A Ten Day Fast

I have taken a fast on my blog for ten days to let the dust settle in my brain as it churns through the never ending journey of seeking to understand what is going on in our world. My input of news has been on  a diet as well so intending to clear out some of the baggage and cobwebs of rational thought that too many times ebbs and flows in the ocean of irrational thought.  So in this Rip Van Winkle state of brain idle, I must admit life has seemed easier, smoother and the water is cleaner and cooler to stay with the analogy.

 

But today old Rip has awakened scouring the trough of input from around the world, viewing the prestigious news sources of CNN and FOX as the quarterback, me, prepares for some audibles at the line of scrimmage to get this group of people moving toward the goal line. You smiling yet!  My summation of my "rest" is that our world is terribly abscessed and the poison is eating into the nerve so a major root canal is needed or extraction; I am leaning toward extraction in my renewed state of knowledge and awareness.

 

When I see what is happening with Iran, Yemen, Baltimore, Ferguson, still, Washington, the European Union, Russia, Ukraine, remember Ukraine, ISIL, Al Qaeda, remember them?  Then you start to hear the names of the "affiliates" to these mob organizations bent on destroying ALL Christians, defined as not Islamic and now that doesn't even qualify for they are killing the Islamic folks as well.  Reading about Christians being beheaded, shot in back of the head, tossed overboard into the Mediterranean Sea, etc, etc just makes me, Old Rip, angry. The anger is cloistered in what is evident that the United States and the European Union refuse to acknowledge the depth of the depravity and refuse to step up, man up is a better term I believe, and blunt and destroy this Evil of mankind that is growing.  Fire with more oxygen and more fuel equals a bigger, more devastating fire, right?

 

I love people and love the joy of working with, getting to be with and to worship with people.  Few things in this life I hate but one of them is a bully. Since I was a child I have detested bullies. I got bullied my freshman year in high school by a senior and I remember this sense of deep rooted fear and worthlessness I felt walking home from school.  It cost me my lunch money for several weeks which led to me working in the lunch room to get a free meal. That is a true confession for time in print so you can know.  But when the angst grew and blew up inside me, knowing I would face a beating from this large man, I "manned up" one afternoon pushing the bully backward into a bleacher in the gym and kicking him.  The bullying was ceased!

 

So lesson learned?  You do not ignore or cow tow to a bully for you must confront it, challenge it knowing pain may be in the prescription but staking a position and defending it with honor far outweighs the pain.  From the experience, I was deeply emboldened to be more aggressive in all aspects of my life and especially in rebounding in basketball.  Many people I played basketball with both friend and foe felt the fury and damage of some very  sharp, offensive elbows over the next several years but I was never bullied on or off the court again and to this day. I share that story from my own life to make a clear point about our world.

 

Obama, the EU, the police, the world is being bullied on a grand scale. Just turn on the TV and watch. Bastions of strength via force exists with the bullies of this world while the "good guys" cower under the flag of diplomacy which is ridiculed and demeaned in the name of equality, rights and outright aggression.  The game being played between Obama and the Mullahs of Iran will be book fodder for decades to come when reality hits and it will hit soon.  People will be baffled by the thought of "this could never happen here .." but it will happen here under the shadowy flag of our own POTUS and his minions. The Iranian leaders must be having parties every night at how they are playing blackjack with the United States and we keep bluffing.  Look at Syria; go ahead, look at it and remember the now infamous "red line" which is red due to the stain of blood by bullies.

 

So in my ten day fast, I guess I should have stretched it out to 11 or 50 but my gut tells me 50 days from now this cauldron of deceit and bullying will be even worse.  Then I look out to 2016 and hear the jungle sounds for Mrs Clinton and I just want to go back to my extended nap. How on earth any sane person would want a continuation of this national leadership and especially her is beyond reconciliation by normal minds from my perch. 

 

I am getting sleepy again so maybe when I awaken it will all be grand and glorious or better, I will be in Heaven getting to sing in that Heavenly Choir; now that is a great deal!

