"Dinner With The Wampanoags"

Next week America will be celebrating “Thanksgiving Day” in virtually every home in our nation. I am preparing a sumptuous feast of a 20 pound turkey, sweet potato casserole, stuffing filled with bacon, onions, celery and spices; hot fresh dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, fresh green salad, olives, pickles and a bucket of turkey gravy. After dinner and some rest, we will all have pie, cake, ice cream and hot coffee. A few hours later, there will be turkey sandwiches and immobile conversation.

I’m sure the above described meal will be repeated all over America in millions of homes filled with happy families, all stuffed to capacity! I wonder how many of us take the time to say what we are thankful for on this special occasion. Obviously, we are thankful for the wonderful food that has satiated our hunger, but isn’t the food just a symbol for what America means to us?

We have a wonderful Constitution that is designed to offer every American the chance to succeed if he or she is willing to put forth effort in the seeking of their dreams.

In 1620, when the Mayflower left England, there was no America, only a new unexplored land that offered those pilgrims a chance to practice their faith without encumbrance from the Crown of England; that was all they wanted and were willing to do the rest of the work on their own. In 1621, those pilgrims landed in North America and established the village of Plymouth in what was later to be Massachusetts. After their harvest, at a time when they felt most blessed, they shared a feast with the Wampanoag Indian tribe; the “First Thanksgiving” in our infant nation. I’m assuming the turkeys they ate were wild, and the corn was grown by them, and the Indians were welcome guests, even if they didn’t understand the ways of these new residents in their “New World”.

I’m sure their meal started out with a prayer of thanksgiving to God, for His provision and mercy which He had shown to them in their new home. I’m sure this prayer was from every heart in the new settlement, people who were strangers in a strange land and trusted in God for every instance of their lives.

Today, we all share laughter and tell stories and get ready for the “big game” on television, yet I wonder how many of us really take stock of our blessings in this great nation, in the same way those brave and faithful pilgrims did so many years ago.

On Thursday, we should all enjoy a terrific dinner with all the trimmings; all those smells coming from our respective kitchens which make our mouths water. The smell of turkey and sweet potatoes are wonderful, but the aroma we all should enjoy the most is the “smell of individual freedom” that we have in America, the sweetest smell in the world!

I hope all of you have a most wonderful and DELICIOUS “Thanksgiving Day” holiday; and I hope all of you give thanks for our American blessing!!

 

(I am taking Thanksgiving week off, enjoy yourselves!!)

"Pants on Fire"

I’m sure most of us have memories of fights with our siblings where much yelling and name-calling took place. I remember my poor Mom acting as referee in these encounters. When she took control of the situation, we would stand across from each other and were made to apologize to one another, “Brothers and sisters should never fight, now say you’re sorry!” We would look at each other and grudgingly apologize, never meaning it, but doing it to stay out of trouble and an intervention from our Dad. After my Mom left the room there was often quiet names called and tongues stuck out in defiance; we didn’t really apologize.

I used to watch COURT TV before it changed, and I remember scenes of defendants making statements before the judge and injured families saying how much they regret the actions they committed and sought mercy from the judge in his sentencing for their crimes. Most of the time, I didn’t believe those apologies, as they were self-serving and sounded rehearsed rather than heartfelt; just a ploy for the judge.

Most criminals are compulsive liars and I’m sure any experienced judge can see right through the phony apologies they hear on a daily basis. Some criminals are so well schooled in untruth it is difficult for the average person to detect the lies of these experts.

Compulsive liars can lie and sound contrite, smile and walk away, and be sure they have fooled just about everybody they have spoken too!

Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time!” Old Abe was a pretty sharp guy when it came to knowing people, especially the American people. We can all be fooled on occasion, but we don’t often get fooled by the same liar more than once.

Over four years ago we began hearing about Obamacare from the President, Barack Hussein Obama, in endless speeches about the merits of his program, of how it would be a wonderful benefit for all Americans and would remedy the healthcare shortcomings of our current system; and to top it off, he said it would cost you less than your current insurance and if you didn’t like it, you could retain your current insurance and your current doctor; he never stated any proviso about you coverage having to comply with the Obamacare standards, NEVER SAID THAT!

Today President Barack Obama is on a mission to try to recant the thousands of “untruths” he spoke in regards to his health care initiative.

Today, hundreds of thousands of Americans are looking for new doctors, new insurance policies and in some cases new jobs because of the high cost of Obamacare. America has been thrown into a cesspool of government ineptitude in the handling of Obamacare, and Barack Obama is at the epicenter of all of it.

No matter how much Mr. Obama tries to distance himself from this disaster, it all belongs to him, and he is trying to twist the truth to wiggle out of his purposeful deceptions about Obamacare.

I remember a saying when I was a boy, “Liar, liar, pants on fire, nose as long as a telephone wire!” I believe Mr. Obama’s nose is growing and there is a fire in his shorts; what do you think?

"Brothers, Sisters, Uncles, Etc."

I remember the spring of 1969; that’s when I had my first look at Fort Benning in beautiful Columbus, Georgia. This garden paradise was where I had my first encounter with the U.S. Army after enlisting. The air was heavy and humid, a cool 87 degrees at midnight, just the place to vacation in early June. I was surrounded by fellow trainees who were just as happy with the facilities as I was.

Our first morning was a delightful experience as the Drill Sergeant clanged on an empty garbage can while flipping on the lights; I knew my Mom would never do this, but he didn’t seem to care. After a five minute shower and shave, we dressed and double timed to the mess hall and I had my first introduction to powdered milk and “creamed chipped beef on toast” or as it is commonly known “S.O.S.”; if you want to know what that stands for, ask any veteran and I guarantee he will tell you. After our gourmet breakfast, we were marched to the quarter master and drew our uniforms and boots; then we went for HAIRCUTS! In 1969 many of the young men were sporting long hair, and beards and moustaches; all that was about to change in an instant. Mutton chop sideburns and Afro hair-do’s vanished in less than a minute, and before you knew it, we all looked pretty much alike.

In less than 10 weeks we were certified soldiers and went off to advance training at different forts across America.

After another 10 weeks, I was a certified infantry soldier and then the real Army started for me and many others. Over the course of time I found myself with three stripes on my collar and a squad to run, later followed by another stripe and a platoon.

I often think about those days back in my youth, sometimes with humor, and sometimes with sorrow. I have names that I carry with me that I knew then and I have seen them on a “Wall” one time while with my wife at my side. A few letters carved on a black wall is all that is left of faces that smiled and friends once treasured.

On November 11^th, we will celebrate “Veterans’ Day” across America, some schools will close, some will not. People may get a day off and sleep in without a single thought about why they are home instead of working.

There are memorials for WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the Unknown Soldier in Washington to commemorate the service to our country of all of those people (sorry they were closed for a while).

If you happen to have a Dad, Brother, Sister, Uncle, Grandfather or Cousin who has given his or her time to serve America, you may want to say thank you to them on November 11^th; they will appreciate it, even if they act a little funny about it ; you see, they never looked for any thanks to begin with, only the honor of service to their country.

Remember them because they never forgot you!