Let Thanksgiving Be Not Your Only Day of Thanks

In October of 1789, President George Washington made a proclamation for the observation of a national day of Thanksgiving. While this was not the first Thanksgiving and certainly not the last to be spoken of what made President Washington's address so special was in its intent. That is to give thanks to God for the blessing that were had in this new nation after so much hardship and the blessing that have been given by the Almighty.

Over time, we have come to know this day of thanks as Thanksgiving. We gather with friends and family and feast. We reflect with those around us, for what we have, and for whatever good fortunate is part of our lives.

And over time just the same, the holiday has become... cheapened. Black Friday, the anticipation of Christmas shopping, the poor behavior that comes along with it, and sadly this has bled its way in to the very day we are to give thanks. Furthermore, there many of our fellow countrymen that are not so fortunate. Be it from job loss, losses of loved ones, economic strife, and so many other things.

However, all of this should be put in to its proper context. For as much hardship, strife, and overall BS we all have to deal with there is also so much more we have to be thankful for. Our lives. Our families. Our friends. If you have a job. If you are about to strike out and do something you have always wanted to do. This is the time to reflect and thank the good Lord for all we have and are; and not all of it is material.

As I write this on the eve of Thanksgiving, I reflect on my own life, the hardships that have forged me and the blessings I have. And I think to myself that it should not take a singled out day to give thanks. Rather, I am recommitting to myself and others that I will make it a point to be thankful each and every day. To remember the words of President Washington that in his time war was followed by tranquility and so to shall it be in our time. Perhaps not on a traditional battlefield but one nonetheless.

I will take stock in the love that has been granted to me by others. I will love others as if it were my last day. I will not take this life for granted. I will see and protect the freedoms gifted by God himself and the privilege of being an American. I will be a part of what helps restore value to Thanksgiving.

On this Thanksgiving, I wish you all the joy and peace of being with your families. Rejoice in that love. And let this Thanksgiving be the first of many days of thanks you reflect upon in your daily lives.

	Proclamation of National Thanksgiving George Washington City of New York, October 3, 1789 Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness." Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best. Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789. Go: Washington

(Proclamation of National Thanksgiving document credit http://www.pbs.org/georgewashington/milestones/thanksgiving_read.html)

Dark Humor & Faith

Before I get in to anything, I would love to hear what you have to say on this matter? How would you have handled this? Did I over react? Should I have just kept quiet and minded my own business?

For anyone that knows me, they know I am a person with thick skin. I am someone that you can joke with and I will joke back. As a matter for fact when it comes to humor as a whole I can get in to some pretty dark areas of what I define as funny. Some people do not share my humor and I can respect that and I get it. However, yesterday something managed to get through this Rhino Skin of mine.

At work, there are a number of liberals there, this is expected since I work in a major metropolitan city and a number of the people that work there are die-hard Democrats. But there is one co-worker that is either a die hard Marxist or pretty damn close. She is something that in our conversations see people like Che Guevara and Karl Marx as revolutionary thinkers and that we should model our society after their philosophies. Some times I will just ignore what she has to say, other times I call her out. There is an ebb and flow. And in all honesty, it does entertain me from time to time.

As I noted, yesterday was different. I was sitting at my desk doing the work I am being paid to do while this individual and a few others were being disruptive with some song and dance. And yes, it was literally a song and dance they were doing. So being the productive person that I am and feeling their noise was being an interference between myself and my clients on the phone I asked them to claim down. The response I got blew me away.

I was literally told: "What you don't like my singing like Kayne West being Jesus and Gandhi"?

At this point I about soiled myself and not because of any humor.

As I said, I have a dark sense of humor. I make some very, VERY off color jokes all the time. I say the things that most people only think. I even find religious humor to be funny when I see it on things like Family Guy or others shows. But for some reason this not only made me pause but set me off. However, being in a professional business environment I could not just go off as I would wish. I simply stated to her that she should keep her blasphemy to herself.

Now at this point her boss comes over and asks, "Well what if she does not believe in Jesus Christ"? To which I reply, her beliefs are irrelevant since I not only for the fact that I do but her belief is not required for Jesus Christ to believe in her. This lady, a lady who claims faith all of the time, then pressed the issue with me in front of our entire staff. At this time, I felt myself boiling over and simply asked if she really wanted to continue with this conversation. I must have done this 3 or 4 times. At a certain point when someone pushes an issue with me I feel compelled to accept the challenge and this is what did happen.

We must have talked for about 20 minutes and during the conversation the topics of not everyone believing the same things came up. I could only respond with the fact that while that may be true not only did I not care but I will not tolerate people taking cheap shots at my Lord and Savior and that while others may be quiet from this point if I hear or see anything like this, I will make it a point to bring it to light and stir the pot. As someone who knows me fairly well, she knew this was no bluster and that my word was indeed my bond. At the end of the conversation it was noted that this would not happen again.

At the time of this written it has been 27 hours since this event has taken place.