Those that follow ,,,

Last evening I was watching an NFL Football Life piece on Bill Parcels. The piece was not too complimentary, in all honesty, but then Parcels, the man, was quite interesting as you watched his life unfold in ebbs and flows as a great football coach.  He was tough, intentionally displayed anger and was prone to temper tantrums but through his journey, there was a common figure that kept him grounded and tethered to the craft he had chosen.  That person that provided stability, a source of honest, sincere input and a man that Parcels could depend on through the storms of this career was his high school basketball coach.  Toward the end of the program, much was made of the other Super Bowl coaches that were spawned under Parcels example and coaching technique and the number was six former coaches that went on to be Super Bowl champion coaches.  Parcels, in response to the interviewer's question was that success, true success, in a man's life is measured less by what he or she did but by what "those that follow" accomplish in their lives.

 

As I was going to bed that three word comment resonated with me and as the infamous THE MAN IN THE MIRROR began to flow through my brain as it did with Parcels many times, I began to think about my own life and those that will follow me and the vital metric of impact on our world each of us possess by those that came along our pathway and the influence each of us had on future generations.  For my own life, I have been both honored and humbled by thousands of people I have rowed the boat with in a rather diverse career in my professional career at Goodyear, university teaching, prison ministry, singing, church involvement, my family, consulting.  That inventory is something as I look into my mirror that you just do not ponder often or even think about until something will happen that will trigger the inventorying of your life.  I think it a worthy exercise for in that venture you begin to realize the gravity of this thing called life, mortality, future and probably as importantly, if you had things to do over, what would you do differently! Pretty deep stuff this still dark Monday morning is it not?

 

Many people have entered my young life that uniquely touched my life for the duration of my life thus far. Like Parcels, my high school basketball coach, Walter Holt, had profound influence on my life and I find myself often thinking of things he would say, would example, would point out for even through intense scrutiny and criticism or challenge, you always knew he was coaching a  team but he was also realizing his role as a tent pole for lives of young men, many of which had not strong example in their lives at that crucial time and age in life.  My list could expand geometrically of others as I have many times in other writings I have done. Jesus Christ, Lamar Berry, Joe Cowan, Glenn Avery, Zeddie Morton, my grandfather Williams, my mother, Riley Whitaker, Bill Sharp, Tim Heijermans, Jerry Butcher, COL Alton Barnes, K.B. Kleckner, Gary Roach, Mike Frazier, Walt Gawron, Ray Coblentz, Ray Hexamer, Sharon Rohrer, Neal Wheeler, Dave Sabaka, Edna Baker, Ruth Epley, Alicia Williams and the list becomes lengthy.  With the unique and timely touch of these artists painting my portrait, my life and my portrait will live on long after my last breath for Parcels' was correct, the true measure of a person will be found in those that follow and in their contribution to this journey of life.

 

Learning, absorbing, interacting, listening, watching, driving, responding to painful experiences, working through deep disappointment, seeking to do and to be your best are all ingredients to this amazing journey called life.  I have seen many successes and have experienced many failures. I have seen the sunlight and the snow. I have warmed and basked in the joy and have cried many tears internally and externally.  I have loved watching victories and have hated the bitter taste of other's defeats.  I have said thousands of times that for me the greatest sin of all is one choosing not to fully utilize one's capability. 

 

Many thousands of students will attest in real time my living example of pushing them, guiding them, expecting more and more of them and watching them find the wherewith all to accomplish victory in the challenge when they never thought they could but through focus, drive and leadership met and surpassed the challenge.  With each victory their lives and the lives of their web of family, colleagues and friends are changed as well.  There were times I saw students just give up, quit, walk away or sulk but it was they where I focused my energy for I knew if I could say or do something that would cause them to reach more deeply into their being to come to the fight and slug it out that they would accomplish something that would change and shift the course of their lives. That, for me, was the essence of victory, not the accolades and compliments but the smell of victory and the ensuing twinkle and smiles I saw in the eyes of those that fought the battle and won.

 

When my mind does the inventory of those that have trod this path with me and I see or learn of their accomplishments in their own lives or read testimonials from hundreds in letters, FB messages, calls, etc, my heart is warmed in reading how their lives are better for having gotten to get to work with me. I can say that without a modicum of ego for their success is mine to enjoy; and I do immensely. 

