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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| Natalie: Alice is the solution to all ministry problems! | | |
| Phenotype DisadvantageGenetic expression is interesting. One naturally expects a child to have similarities with his parents due to shared genetic information. But how and what part of a person's genetic code gets expressed is clearly influenced by both internal and external factors. Sometimes this can yield unexpected results. For example, consider the exchange between me and a fellow youth worker on Friday...Nick: My mom was a math major in college.
Nick: Actually, she was a math and computer science double major.
Alice: What happened to you?! 
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| My Thoughts Exactly"I detest war. It might not be the worst thing to befall human beings, but it is wretched beyond all description. When nations seek to resolve their differences by force of arms, a million tragedies ensue. The lives of a nation's finest patriots are sacrificed. Innocent people suffer and die. Commerce is disrupted; economies are damaged; strategic interests shielded by years of patient statecraft are endangered as the exigencies of war and diplomacy conflict. Not the valor with which it is fought nor the nobility of the cause it serves, can glorify war. Whatever gains are secured, it is loss the veteran remembers most keenly. Only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the merciless reality of war. However heady the appeal of a call to arms, however just the cause, we should still shed a tear for all that is lost when war claims its wages from us."
- John McCain | | |
| Final Salute
A while back, Daniel posted this picture with the title, "Photos that make you cry." The photo is attached to a very moving story about the sacrifices made by American Marines and their families, as seen through the eyes of a Marine Casualty Assistance Call Officer—one of the men who inform the family of fallen Marines. The photos are powerful. The article is too.
"Final salute," Rocky Mountain News, November 11, 2005
2006 Pulitzer Prize Feature Photography, Rocky Mountain News | | |
| A Rockwell MomentI read this blog entry by Dr. Del Tackett, titled "A Rockwell Moment," about the privileges we take for granted in America. In this entry he describes what a Vietnamese immigrant shared with a recent caucus of people after they had voted. He writes:She introduced herself as a Vietnamese Refugee who had taken a long road to come to this country and to eventually become one of her citizens. This was her first caucus and she told us that she was happy that we began by asking our God to bless us in this meeting. She thanked us for allowing her the privilege to become an American. But she was now standing in order to tell us something. And with her heavy Vietnamese accent, she proceeded to give us a lesson in America 101. She wondered aloud if we really understood the greatness of this country. She wondered if we had bought the constant media picture that defied the reality that millions of people around the world long to come here. She wondered if we understood how much America remained a beacon of hope for the world. She wondered if we really understood what a blessing it was that we could openly express our opinions and yet not fear reprisal from the government or from one another. She then warned us of several dangers to our country and our freedoms and then she sat down. There was a pause as we all began to realize that there was something profound about what we had just heard. There was a sense of guilt, I think, as it struck us that what she had said was true and that it was so easy for us to take it all for granted. She showed us America through the eyes of someone who had paid a great price to become one of us. She expressed a love for this country that we all feel, but seldom state openly…maybe because we think that it is becoming too politically incorrect to do so. I was, quite frankly, both proud and ashamed at the same time. I have to agree with the sentiment. I think we have made mistakes, and I have no delusion about America being perfect. But I am very proud of our country—of our ideals, our heritage, our hopes, our privileges. And I am deeply saddened that we have so bought into what the media and academia has told us about how inappropriate we as a people are, that we have become ashamed to be Americans. There are enough people in the world who hate and want to kill us. We don't need to help them. We need to realize that acknowledging our imperfections is not incompatible with hope for our future, profound appreciation for our rights, or pride in our past. | | |
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