I am not one that wears my faith openly or on my sleeve. I believe that my relationship with the Lord is a personal one and one that I hold dear. I have my doubts of course and I reflect and pray upon it. I am secure in my faith and feel no need to bring it up all of the time. But what happened yesterday struck a nerve and one that has not been struck in a very long time.

Was I just in my anger? Did I do the right thing?Was it my place to say or do anything?

Maybe. But what I do know in my heart of hearts is that if a person claims to be a person of honor and integrity and something like this happens we have a duty and an obligation to deal with this head on. This is how I saw it and after a day and a half of try to calm down this is how I continue to see it.

So I ask you, the Reader: What would you have done?

Treasure Those Around You... While You Can

Tonight I was forced to come face to face with my own mortality.

Not because of anything that has happened to me personally but rather something that a loved one is going through.

At this point, I am not at liberty to discuss the circumstances around what is going on but it is something that will be a trying time for my family.

For a good number of people, I am sure they are familiar with the movie the Lion King. Long story short, Mufasa, the King of the Lions explains to his son, Simba, that there is a circle of life. That we are born, we live, we die, ad the cycle continues. As people, we know this, we accept this. However, no matter how much we prepare for this, we are never ready for something to happen; much less the news of something happening.

All too often we spend time on what is essentially irrelevant things, items, and issues. Yes, there is importance in our jobs, in prepping, in politics, et. al. There are so many things that we have to deal with on a day to day basis that we get so wrapped up in those things often times neglecting other things. The important things: People.

For those of you that are familiar with any of my blogs or broadcasts you know that a reoccurring theme of mine is a focus on the family. I believe that in today's world, we spend so much time on other things that we forget to pay attention to our children and significant others. However, tonight I was reminded that it is not just our children or our significant others that we need to pay attention to but also our elders as well.

To circle back to my first line of this blog: I was forced to come face to face with my own mortality. This line is selfish only to the extent that I was forced to look at myself but also my relationships with others and realize a start fact: that fact that life is short. Too short. We can say that X is a long ways away. And from a linear perspective, it is. But how often have we said: "Damn! Where did all the time go?" How often have you looked at a child and said: "Wow, you got big so fast!". The point is, as slow as you think time may be going from one event to the next, it is really going much faster then you realize.

To that end, I want to encourage you all to treasure those people around you. Times goes too damn fast.

If you have a grudge with a dear friend or family member, put it aside.

Be the bigger person and repair your relationships.

If your don't; you may feel good that you were able to stand on principle for a time. But when it is too late, you will no longer have the opportunity to Bury the Hatchet. You will no longer be able to say: "I love you". You will no longer be able to say: "I'm sorry". All you will be able to say when it's too late is: "I wish..."

Remember: Life is too short. Repair what you can in your life before its too late.

God, knows I will be trying.

To be a Liberal

Here's something I wrote some years ago and it is as true today as it was back then:

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To be a liberal, you have to believe the AIDS virus is spreading due to a lack of funding.

To be a liberal, you have to be against capital punishment but for abortion on demand - in short - you support protecting the guilty and killing the innocent.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that the same public school system that can't teach 4th graders how to read is capable of teaching those same kids about sex.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that trial lawyers are selfless heroes and doctors are overpaid, greedy, bad guys.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than nuclear weapons in the hands of the Red Chinese.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by cyclical, documented changes in the brilliance of the Sun, and more affected by yuppies driving SUVs.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that gender roles are artificial but being gay is natural.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that the biggest threat to this country are those who believe morals, ethics, and family-values are essential.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that punishment for a crime should depend on motive, i.e. killing a person because they dislike them is worse than killing that same personbecause they want their money.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that killing a child in the womb should be legal, but breaking an eagle's egg should be criminal.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that good intentions are equal to actually accomplishing something.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that the government should reward those who contribute the least and punish by taxing those who work hard and succeed.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that governmental laws and regulations are the answer, not freedom and competition.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that art would not exist without federal funding.

To be a liberal, you have to believe the military, not corrupt politicians, start wars.

To be a liberal, you have to believe the NRA is bad, because of its support for certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good, because of its support for certain parts of the Constitution.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides aren't.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that minorities are not capable of making it without your help and conservatives are racists because they believe everyone should be treated as equal.

To be a liberal, you have to believe that cigarettes pose more danger to our kids and our society than illegal drugs.

In Summary, To be liberal, you have to allow your thoughts and actions to be governed by emotional, feel-good rhetoric and disregard, without any consideration, all intellectual responses.

Identity Politics

According to the 2000 Census (yeah I know I'm going back 13 years) there was a sharp raise in the number of people who have marked themselves down as Americans. 58% raise in fact. Not Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, or anything else like that. It should also be noted that the majority of people who did this were of European decent. Many minorities are still in the hyphenated stage of identity. The whole African-American, Latino-American, and other bits like that.

Now I think a lot of people still do identify with their heritage or ethnicity and this is not a bad thing. No matter what it is people still do things that are customary from their ancestral  place of origin. But more and more these days (a sizable minority of people), people are identifying themselves as Americans. This past 2000 Census shows that.

