends and family in New York live! Thank G-d the airlines
are back up and brought me safely home to my friends and family. It is to you my
dear friends and greater family that I dedicate this letter and this warning.
“They that can give up
essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty
nor safety.”– Benjamin Franklin
An open
letter to the terrorists:
“Well, you terrorists
managed to hit the World Trade Center, but you missed America. You hit the
Pentagon, but you again missed America. You used helpless and innocent American
bodies, to take out other helpless and innocent American bodies, but like a poor
marksman, you STILL missed America. Why? Because of something you guys will
never understand.
America isn’t about a
building or two, nor about financial centers, nor about military centers.
America isn’t about a place or even many places, America isn’t even about a
bunch of bodies. America is about an IDEA. An idea, that allows you or anyone to
go freely go any place or where you like, where you can earn as much as you can
figure out how to....to live for the most part like you have envisioned living,
and pursue your own vision of happiness. (No guarantees that you’ll reach it,
but you can sure try!)
Go ahead and whine your
terrorist whine, and chant your terrorist litany:
”If you can not see my
point, then feel my pain.” This concept is alien to us Americans. We live in a
country where we are free and we don’t have to see your point. But you’re
free to have one. We are free and we don’t have to listen to your speech. But
you’re free to say one.
Don’t
know where you got the strange idea that everyone has to agree with you. We
don’t agree with each other in this country, almost as a matter of pride.
We’re a collection of people that don’t agree, called States. We are free
here in America to think and say what we like - whenever we want to.
We united our individual
states to protect ourselves from tyranny in the world. Another idea we made up
on the spot. You CAN make up the rules as you go along, when it’s your
country. If you’re free enough.
Your people seem to be
incapable of understanding that we don’t live in America, America lives in US!
American Spirit is what it’s called. And killing a few thousand of us, or even
G-d forbid, a few million of us, won’t change it.
Most of the time, it’s a
pretty happy-go-lucky kind of Spirit. Until we’re crossed in a cowardly
manner, then it becomes an entirely different kind of Spirit. Remember Pearl
Harbor?
Wait until you see what we do
with that same old American Spirit, this time.
Sleep tight, if you can.
We’re coming!
You will now learn why we
have said since the beginning of America - Don’t tread on us!”
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Norman Vincent Peale once
noted: “The greatest power we
have is the power of choice. It’s an actual fact that if you’ve been moping
in unhappiness, you can choose to be joyous instead and, by effort, lift
yourself into joy. If you tend to be fearful, you can overcome that misery by
choosing to have courage. Even in darkest grief you have a choice. The
whole trend and quality of anyone’s life is determined in the long run by the
choices that are made.”
The answer is...If
you put a buzzard in a pen six or eight feet square and entirely open at the
top, the bird, in spite of his ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The
reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of
ten or twelve feet. Without space to run, as is his habit, he will not even
attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.
The ordinary bat that flies
around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a
level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is
shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight
elevation from which it can throw
itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.
A bumblebee, if dropped into
an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never
sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out
through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until
it completely destroys itself.
In many ways, there are lots
of people like the buzzard, the bat, and the bee. They are struggling about with
all their problems and frustrations, not realizing that the answer is right
there “above” them.
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If you want to see the
rainbow, you must first put up with a little rain.
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When doubts and fears are growing,It’s hard to keep on going
From day to day not knowing
Just what the end will be.
Take each day as you find it,
If things go wrong, don’t mind it,
For each day leaves behind it
A chance to start anew.
– Gertrude Ellgas
KKKKKKKKK
Two
Thousand One, Nine Eleven
Two thousand one, nine eleven
Five thousand plus arrive in heaven,
As they pass through the gate,
Thousands more appear in wait.
A bearded man with stovepipe hat steps forward saying, “Lets sit, lets chat”
They settle down in seats of clouds.
A man named Martin shouts out proud “I have a dream!” and once he did.
One of the Newcomers said, “Your dream still lives.”
Groups of soldiers in blue and gray. Others in khaki, and green that say “We’re from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine”
One of the Newcomers said, “You died not in vain.”
From a man on sticks one could hear “The only thing we have to fear, is ..........
The Newcomers said, “We know the rest, trust us sir, we’ve passed that test.”
“Courage doesn’t hide in caves You can’t bury freedom, in a grave,”
The Newcomers had heard this voice before........ A distinct Yankees twang from Hyannis Port shores.
A silence fell within the mist.
Somehow one of the Newcomers knew that this meant time had come for her to say what was in the hearts of the five thousand plus that day. “Back on Earth, we wrote reports, Watched our children play in sports.
Worked our gardens, sang our songs. Went to church and clipped coupons.
We smiled, we laughed, we cried, we fought and died but, unlike you, great we’re not”
The tall man in the stovepipe hat stood tall and said, “don’t talk like that!
Look at your country, look and see You died for our freedom, just like me”
Then, before them all appeared a scene of rubbled streets and twisted beams, Death, destruction, smoke and dust and people working just ‘cause they must. Hauling ash, lifting stones, knee deep in hell, but not alone. “Look! Blackmen, Whitemen, Brownmen, Yellowmen standing side by side helping their fellow man!”
So said Martin, as he watched the scene: “Even from nightmares, can be born a dream.”
Down below three firemen raised The colors high into ashen haze. The soldiers above had seen it before. On Iwo Jima back in ’44. The man on sticks studied everything closely. Then shared his perceptions on what he saw - mostly “I see pain, I see tears, I see sorrow - but I don’t see fear.”
“You left behind husbands and wives. Daughters and sons and so many lives are suffering now because of this wrong. But look very closely. You’re not really gone.
All of those people, even those who’ve never met you. All of their lives, they’ll never forget you. Don’t you see what has happened?
Don’t you see what you’ve done?
You’ve brought them all together, together as one.
With that the man in the stovepipe hat said “Take my hand,” and from there he led five thousand plus heroes all. Newcomers into heaven. On this day, two thousand one, nine eleven.
With that the
man in the stovepipe hat said “Take my hand,” and from there he led five
thousand plus heroes all. Newcomers into heaven. On this day, two thousand one,
nine eleven.
Authored by Paul Spreadbury
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POINTS
TO PONDER
As
the soot and dirt and ash rained down,
We
became one color.
As
we carried each other down the stairs of the burning building,
We
became one class.
As
we lit candles of waiting and hope,
We
became one generation.
As
the firefighters and police officers fought their way into the inferno,
We
became one gender.
As
we fell to our knees in prayer for strength,
We
became one faith.
As we whispered or shouted
words of encouragement,
We
spoke one language.
As
we gave our blood in lines a mile long,
We
became one body.
As
we mourned together the great loss,
We
became one family.
As
we cried tears of grief and loss,
We
became one soul.
As
we retold with pride of the sacrifice of heroes,
We
became one people.
We
are
One color
One class
One generation
One gender
One faith
One language
One body
One family
One soul
One people
We are The Power of One.
We are United.
We are America.
(TRUE
BLUE!)
G-d
Bless and safely keep us and the USA!
Cast
thy burden upon the L-rd, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the
righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22
Failure is not falling down, but
refusing to rise again and again. Keep on, keeping on!
Hopefully,
we will be back on schedule this Month.
Steve
