Sunday, July 26, 2015

The Power to Transform Our World?

Yet another tragic shooting in the month since I've been away,  First the shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in Charleston, South Carolina, and then the shooting of Kate Steinle, in San Francisco.  Now another movie-theater shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana, last night.  And I almost forgot the lone-wolf shooting at the Army Recruitment center in Tennessee. Hard to find the right words for reason or consolation sometimes, isn't it?  Save to say those who would take the lives of defenseless others, innocents among them, are the polar opposite of those motivated to action by honor.  My heartfelt prayers go out to all involved in these senseless tragedies.  I am left in awe pondering the overwhelming forgiveness expressed by the families of the victims in the South Carolina church shootings.  I can't help but be inspired by these courageous individuals who so readily found their way to forgiveness in the immediate wake of such profound loss.  To my way of thinking, forgiveness has the greater power to shape --transform-- this world for the better.  What say you?  

The time has finally come to address the profound vulnerability of gun-free zones?  And we're way past the time where criminal illegal alien deportations should have been addressed and the laws on the books enforced.  Whenever I am in the state of Texas I always feel safer w.r.t. to the above scenarios playing out --military installations being the one sad, glaring exception-- because if someone pulled out a gun and began shooting at defenseless people I have little doubt that two or more "licensed-to-carry" gun-owners would not waste a second before drawing their weapons in order to take down the shooter, but maybe that's just me. The best defense is always a good offense.  From where I'm sitting forgiveness and the enactment of future offensive measures --in effort to prevent future shooting tragedies-- can go hand in hand, despite the narrative being pushed by the liberal left and the mainstream media.

9/11/2015  “Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes.”~ Alexandre Dumas, "Count of Monte Cristo"


[image source:  newyork.cbslocal.com ]

Kelly File interview

Three young Americans riding on a train, from Amsterdam to Paris, found themselves in the eye of a potentially powerful storm.  Within a matter of mere seconds, these brave men found it within themselves to act, without hesitation and with courage and honor.  By their immediate and selfless actions these three young men saved countless lives.  Truly inspirational!  May God Bless all involved.  And may the heroism of these brave men inspire others to find it within themselves to stare terrorists, hell-bent on destruction, square-in-the-eye and to find the courage within themselves to take action in defense of innocence against the ever-growing presence of evil in our world.


Friday, July 24, 2015

"The wounds of honour are self-inflicted"

"The wounds of honour are self-inflicted." ~Film Quote from "The Last Knights"

A poignant quote from the film (movie) I happened to watch late this evening with my daughters.  Thought provoking, these words, are they not? And drawn from a fictional movie script at that.  Personally, these particular words leave me wondering if we currently live in an age where the notion of honor has now been relegated to realm of fictional tales and legends of days long since gone by.  I suppose there is still some thinking to do on this subject.  What say you?  Has honor in our modern-day society now been replaced with the politics of identity and belonging to a 'greater whole'?

"All honor's wounds are self-inflicted." - Andrew Carnegie