Originally posted on November 24,
2010, and prior to today, subsequently on November 27,
2013, and November 26, 2014
by alphaheel
I just can’t!
It’s only hump day, but there have been a number of weighty news items worthy
of reporting already this week.
· We’ve seen video of a #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) Movement protester
being assaulted at a leading Presidential Candidate’s rally, merely for
exercising his Constitutional 1st Amendment rights. *
· The same leading Presidential Candidate,
when discussing the matter Sunday morning on Fox News, said, “Maybe he should have
bee roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.” What he and two other protesters were doing
was shouting, “Dump the Trump,” and “Black Lives Matter.”
· A leading Presidential Candidate
retweeted bogus crime statistics, inflating the roll of blacks in violent crime,
suggesting African Americans are responsible for most white homicides;
deflating the role of whites. *
· A leading Presidential Candidate alleged
to have seen (on TV) thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the 9/11
attacks; a claim numerous media outlets have denied. What’s eye opening about this claim is, no
media outlet has been able to produce footage of this alleged indiscretion…not
even Fox News. (That should tell you all
you need to know about that matter.
· Despite most news services dismissing the
leading Presidential Candidate’s claim, and none supporting it, the candidate
continues to insist he saw it, and in fact, has insisted he is owed an apology.
· The head of this leading Candidate’s
SuperPac told CNN Monday that the BLM movement “don’t really” have a right to
protest at Donald Trump rallies for the same reason that “I wouldn’t go into a
black church and start screaming “white lives matter.” Say what?
The apparent logic: both telling and repulsive…that just as Donald Trump
rallies are for white people and the #BlackLivesMatter movement isn’t welcome;
black churches are for black people and those who would scream “White lives
matter!” aren’t welcome. Oy vey!
· Another leading Presidential Candidate
said he saw the same footage, but subsequently said that what he saw occurred
in Middle Eastern countries, not in the Garden State.
· A Pennsylvania Police Chief was caught
using the N-word. *
· A District Attorney released a video of a
black teen getting shot 16 times by a Chicago Police Officer. *
· White Supremacists shot 5 BLM protesters
in Minneapolis, after threatening, online, to do so days earlier. *
· Thank you James E. Ford for allowing me
to e-pick your brain; ’06!
The ten bulleted items
above are not just low hanging fruit; they are all national issues. Of course,
we are also knee deep in collaborating with the community of nations to thwart
ISIS (ISIL/IS, whichever you prefer). So
yesterday’s news was dominated by reports that Turkey shot down a Russian
fighter jet that entered its air space.
The international
plot thickens, as if it were not already sufficiently dicey. Since we are
currently working with France, Turkey, Russia, et. al., to diffuse the ISIS
problem, it’s fair to say we have 99 problems, and Turkey shooting down the
Russian fighter “is” now one of them.
I could go on, but I
won’t. Or, as I said in the opening sentence, “I just can’t!” Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.
As in the past,
since it is Thanksgiving Week, this post will deviate from the standard
fare. I know that travel schedules (impeded by weather events this year), meal
planning, family time, shopping, football, parades, and if there is any time
remaining, relaxation, will dominate
this week. However, it is Wednesday, so there shall be a blog!
It is definitely brief.
Those among us who
have perfected humility, and ascended to a genuine Nirvana state, have no
doubt, also elevated giving thanks to an art form. The rest of us must fully
invest our appreciation in the notion, “That’s why we have Thanksgiving!”
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day,
which kicks off what we commonly refer to as the Holiday Season.
Almost instinctively, Thanksgiving and Christmas come to
mind. Yet, there is so more than that to the Season.
Over the next 54
days, many of us will enjoy succulent feasting at Thanksgiving, exchange
gifts and contribute to the needy during Hanukkah. We will buy,
give, exchange, and/or receive gifts at Christmas, eat, drink, and
celebrate the 7 Principles of Kwanzaa, and party and
toast the dawn of 2011 (2014/2015/2016), on New Year’s Day. We
will honor the life and works of The Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., on MLK Day.
In addition, even in these tough (though improving) economic times, this
weekend, millions of Americans will pay (literally) homage to
our most celebrated of shoppers’ holiday weekends, Black Friday, Small Business
Saturday, and Cyber Monday, by
rising early, and proceeding to scour the aisles for those perfect gifts…and if
not perfect, at least cheap, relatively speaking. In 2015, there are even some precociously
enterprising businesses that will start the shopping clock Thursday. Sigh!
In past years, I
have recounted my reasons for being thankful. This year I find that I have
more reasons than ever to sit contemplatively in
humble repose,
and affirm boldly, that I know, without caveat, not
only the goodness, no the greatness of God, but also of his inestimable and
inexhaustible beneficence.
I thank Him for deliverance, and for imbuing
me with the sense and sensibility to discern the distinction between kairos and chronos, Greek
concepts for God’s time, and man’s time, respectively.
Eons ago, when I was
a college student, I pledged a fraternity. It is the Oldest, Boldest, and Coldest,
but I digress. The point of this reference is that during the erstwhile pledge
process, as prospective initiates, we were required to learn a series of poems.
There were many, each selected to convey a specific life lesson. Many of them
have stayed with me, but none more than Invictus, written by
English poet, William Ernest
Henley (1849-1903). The Latin translation for Invictus is
Undefeated. You may recall it, but just in case, see it below:
Invictus (Latin for
Undefeated) By William Ernest Henley:
Out of the night
that covers me,
Black as the pit
from pole to pole,
I thank whatever
gods may be
For my unconquerable
soul.
In the fell clutch
of circumstance
I have not winced
nor cried aloud.
Under the
bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody,
but unbowed.
Beyond this place of
wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror
of the shade,
And yet the menace
of the years
Finds and shall find
me unafraid.
It matters not how
strait the gate,
How charged with
punishments the scroll,
I am the master of
my fate:
I am the captain of
my soul.
So, as you go about
your way tomorrow, and all the tomorrows that follow, recognize that Thanksgiving,
at its core, is not simply a day on the calendar. It is a spirit that dwells
within us, an impulse that prompts us to thank God (for our being
undefeated), and for the graciousness to share His blessings with our
fellow men and women. Indeed, everyday is “A Time forGiving Thanks Redux!”
I’m done; holla
back!
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