Ben Franklin came out of a series of meetings in 1787 where men had gathered for days to develop the Constitution of the United States. As he emerged from the building, a woman in the crowd outside asked what they were really producing. Franklin said, “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.” It had been 11 years since some of those men had witnessed the Declaration of Independence of our budding nation from under the rule of the most powerful rulers in the world. On January 9, 1790 George Washington said, “The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment for promoting human happiness.” He knew this experiment, of We the People … to form a more perfect Union was fragile. That more perfect union was founded upon a declaration statement that included the truth that we are endowed by our Creator. I try to…
2021 January
Like others passionate about a calling, what launched me into this mission was not just one event. Some things impacted me more than others. One of the most significant was the death of Dallas Police officer John Glenn Chase on Saturday, January 23rd, 1988. We lived in Texas then. Chase had stopped a driver for a traffic violation in downtown Dallas when an antagonist pulled him into a side confrontation, then got control of his .44 magnum revolver. As young officer Chase begged for his life, people came out of a nearby McDonald’s yelling for the antagonist to “shoot him”. After he shot Officer Chase in the head, some yelled for him to “shoot him again.” He did. Others sat in McDonalds, drove past or walked by without intervening. The thug killed him in front of a crowd of indifferent and unwilling witnesses. The senselessness of that scene has stuck with…
Edited from the 6/30/13 Think About it; ending updated. Our sons earned money through High School mowing 5-acre plots with our farm tractors. One of our oldest (twins) learned a lesson in storm readiness while mowing one summer day. As he was mowing a plot, a single large hailstone hit the ground beside the tractor with a thud. Between baseball and softball sized, it hit so hard he actually felt the impact from the tractor. He looked up and all around. Not seeing any threatening clouds or evidence, he thought, “huh — that’s strange — I wonder where that came from?” He continued mowing. He was on the far side of the 5 acres (away from any shelter) when the skies dumped. He quickly shut down the tractor and huddled under it for protection. It would have been disastrous to try and make it the 200 yards +/- back to…