"We all sat down at the table, trying from time to time to make conversation.  It seemed that our individual sorrows had separated us, even though we were members of the same family, and we just didn't know how to be of comfort to one another.  I didn't understand at first why we were so changed, because I had always thought that blood was such a strong tie, but as time went on, it became clearer to me that what separated people--or brought them together--was the way they responded to their experiences.  In this, it seemed, no two members of our family were alike."

The Road from Home by David Kherdian.  Such a great book!!!

Coolest news story in a while.

I just thought this was the coolest thing I've read in a long time.  I'm planning a trip to Haiti as soon as possible. :)

Pretty sure that Columbus' shipwrecked Santa Maria has been discovered.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/exclusive-found-after-500-years-the-wreck-of-christopher-columbuss-flagship-the-santa-maria-9359330.html

Enjoy!

…bound to repeat it.

"They are trying to say, 'Wake up!'  They are trying to say that we are unaware of the present moment -- that is, reality.  All men's problems are caused by sleep.  There is no such thing as conscious evil.  Look around you!  The Armenians are asleep in their foolish trust, and the Turks believe that two minus one equals three.  Instead of being on this road to Hell, we should have escaped while there was time.  The man who is awake can read signs - the massacres of 1895, the massacres in Adana and Tarsus of 1909 and now the threat again in 1915."

~The Road from Home by David Kherdian, chapter 3

I have been reading the 1828 Elementary Catechism of the Constitution… to my boys for the last several months.  We finished it today.  

So, as the public school system, this administration, our judges, Congress try to rewrite the Constitution, cause it to be irrelevant, omit it completely, or just ignore it; we were reading this heart grabbing nugget today:

"…remember that this precious Constitution, thus wise, thus just, is your birthright.  It has been earned for you by your fathers, who counseled much, labored long, and shed their dearest blood, to win it for their children.  To them, it was the fruit of toil and danger -- to you, it is a gift.  Do not slight it on that account, but prize it as you ought.  It is yours, no human power can deprive you of it, but your own folly and wickedness.  To undervalue, is one of the surest ways to lose it.  Take pains to know what the Constitution is -- the more you study, the higher you will esteem it.  The better you understand your own rights, the more likely you will be to preserve and guard them."

I wept as I read these words…almost 200 years old.  True.  Prophetic.  Hope-filled…if we will break free of our national ignorance and cling to the freedoms entrusted to us; and fight with everything that is within us to secure our liberty.

the stranglehold of the state educational system

“Where teaching is conducted by private schools, there will be a considerable variation in different schools; the parents must judge what they want their children taught, by the curriculum offered. Nowhere will there be any inducement to teach the “supremacy of the state as a compulsory philosophy.” But every politically controlled educational system will inculcate the doctrine of state supremacy sooner or later, whether as the divine right of kings, or the “will of the people” in “democracy.” Once that doctrine has been accepted, it becomes an almost superhuman task to break the stranglehold of the political power over the life of the citizen. It has had his body, property, and mind in its clutches from infancy. An octopus would sooner release its prey. A tax-supported, compulsory educational system is the complete model of the totalitarian state.” - Isabel Paterson


Thanks, Mark Ross, for this quote.

"What astonishing changes a few years are capable of producing!  I am told that even respectable characters speak of a monarchical form of government without horror.  From thinking proceeds speaking, thence to acting is often but a single step.  But how irrevocable and tremendous!"

~George Washington to John Jay, August 15, 1786

Norm

A card came today. It had only one name on it. I expected two.

One is no longer here. And I didn't visit them recently and I didn't know. And people don't live forever on this earth. Life is a vapor. Even if it's 90 years or more. It passes too quickly.

Norm Danielson is no longer here. And I'm sad about it.

I bought a 1990 Lincoln Continental from Norm in 1997 and he was a friend for life. Everytime I had car trouble (even with subsequent vehicles) he told me to come to his house and he would grab his cane and check my fluids and make sure that all was a-ok. Later, he would grab his walker and check my fluids and make sure everything was a-ok. And we would talk for an hour or more in his office.

He had three daughters and he always said to me everytime I saw him and everytime we spoke on the phone, “Kori, you are just like one of my girls.” There is no greater compliment in the world. I am thankful.

I tried to visit a couple of years ago but it was not an ideal time because Norm was in a wheelchair and the house was being renovated to accommodate his wheels. And I never was able to stop by and catch him after that. But I should have tried harder.

I always worried that Norm would die and I wouldn't know about it. And that's just what happened. Sweet Norm has been gone for a year. And I found out today. And I am sad.

I love this Norm Danielson, and am so thankful for his presence in my life.