 

Music and singing has become at this stage of my life an avenue that brings abundant joy in investing huge amounts of time effort and energy but worth every ounce of it when you see the impact a song can have on a person's heart at a moment in time.  Countless comments verify for me that it matters much less how a person sings but much, much more in the heart and the passion with which a song is presented. I love to sing but I love to see singing as a vehicle that brings joy, smiles, tears of warmth and a stream of joy in which the person can swim in the turmoil of their own lives. So who gets the blessing? That would be me!

 

So, to those that follow you and they that will follow them, what is your contribution to those generational spans you may or may not get to see in the first person? I think it a worthy exercise to look in that mirror and assess your actions and activities to get a sense of destiny in what you have done and will do that carves pathways in those around you that are watching, listening, seeking, your attention, your touch, your essence as they will decide to drink from your well or move on. 

 

At sixty-seven I am fully cognizant that I have more years behind me than I do in front of me and please know, I am perfectly alright with that reality. I am immeasurably blessed by so many that have touched and crafted my life into what it is today this Monday morning but I am even more blessed far above that threshold when I reflect on the thousands of people I have touched in some way thus investing my life into theirs. My wife, my children and my amazing grand children will be benefactors of my essence investment in just living. How powerful is that to ponder!

 

I implore you this day to stand in front of that mirror all alone quietly and unhurriedly and do a deep personal assessment of the real person you see standing there and begin a mental inventory of those that are most responsible for that person you see but also begin to peel back the layers of those you yourself have touched in a very special and unique way. See, that is the real you isn't it?

 

Google THE MAN IN THE MIRROR; it is worth it!

Selma

Just in from seeing the movie. As I watched it very closely and very deeply having lived during that time and remember it vividly my junior year in high school and shortly after returning from playing in Alabama State Basketball Tournament at the University of Alabama; another hot spot of the era, I found myself leaning toward the skeptical side of what I was about to see on the screen.  I had seen the many interviews of the main players over the last several months and chose to not see it until the dust and luster cleared thus not getting caught up in the emotion of the cameras.  I have walked across the Pettus Bridge, viewed the Alabama River, walked the streets of Selma near the Bridge in about 1980.  The sense of the spirits of The March was still very evident to me then and that same spirit was triggered in watching this movie.

 

As a Southern man having grown up in Alabama in the era of the dogs, marches, bombs, killings and names made famous such as Wallace, Connor, Clark, Johnson, etc still ring in my head. Seeing these names and many others brought to life on the screen triggered my mind in many directions knowing what I was seeing was more accurate than not.   To realize only less than a year ago that the major issue brewing the discontent in the South and Alabama in particular was the inability of blacks to vote was alarming to me in that realization.  Many of us, most probably, in our teens, had no clue about the backdrop of the issues blacks faced. Yes, I remember well the Colored and White fountains, bathrooms, back entrances to doctors' offices; and it was just the normal culture in which we all lived.  Experiencing the desegregation processes triggered by the infamous Judge Frank M. Johnson and his orders are remembered in retrospect as strange, upsetting and probably wrong, then! The memories are so very clear and after watching this movie, so very more wrong.

 

Having seen and experienced years later similar cultural activities in South Africa, I was reminded of how cultural bonds are so strong and impregnable when change is introduced. The movie has touched me deeply and feel it should be required viewing for every student in our schools today for those same actions that were normal can be ushered back to reality if left unchecked in the march of time.  Cultures do that so the key point of my blog tonight while the movie is still fresh is about the power of culture.

 

We live in very troubled times on a scale I cannot recall in my lifetime.  And I have this overwhelming sense that the times will worsen and become more threatening in the years ahead. I will add as I have written before that the fires beneath the cauldron of racism in our nation are being stoked by the White House and the media machine.  I have tired to watching TV news which I love to see for the blatantly inflammatory nature of cable news is terrible.  Police have now become the enemy and it seems they must patrol the streets of Khe Sahn in 1968 with everybody take shots at them. I do not defend murder or police brutality or heavy handedness but I worry about our police being sauteed in the fires of racism.  I cannot believe MLK wished for and worked for what we are witnessing today; certainly hope not for I want to hold him in high regard of history with an eye toward the future.  

 

The movie is eye opening and heart stopping and very well made.  The depiction of Gov Wallace whom I met on four occasions is probably more right than wrong as it that of POTUS Johnson; a master politician.  Change comes slowly and when a paradigm shift is made, EVERYTHING is and was that seemed right is changed forever.  This movie and this era was about a human paradigm shift and that change is still being crafted into the human genome I believe.