I think that there are a number of people who get the words "nationality" and "ethnicity". Take a look at the two words:

na·tion·al·i·ty (nsh-nl-t, nsh-nl-) n. pl. na·tion·al·i·ties
The status of belonging to a particular nation by origin, birth, or naturalization.
A people having common origins or traditions and often constituting a nation.
Existence as a politically autonomous entity; national independence.
National character.
Nationalism.

eth·nic·i·ty Pronunciation Key (th-ns-t) n.
Ethnic character, background, or affiliation.
An ethnic group.

Clearly there is a difference between the two.

For myself, and I can only speak personally and not for others, when one asks me what am I, I am going to tell you I am American. I was born, raised, and know America. This is my home. This is where my loyalties are. Not any place like Puerto Rico, Spain, South America, Mexico or any other place like that.
Now if you ask me what my ethnicity is I will tell you that I am Puerto Rican and Mexican. These are the places where my ancestors originated from and these the people that I am genetically linked. But that is not my nationality.

I had the opportunity to live in Puerto Rico for a couple years in the late 80's and early 90's. When I was there people did not identify me as Puerto Rican. Even though I looked just like most people there, was able to speak some Spanish, and had family all over the island people still identified me as American.

And think about it. When some white person from the U.S. goes to some European country what are they going to be identified as? American, not European-American. When a black (African-American to the PC crowd) goes to Africa, how are they referred to as? American, not African-American.

The world is very quick to point out that if we are from the United States of America that in their eyes we are American. No matter what we look like, black, white, or whatever. So I guess I find it hard to understand why there are so many people who still want to go with the hyphenations  Yes, I think there are a sizable minority of people that are saying the hell with that and just proclaiming themselves as Americans. That number is still small in comparison to the number of people who want to play the game of identity politics (many without even realizing so).

And I do not think that by saying that we are Americans that we are abandoning our ancestral heritage or are in denial or are "self-hating". There is clearly an American culture in this nation. Some of it bad, most of it great. So again, I am at a loss as to why there is such a reluctance for people to just out right say that they are Americans. 

Is it going to take another national tragedy for us to proclaim ourselves as an American? Or is this something that happens when one reaches a higher state of thinking and identification? Thoughts to ponder upon.

Cartoons and Politics

I have long held the belief that cartoons are very much a reflection of society. They project the best and the worse that we as a society has to offer. This can be seen in the heroes we see that are the good guys, the villains who are an exaggeration of the evil in our world, and those people who work on the other side of the law for justice causes much like a vigilante. Oh and one more thing I forgot to note, each cartoon seems to have some sort of agenda.

I mean take a look at all of the various cartoons out there from today and in the past:

The Smurfs: Talk about lessons in communism. Now we have to note that in the cartoon world it is easy to make anything look good. Must have been while all the Smurfs were so happy. Even Lazy Smurf, who never did a thing about the village, got to reap the benefits of the other Smurfs hard work.

Captain Planet: With a doubt the most liberal cartoon in existence. What kills me is this should is still on in syndication. Notice here that ever corporate entity the go up against is evil and either mowing over a rain forest or dumping radioactive waste in the water. And perhaps just as pathetic and funny is one of the characters looks like a pig. Greedy Corporate Pig?

G.I. Joe: Even G.I. Joe had it's issues. While it taught a good pro-American theme there were a few things I took problem with. The first being the disregard for rank with the exception of when they were talking to the general. And the next being that not one person ever got shot! Not one. The only person that ever got taken out was Duke but that was in a movie and not the TV show. Kind of teaches us that war does not have it's costs.

The Simpsons: Who could not talk about cartoons and politics without mentioning the Simpsons. Without question the most balanced show on this topic out there. They take shots and both conservatives and liberals with the parodies and outlandish episodes.

But there was another cartoon that I was watching the other day that struck something inside me when I was watching. For those of you familiar with the CGI cartoons Reboot is probably one that you are familiar with.

This cartoon is based in a computer world and it has it's good guys who defend and its bad guys who want to take over and/or destroy it. Two of the main characters are a guy named Bob (the hero) and the villain named Megabyte (the villain and a virus).

To make a long story short Megabyte was captured and while in confinement his nemesis, Bob, walks in to talk to him. The talk centered around what would become of Megabyte. The conversation is brief and as follows:

Bob: It's not your fault. You were programmed to be this way. We've just gotta work out a way to reprogram you.
Megabyte: So... I won't be a virus?
Bob: That's the plan!
Megabyte: Ah. So. A fate worse than deletion. And they call me a monster.

Interesting a cartoon that deals with the death penalty. But at least here it gives the viewer something to think about. Rather then just put a one-sided view on this, the cartoon here raises the question of which side is actually the "monster"? The one who would sentence the villain to death or the one would "reprogram" the villain to think as they do.

Perhaps some of us think that as I look in to cartoons in this way I am making a mountain out of a molehill. Or that cartoons are for children. And that is all fine and well. But I think that just looking at these examples that I have noted should be a wake up call. While you may or may not think these cartoons are childish your children and/or grand-children will not.

So who do you want politically indoctrinating your children? You and your family where you can explain right from wrong? Or the Smurfs where everything is just Smurfy?