tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post585760798287751465..comments2023-10-03T07:01:41.144-05:00Comments on Always On Watch: Semper Vigilans: Veterans Day 2018Always On Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-58588224124307268882018-11-14T06:33:12.389-06:002018-11-14T06:33:12.389-06:00That's lovely, AOW. I'm glad to be acquain...That's lovely, AOW. I'm glad to be acquainted with it.I'm reminded of a story about Helen Keller who wen asked towards the end of her astonishung life, if she feared death?<br /><br /><b><i>"I have no fear of it at all,"</i></b> she said, <b><i>"for I am certain it will be no different than passing from one room into another, but I know that in that Other Room I shall be able to see and hear."</i></b><br /><br />I've always found that almost unbearably touching –– to the point where I get choked up, and tears come to my eyes every time I think of it.Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-84231879175241154952018-11-13T16:36:24.224-06:002018-11-13T16:36:24.224-06:00The meditation I used at Mom's funeral:
Death...The <a href="https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/death-is-nothing-at-all" rel="nofollow">meditation</a> I used at Mom's funeral:<br /><br /><i>Death is nothing at all.<br />I have only slipped away to the next room.<br />I am I and you are you.<br />Whatever we were to each other,<br />That, we still are.<br /><br />Call me by my old familiar name.<br />Speak to me in the easy way<br />which you always used.<br />Put no difference into your tone.<br />Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.<br /><br />Laugh as we always laughed<br />at the little jokes we enjoyed together.<br />Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.<br />Let my name be ever the household word<br />that it always was.<br />Let it be spoken without effect.<br />Without the trace of a shadow on it.<br /><br />Life means all that it ever meant.<br />It is the same that it ever was.<br />There is absolute unbroken continuity.<br />Why should I be out of mind<br />because I am out of sight?<br /><br />I am but waiting for you.<br />For an interval.<br />Somewhere. Very near.<br />Just around the corner.<br /><br />All is well.<br /><br />Nothing is past; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before only better, infinitely happier and forever we will all be one together with Christ.<br /><br />Henry Scott Holland </i>Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-83635945611296910292018-11-13T16:33:41.536-06:002018-11-13T16:33:41.536-06:00At Mom's request years before she passed, I us...At Mom's request years before she passed, I used something similar at her funeral.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-3414339823395208612018-11-13T15:47:36.667-06:002018-11-13T15:47:36.667-06:00Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there...<b><i>Do not stand at my grave and weep <br /> I am not there. I do not sleep. <br /> I am a thousand winds that blow. <br /> I am the diamond glints on snow. <br /> I am the sunlight on ripened grain. <br /> I am the gentle autumn rain. <br />When you awaken in the morning's hush <br />I am the swift uplifting rush <br /> Of quiet birds in circled flight.<br /> I am the soft stars that shine at night. <br />Do not stand at my grave and cry; <br /> I am not there. I did not die.</i></b> <br /><br />~ Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905-2004)<br />Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-80907093143257455362018-11-11T17:07:38.965-06:002018-11-11T17:07:38.965-06:00Franco,
Agreed!
What we're seeing is the harv...Franco,<br />Agreed!<br /><br />What we're seeing is the harvest of the education system, which conservatives and libertarians basically abandoned decades ago -- at least at the professorial level.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-31986211281393392972018-11-11T17:06:50.520-06:002018-11-11T17:06:50.520-06:00Franco,
I wouldn't go that far.Franco,<br />I wouldn't go that far.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-6847629967799856492018-11-11T14:59:36.887-06:002018-11-11T14:59:36.887-06:00But that was when we still had a country WORTH def...But that was when we still had a country WORTH defending. I doubt we do any longer. Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-61388062116169534802018-11-11T14:57:38.746-06:002018-11-11T14:57:38.746-06:00America has just SPAT in the FACE of our living de...America has just SPAT in the FACE of our living defenders and honored dead by empowering the fiends and fools I can now only call <b>DemonRats</b>.<br /><br /><b>The fallout from last Tuesday's election has succeeded in making a SICK JOKE of Veteran's Day. and a MOCKERY of true patriotism.</b>Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-28798105069599591272018-11-11T13:05:33.464-06:002018-11-11T13:05:33.464-06:00Found on blog rounds:
A Veteran is someone, w...Found on blog rounds:<br /><br /><i> A Veteran is someone, who at one point in his/her life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America”, for an amount of “up to and including my life”.<br /><br /> That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it. </i>Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-31318716775395445982018-11-11T11:39:35.032-06:002018-11-11T11:39:35.032-06:00Amen! And poste haste.