 

There is much more I could write but will stop with the fact that we have come a great distance but there is a great distance yet to trod but we must never cease the journey.  Having an African grand daughter I have grown to love with all my heart resides central to my thesis. When I kiss her, hold her, play with her, goose her, watch her learn and grow and touch so many people in so many ways, I realize racism is truly for the ignorant. That will offend some I am sure but I am no stranger to offending if my words come from my heart and these do!

Celebration

As we are moving toward a globally recognized event, Easter, we must not forget that it is a celebration of the resurrection of Christ, God's only Son. Already there will be those reading this that will be scoff, ignore but a few will admiringly acknowledge the wonder of that event in world history.  I think that sentence is a moniker for our world in 2015, isn't it?  Some believe, some don't, some do not care, some care about something but no clue as to what ...!

 

In our Good Friday church service last evening, I was humbled and honored to get to duet the great Gaither song, SINNER SAVED BY GRACE.  I have sung that song many times in many venues but last night with the auditorium near capacity, the meaning of that song's message seemed to weigh heavier on me than usual.  The first verse says:

 

If you could see what I once was

If you could go with me

Back to where I started from

I know you would see

A miracle of love

That took me in it's place

I'm here to say I'm nothing but

A sinner saved by Grace

 

Let that sink in for a moment.  Each of us fit into that prescription for humanity do we not?  It is an absolute miracle of God that at sixty-seven years old that I have great health, get to do all the things I love to do, a wonderful family, still contributing to the world and relishing in the fact that if God took me home today, I would be home there with Him for eternity as will all my family when eternity is made real and my faith becomes sight.  That, my friends, is a great deal!

 

As we have come through a really harsh winter with pot holes the size of the Grand Canyon, almost, the world around us is melting into a cauldron of hate, blood, racism, political corruption, societal decay and a further turning from God's clear direction in Scripture; is it any wonder that the global village is corrupt and falling farther and farther away from God's creation?  There are so many examples to support that statement but I am about to decide the abominable acts of violence from ISIL and AQ are metaphorical for the world as a whole.  We revile what they are doing and represent yet there is a mysterious magnetism that is drawing thousands of young men and women to that sick cause not to mention billions of dollars of financial support backing the slaughter. It defies logic but then as I often say, if you apply logic to an illogical situation, all you can expect is an illogical conclusion. 

 

Add or factor in the potentiality of Iran becoming a nuclear power in the Middle East, and they will I am convinced, then the sickness we are witnessing in the Middle East and now Africa and these global acts of terror will be amplified many fold.  I find it amazing that another 9/11-level attack has not occurred in either Europe or the United States but believe it probably imminent and please remember, I am the eternal optimist!  I still believe the trip wire will be Israel's military action against Iran to protect themselves from eradication by Iran. 

 

But with all this and many other examples I could indicate, I go back to the message of humanity in God's Hands that He created. We are all sinners from birth due to Adam's sin. That is irrefutable.  Spending eternity in heaven is a choice made on this side of life. That is irrefutable as well. So with all the unfolding of craziness of epic proportion we are witnessing as a People, as we celebrate this Resurrection of Jesus Christ in word, in song, in family time together, with friends, we must never forget we live in a fallen world.

 

This world is not my home, I'm just passing through. If Heaven's not my home, then Lord what will I do.  The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in the world any more!  That is a lyric from a great song that fits perfectly the context of my blog today.

 

So as Christians have expressed to each other for centuries; He is Risen! and yes, He is Risen, indeed!!!!

My Trip Through the Salon; Priceless

With all the craziness of our world and feeling still very tired from the last few days, we are blessed to have all five grand kids with us today and overnight. First, it is amazing how they can change individually and in how they interact with each other in such a short period of time.  Like we say, "they are growing up" but they growing up loving each other and loving Grammy and Poppy.    The girls, Bella and Gracie, have always liked to give me a new hair-do and a good fingernail cleaning with Gracie, of course, assuming the Boss Hawg role which has been perfectly accepted as the way it is; it's all good!  However, it has been a few months since all three of my girls joined forces to create what I will call "The BellaGracieHopie Salon" and I got to be their first paying customer. Film to follow let me tell you.

