Forever grateful!

Today is Veterans Day. A day in which we nationally recognize anyone who has served in the military at any time in the country’s history. Whether they have fought and died or fought and live with the memories of their experiences, today we salute them all.
Maybe you know someone who has fought and died. Maybe you know someone who fought and lived. Maybe you are the someone who fought. And to those of you who have and will read this…thank you. So much. I am forever grateful to you for your sacrifice and willingness to fight for the freedoms of this country.
I had a conversation the other day with someone I’ve gotten to know recently who served in the Marine Corps. He and I were discussing the sacrifices service men and women make. Not just for the people that they know and love but also for those who they don’t even know exist. In order that we gained and continue to enjoy the many freedoms afforded to us in this country.
It was during this particular conversation that I realized a parallel. Between their sacrifices and the sacrifice of Christ’s death on the Cross. He made the greatest sacrifice in all of human history in that moment. So that again, we may know freedom and be forgiven our sins. Service men and women have sacrificed time, energy, love, talent and their lives for our freedoms.
Most people will take the time to thank soldiers, retired and active, for their service today. Most people won’t take the time to thank Christ for His sacrifice, today or any other day for that matter. While it is important to acknowledge the sacrifice of our service men and women, I feel like thanking Christ for His sacrifice is that much more important. We could thank Jesus for the sacrifices made by the service men and women. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” – 1 John 3:16

Why “Brothers” made me mad…

I watched “Brothers” last night.  Halfway through it, I was mad and I stayed mad for pretty much all of the rest of it.  There were times I got confused, sat up still and straight, and other times I was just completely dumbfounded by the whole thing.  Why mad?  For so many reasons.  And I’m about to share those with you…ready?
I was mad at the father for comparing his two sons.  For making Tommy out to be a worthless no good piece of trash and Sam the flawless god of sorts. 
I was mad about the grief the family went through because Sam was “dead”.  Mad because of the hellish treatment the soldiers were put through at the hands of the Afghans.  Mad at what the hellish treatment drove Sam to do to a fellow American soldier.  So, so mad about that one!  Mad at the thought that someone who has fought in the war for real might have been driven to do something similar to save his or her own skin.
I was mad at Grace and Tommy for their behaviors while Sam was suffering and fighting like hell to get home alive to his family.  I know they thought he was dead but it still didn’t sit well with me. 
I was mad at Tommy for not being honest with his brother.  Mad at Sam for not believing Grace when she told him about kissing Tommy.  Mad that Sam accused his wife of f-cking his brother.
Just to change things up a little, I don’t remember being mad at the mother for anything.
I was mad at Isabelle.  For being an ungrateful little brat.  For saying things that weren’t true because she was mad at Sam.  I was even mad that she told him he should have stayed dead. 
Also I’m mad that there is even still such a war going on to script a movie around.  I get that it’s important to know history so it can’t be repeated but to make a movie about something that still happens?  How insensitive are some people?  Cripe…I can’t even say “it was just a movie” and relax.  Not when I feel pretty confident that things in the movie are surely someone’s reality, somewhere.
Most of all I was mad that someone would make such a movie and that I would contribute to its finances to watch such a movie.  I kind of feel like it spits in the faces of people who have been in war and died, people who have been in war and lived and the families of both such people. 
In closing I would like to make it crystal freakin clear I am not mad at any of the American soldiers.  To the soldiers who have fought and died for the freedom I enjoy…thank you.  To the soldiers who have fought and lived for the same freedom…thank you.

Thank you no.

As Election Day inches closer and closer.  It’s down to mere hours away now.  So of course that means the political ads and the campaign workers and the signs all go away again for a while.  Yay!  However, much more significant than that, with the hours dwindling, my decision as to who I will be casting my vote for has been made and firmly cemented.
Yesterday was the final chink in the definitiveness of my choice.  (In about 3 seconds if you don’t already know who I’ve been intending to vote for, you will.)  I either learned for the first time or was reminded that Barack Obama was born outside of the United States, he refuses to present a birth certificate and he sounds more and more like a socialistic communist than anything else.  Not the kind of person I want in office.  And yet, there is a very real chance he could be elected as the next president.
Awesome, let’s elect a lying cheat into office and watch the already struggling system of this country struggle some more.  So much for change…at least positive change anyway.
“The rocket’s red glare bombs bursting in air!” and I’m out.

Politics and me…

Politics is one of those things that as a general rule in my life, I don’t get caught up in.  However I do appreciate the right to vote and exercise it regularly in each election that presents itself.  That is usually as deep as my political involvement gets since I’m a firm believer in “don’t bitch if you don’t do anything to initiate change”.  Since I’m in the mood to talk about them, however, I have a thought about the whole party system to share.
Yesterday morning before going to work my dad and I went to Parker Varney to vote.  This election was for governor, congress, senate, and other smaller positions of government.  So as I walked into the school behind my dad all bleary eyed and still half asleep I had no idea it was one of those elections that requires me to choose between the Rep. and Dem. parties because I’m supposedly “undeclared”.  Really, I’m not, but apparently choosing Indenpendent isn’t good enough.  Because it’s not a “major” party so it goes in as undeclared.  What a crock.  I’m a member of Indenpent party and proud of it!  So you guessed that means I’ve made my declaration.  Ugh, I really hate politics.  They’re positively ridiculous.  Seriously how ridiculous does it sound to you that because I’ve chosen not to be a member of either the Rep. or Dem. parties I’m forced to choose betwen them in order to participate in certain elections?!  Is it really that hard to just create one ballot of all the candidates for everyone, party affliation aside?  I guess it must be, at least for these kinds of elections, because in November when I go to vote for the next President they won’t ask me.  I only know that because I’ve participated in the Presidential elections before and didn’t have to choose between Dem. or Rep.
I feel like your party affliation shouldn’t matter when you go to vote.  You should be able to go to your designated voting place, tell them your name and receive a ballot without the added ludicrousness of declaring one party over another in order to participate.
I’m not totally sure but I wonder if my sudden constant thought or action in reflection to the political world has to do with getting older.  Cause more than I’ve ever done before, I’ve been paying attenion (in moderation mind you) to what’s going on, not enough however that there aren’t things I’m still completely clueless about but I’m getting better.  I guess there comes a point in everyone’s life where their perspective shfits and things that weren’t even visible in the rear view mirror suddenly appear just ahead of our blind spot.  And because of that we begin to take notice and have opinions of things we’ve never dealt with before.