- CIAmen! And poste haste.<br /><br />- CIAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-84226408226856691232018-11-11T11:35:38.631-06:002018-11-11T11:35:38.631-06:00Honor our veterans, by getting the hell out of Afg...Honor our veterans, by getting the hell out of AfghanistanSilverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-64947269218463623542018-11-11T11:14:00.975-06:002018-11-11T11:14:00.975-06:00“Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen...<i>“Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, ‘What should be the reward of such sacrifices?’ … If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands, which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!” <br />—Samuel Adams (1777)</i><br /><br /><br /><br />Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-89076978184203026682018-11-11T09:33:23.441-06:002018-11-11T09:33:23.441-06:00___ A VETERAN’S DAY LAMENT ___
The thought arises...<b>___ A VETERAN’S DAY LAMENT ___<br /><br /><i>The thought arises once again:<br />That our brave men have died in vain<br />If in our now-degraded state<br />We see no more why they were great,––<br />And rattle on belligerently ––<br />Rejecting Thought that made us free ––<br />Embracing now with loud insistence ––<br />Malice threatening our existence ––<br />Tearing at each other's throats ––<br />While a leering Satan gloats ––<br />A sorry spectacle that wrenches<br />My heart thinking of the trenches<br />Filled with anguish, fear and dread<br />As bullets whizzed above each head,<br />And buried in the mud the mines<br />Lurked to shatter limbs and spines,<br />While in the distance cannons boomed<br />Inspiring fear that all were doomed.<br />Then to see a body shattered ––<br /> One a buddy –– now parts scattered ––<br />In the mud with corpses strewn ––<br />Gruesome lit by sun or moon ––<br />More pitiful the wounded lie<br />In agony praying to die.<br />And all around the smell of blood<br />Vomit, –– urine, –– faces, –– crud<br />Defined the hellish atmosphere<br />But few if any shed a tear.<br />They knew they had a job to do ––<br />Protecting our land –– and you ––<br />From Tyranny, –– Brutality ––<br />Poverty –– and Slavery ––<br />Their Sacrifice –– Our Legacy –<br />Now relegated to the Fire ––<br />Ever the Enemy’s Desire ––<br />Because their precious Victory<br />Was neutralized by Sophistry <br />That promised Peace eternally <br />By ceding our Sovereignty<br />As a dumb ovine assembly <br />Always led too easily<br />To the abattoir where brutally<br />They end up slaughtered ruthlessly.<br />And so the Enemy has won ––<br />Not by bayonet, bomb, or gun ––<br />But by an ideology<br />Seductive, to those lazily<br />Imagining there’s an Easy Way<br />To stop becoming Satan’s Prey.<br />Thus lulled into a stupor we<br />Now feel a false Security.<br />Forgetting the we owe a debt<br />To those brave men who fought to get<br />Continued Opportunity <br />To cherish their fine legacy.<br />Because the Left runs Education<br />We’ve lost our great Emancipation ––<br />Betrayed great men through dissipation<br />Made worse by bitter argumentation.</i></b><br /><br />~ FreeThinke (11/11/18)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-79065566226471235682018-11-11T08:32:54.616-06:002018-11-11T08:32:54.616-06:00While no fan of Lincoln, I do appreciate one of hi...While no fan of Lincoln, I do appreciate one of his quotes, germane to Veterans Day:<br /><br /><i>“Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country’s cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as best he can, the same cause.” – Abraham Lincoln</i>Constitutional Insurgenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03251746798758539951noreply@blogger.com