 

So with ISIL trudging through Iraq and Syria, Yemen exploding, planes crashing, police hating getting worse, societal values eroding, I threw all caution to the wind after supper when Gracie and her posse came to me to negotiate a package deal for cash, of course. So, I decided to do some business education as we worked through the business process of Supply and Demand, Equilibrium (price point) and time / space delivery systems. It was a project! So here is the package contracted for the physical improvement in looks and soft skin of one very proud Poppy; that would be me.

 

For $2 for each of the team of Gracie, Boss Hawg, Bella, wanted to be Boss Hawg, and the new servant to the process, Ms Hopie, our resident African, the project began with Gracie marshaling all the necessary equipment of towels, Qtips, cups for the warm water, water, brushes combs, lotion, rubber bands and do-dads for my new hair-do.  THEN I was requested to enter the salon, to lay across my bed on my back. I was coached in how to position my neck to the edge of the bed so the angle of the massage water, warm of course, would flow from my massaged head onto three levels of towels so not to wet the hardwood floor. It was a masterpiece in coordination. I was proud!

 

So with Boss Hawg delegating the work, assignment of specific tasks to each of her posse including herself, Poppy in place, laying on my stomach with head hanging off the bed with neck hurting, the one hour clock was triggered. The terms of the work:  $2 for each worker / girl for 60 minutes of head, back, tummy massage, finger and toe nail washing, arm and knee-down lotioning,  face massage with warm towel, more fingernail washing with Qtips, of course, and last but not least, the planting of the do-dads rubber banded into my wet hair that had been brushed, combed, washing, dried, combed and styled about eight times; a picture of perfection with all the orange and purple and blue thingies sticking out of my head in all directions. Boss Hawg, asking for my feedback, listened intently and thanked me for the "privilege of serving me tonight .."  Priceless, right?

 

Now it is time to figure out the money distribution for the three girls which turned into a now ongoing discussion with Boss Hawg since "Bella took a long break" and "Hopie really was not doing her job too well,"  all in another location of the house.  Wait, Boss Hawg has just handed me a hand written contract for price distribution proposal I guess I need to read.  Thrown under the bus!?

 

So the negotiation of price or labor wage distribution will continue, they are huddling now as the three amigos to hit me up for more I am quite sure, waiting on Grammy to arrive to sweeten the pot by one US dollar.  It's going to be fun but I tell you what it has been for the last hour for me ... An amazing journey with three precious young ladies that were focusing their sole attention of making me look and feel better. THAT is called P R I C E L E S S  where I came from!

 

Oh, and during that sixty minute period I got to talk to each of them quietly about life, what they love, what they will be when they grow up, if I can come to their wedding, how much they love Jesus, if they want me to sing at their wedding, will Hopie by the flower girl both Grace and Bella's wedding, etc, etc.!  Have had some wonderful one hour blocs in my life but have to say this last hour in the salon is ranking up there with the top one or two in my lifetime.  I can hardly smile writing this for wanting to cry in how wonderful they have been, together with Poppy. So blessed!

Bizarre

That is a term I rarely use for it connotes a state of aberrant, unreal, unsavory behaviors and actions.  Today we see and now learn of the intentional crashing of the German jetliner apparently intending to kill all 150 on board. We see Saudi Arabia now running bombing missions over Yemen. The flames of racism in America rage more hotly only drowned out currently with the terrible news of the airline debacle but give it another 24 hour news cycle and it will re-emerge.  All the while the more concerning matter for me is the POTUS / CONGRESS epic debacle and I still find in some sick way, fearful, at times humorous, but all the time a waste of time and taxpayer monies or even more borrowed monies from nations that like us less each year.  Dealing with Iran, which I consider the serpent of the Middle East is being allowed to more deeply dominate the Shia-led Middle East against Sunnis --- why is that?

 

You know, like somebody told me once, it is what it is! So, there you have it, it simply is what it is.  It is not my intent in this blog to bang the drum of fear and worry or cast dispersions on leadership even though it is so tempting and so much to select from.  Better, during choir practice last night, I found myself more than usual really ingesting the meaning of the lyrics as we lead into the wonder of the Easter season via music with our choir.  

 

Easter is not about eggs or candy or new clothes but about a resurrection of a Man that came to this earth, lived a short life, ministered but a very few years, baffled all that knew him, saw him, experienced him including his earthly parents.  But reading the Bible through page after page from Genesis 1:1, we are now in Luke chapter 5, the intricate piecing of God's Will from  Genesis 1 on through the Old Testament is simply amazing as you realize more than ever the master plan God has for his people.  Why is that important? It is vital to realize that the plan is still unfolding and that God is truly in charge of all the craziness so why should we that claim Christ as our Savior fret and worry about the world around us, right? Absolutely, said he!

 

As we enter the Easter season, there is so much evidence of Satan's ploys and handiwork all about us in society, in our churches, in our leadership, in our businesses and certainly in our government.  Finding ourselves in the age of Toleration meaning everything and everyone must be tolerated regardless of actions and philosophies fundamentally beckons the fact that there are no longer absolutes. As many of you have heard me say and read from me, Right is Right and Wrong is Wrong and no amount of Wrong will ever, EVER, make a Wrong, Right!  The breadth and depth of Wrong which is deemed acceptable, encouraged, forced legally, etc is simply abominable to me in our nation.  Women marrying women and then seeking artificial insemination to raise a child in that aberrant setting is something I still cannot get my mind around. That is just one of far too many examples of loss of societal mores and values that are now deemed right and proper.

 

Here is all I know!  I know that I have trusted my life on this earth and after this life to a God that loves me.  I know life is too good to be squandered and wasted.  Like the song says, I serve a rise Savior, he's in the world today. I know that he is living no matter what men may say. I see his hand of mercy, I hear his voice of cheer AND JUST THE TIME I NEED HIM he's always near!  Let that lyric from the Bible through the talent of a song writer many years ago wash you this day.

 

I wish each of you a Happy Easter and never forget what the Easter is about; Death and RESURRECTION!  Listen to the Hallelujah Chorus in the next few days and really listen to the words in addition to the majestic sounds of the music.

Sir, I Just Do Not Understand; Help Me, Please!

A few days ago after taking a full day, well, most of a day, on a news fast, I turned on CNN last evening before going to bed and within fifteen minutes of watching, I was yet again brought to the harsh reality of how interconnected and torn our global village really has become.  For me at the core of this new normal is what I believe is the misdirection of the United States for it, we, have been the citadel of strength, decision making, strength projection and protector of the world for nearly eight decades.  Given that as backdrop, I decided to write Obama via his whitehouse.gov a short letter expressing my concern and frustration that has been generated under his leadership a couple of days earlier. I post it next for it the created many people that like the way the case is made.  I have not yet heard from Obama and doubt I will but here is what I sent him on his website:

 

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ..
Mr.Obama, have chosen to remain news-free today until about ten minutes ago. In that ten minutes I realized on the CNN reporting that the terrorists cancer called ISIL is a lava flow that is moving from Japan to Venezuela, many nations in the Middle East with the diplomatic corps folks being targeted. So given that, Sir, I pose this question to you .. as the Commander-in-Chief of my nation, how in your six years have you allowed such alarming threats throughout the world? We see you playing a dangerous game of blackjack with Iran, the key enemy in the Middle East as we watched you cow tow to the Middle Eastern kings now supporting ISIL at the beginning of your tenure. We see Russia reconstructing the Mother Russia and it seems Mr Putin is unharmed in his quest so how would you respond to that as well, Sir? This is not a political nor a racist set of questions, Sir but questions posed by an American citizen that no longer believes you know what you are doing. I believe you have surrounded yourself with people that are either immature, stupid or sinister telling you everything is good. The political conundrum in Washington, Mr. President, is yours to sort out as well for you are the CEO of this once great nation. Oh, and you have singlehandedly broken intimate relations with Israel. So, just asking, is all of this part of a master plan or it is the result of poor leadership, poor intelligence or what, Sir?

 

It is my belief that Americans, on a scale I have not witnessed in my time as an adult, are more concerned and fearful of the direction of our nation than ever before.  We are in a place where the poison of racism is chewing away the fabric of dialog thus no objective conversation can be had. We, therefore, are in a general state of our uniformed police being viewed and treated not as protectors of the public but as Gestapo that are only out to see how many nonwhite people they can destroy today; how sick is that?  I see poll numbers from CNN and WSJ and others that clearly indicates that the American people do not believe Obama is leading well, that America is moving in a bad direction, that Obama has kindled more of the fires of racism during this time as POTUS than any president in history. These statements are not mine even though I concur but rather by professionally conducted polling.  But polls usually mean little to me please know. But what I see, hear and seek to understand coming out of Washington at both ends of Pennsylvania is troubling beyond what I have ever see. Core to that concern is this strange game being played with Iran.

 

During my lifetime Iran has proven over and over again they are a nation no other nation can trust and America certainly has been stained with Iranian manipulation more than most yet here is America under Obama and Kerry dilly dallying with an empire of deceit, wrong and aspiring hegemony in the region and probably more and them getting nuclear capability certainly advances that aim.  Perhaps I am wrong and please know I hope I am but all evidence to the contrary, I simply do not understand what Obama is trying to do.

 

I fight everyday, EVERYDAY, to believe the best from him and his leadership for our nation but seemingly everyday, EVERYDAY, there is more evidence causing me to believe that he is not willing to call a spade a spade meaning that it is in fact Islam that we are at war with and ISIL and the other affiliate linkages comprising a powerful, potent and deadly killing machine to accomplish strategic goals.  All of this in a cacophony of dissent and warning from intelligence experts, Congress, media around the world so the evidence, for me at least, indicates Obama via Kerry are playing their own very deadly, dastardly diplomatic game with the lives of my grandchildren and our American way of life in general.

 

As I indicated in my letter to him, this is not political nor racist when I state that I simply do not trust nor believe in this man's leadership, his aims, his aspirations.  I think an icon of this swamp I believe he has not created but has exacerbated and fueled was just before going to bed last night watching about five minutes of another, ANOTHER, CNN panel facilitated by Don Lemmon, trying to discuss among a group of about six or eight the whole Michael Brown issue and sadly funny but telling, nobody could even finish a thought or express a clear opinion without being loudly interrupted and challenged. In that five minutes I saw the torn cloth of America, the America I love, served, live and want to have again in a new darkened hue. But that America has been ripped from us and we have a now new whole generation that will never know America as the great protector, career potential nation I have seen in my nearly seven decades.

 

How would I describe me as an American today? Disappointed.  Fed up.  Hurt to see such a great place turned so mean and sour toward each other.  A concerned citizen that simply cannot get my mind around what this POTUS is doing.  Totally frustrated with this thing called Congress and its gridlock and ineptitude. A man that is blessed to have been in a nation for a life and a career but have thunderclouds of concern about what happens to my family in the days ahead.  A leadership watcher that has determined the nation's leaders has taken and allowed our nation to move into the back alleys of hate and despair.  A case study in not listening to what We the People are saying at the ballot box but instead going down a dangerous path most of us do not understand.  Knowing from my years of reading and research that God's chosen people, the Jews, and their nation Israel, must be supported and protected but seeing this POTUS unilaterally severing ties and pulling back support for Israel. There will be a very heavy price to pay for this I believe.  FYI  I fully believe Israel must and will take the offensive against Iran for it is their national survival that is at stake. So we will then get to see just where America stands with Israel and right now I believe we will do what we have been doing with ISIL, VA, IRS, Benghazi, ObamaCare, etc, etc which is fundamentally nothing. 

 

You either lead, follow or get out of the way the old adage goes. Sadly, I believe our nation, my nation's leadership style is to get out of the way. Another adage I like is that if you are going to run with the big dogs you have to get off the front porch;  I believe Obama enjoys the porch as a platform to pontificate but not articulate truthfully with the American people.  There is the stench of sinister actions and activities emanating through all of this in our nation which I want to not smell or even contemplate but seemingly not attacking the forces of evil and aligning and playing footsie with those dark forces at the expense of nations, Israel, we are committed to defend and protect is frankly frightening.  Many write and say that do not know how America can stand another two years under this President.  I will close by stating that I want my President to lead and be successful. I see no evidence that those diamonds will be his legacy and worse, our nation will be viewed as a second tier nation as China ascends the podium of leadership for the global village.