Ring Christmas Bells

 It was 1938.  He was just five-years-old.

 America has seen difficult financial times but nothing like the great depression spurred by the stock market collapse in 1929. 

 The boy’s father was a reliable hard worker. He was a talented man whose knowledge and skills in building and repair extended to plumbing, welding, carpentry and electricity. 

 The family was able to survive the early onslaught of the depression as carnival employees.  The father was an electrician while his mother filled various roles, including acting as the human outline target for the knife throwing act.   The boy’s earliest recollections of life are traveling all over the upper Midwest with the carnival.

 The economy had experienced several years of minimal improvement previous to 1938.  These minimal improvements took a serious hit in ‘38.  A recession that year caused unemployment to once again rise to 19%.  The boy’s father and thus his family were victims of this ugliness.  They were never sure that year if dinner would be served on any given night.

 As Christmas approached, they remained optimistic.  Surely employment of some kind would bless their home with some semblance of the holiday. That optimism remained entrenched right up until Christmas Eve. 

 The boy’s father had been out all day, as he had been every day, scouring the city for an income.  Upon his return home he summoned his wife and his five-year old little boy to the kitchen table.  With tears in his eyes he informed his family there would be no Christmas celebration that year.

 Shortly after the harsh reality had set in, and well before any form of acquiescence could begin the healing process of the broken hearts, a knock came at the family’s door.

 It was the Salvation Army.  In they marched with a Christmas tree, and a turkey with all the trimmings.  Before they left, they also provided $10.00 in cash.  The average yearly income for an American family in the 1930’s was $1,368.00 or $27.36 per week.   A portion of that very generous one-half week’s wages was spent on shoes for the father.  He had long ago placed cardboard inside his existing footwear to keep the elements off his feet. 

 To this day, it is impossible for me to walk by a Salvation Army bell ringer and kettle without thinking of that boy and his family.  It is equally impossible for me to even think of a time when such a set of circumstances could have existed in our country.

 What remains to be told about this blessing is that the to this day that boy, now a senior citizen, still refers to that Christmas as the greatest Christmas ever, even though a Red Ryder BB Gun never appeared on the scene - that he still cannot tell the story without tears welling up - and that to this day the family still has no idea how the Salvation Army learned of their need.

Albert Schweitzer wrote; “The purpose of human life is to serve and show compassion and the will to help others.” – As was clearly demonstrated to that little boy on Christmas Eve, 1938.  

Why Voting Is Crucial

  “If I went to work in a factory the first thing I’d do is join a union.”               ~ President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Why Voting Is Crucial  

Many Americans don’t vote especially in non-presidential election cycles.  There appears to be a disinterest in the role local politics plays in the quality of our life and the impact local politics can have on the nation as a whole.  Certainly, life in Massachusetts and Minnesota, in many respects, is vastly different than life in Mississippi or Nevada.  Yet all these states can play an important role in framing national thought and direction.  Such was the case in 1934.    

The streets in Minneapolis became war zones when thousands of transportation workers in the trucking industry went on strike.  Their grievance stemmed from employer refusal to accept the union’s appeal to represent their members under a collective bargaining agreement.  

 The strike began on May 16^th.  During that early month of the strike, union members were able to halt virtually all trucking operations.  This was no easy task.  The police along with the employer-controlled Citizen Alliance and their deputies (Company Goons) attempted to literally club union members into submission.  The violence was particularly gruesome. 

During that gory summer, union members were savagely beaten.  They suffered mutilating and disfiguring injuries mercilessly administered by police and goons wheedling saps and night sticks.  

As union support grew to thousands of sympathizers, police began shooting picketers.  Eyewitness accounts from a July 20^th confrontation described the horrific bloodshed; “as the pickets moved to aid their fallen comrades, they flowed directly into buckshot fire...And the cops let them have it as they picked up their wounded.”  Police; “kicked and beat shot picketers as they lay wounded…”  Further accounts revealed; “…the cops had gone berserk. They were shooting in all directions, hitting most of their victims in the back as they tried to escape…”  At the end of the carnage two dead strikers along with another sixty-seven of their brethren laid severely wounded in the blood-soaked street.  

Minnesota Governor Floyd B. Olson became a ballerina on a tightrope.  He had to balance his labor sympathies with his gubernatorial responsibilities to maintain law and order. 

After the companies reneged on an agreement they signed with the union in May and after an overwhelming show of support that shut-down the city during the funeral procession of one of those slain strikers on July 20^th, Olson felt he had no choice but to intervene.  He mobilized the National Guard and declared Marshall Law.  The companies then insisted Olson remove the guard.  Olson refused believing the guard was the only protection the strikers had against a massive public slaughter. 

In August Olson met with President Franklin Roosevelt.  He persuaded Roosevelt to apply pressure on the Minneapolis companies through Northwest Bancorporation by threatening their flow of capital and jeopardizing their current wealth.  Roosevelt agreed and cautioned the bank that he would recall a $23 million government loan if tensions weren’t quelled.  It worked and forced the companies to negotiate in good faith.  

The strike paved the way for the organization of over-the-road drivers which ultimately resulted in the formation of the Teamsters as a national union.  

 The deaths and suffering – the many sacrifices - of the brave men and women who fought that war in 1934 along with Floyd B. Olson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt are directly responsible for many of the benefits and freedoms we all enjoy in the workplace today.

 We never know when we elect our officials what crisis may be forthcoming that will challenge them in every manner conceivable.  It is crucial we support those with the wisdom and character to lead us not just from the oval office but, like Floyd B. Olson, from our state capitols as well.  

Governor Olson had a profound positive impact not just upon life in Minnesota but in enhancing lives nationwide.  If we choose to sit in the comfort of our homes and refuse to vote we could very easily find ourselves living in a vastly different state or country.  We risk our liberties and thus potentially generate untold catastrophes and hardships. 

And then there’s the dear, sweet lady whose husband was the mayor of their small town in Iowa.  He lost his bid for reelection by one – ONE - lousy vote.  Upon hearing the news this very dear, sweet lady buried her head in her hands and said; “I knew I should have voted.”  She now never fails to do exactly that.

Abortion and The Supreme Court

YES !!!!  Abortion must be legal for medical and humanitarian concerns. 

The Supreme Court is slated to reconsider its 1973 ruling on the issue.  Speculation runs high that the court will repeal the legality of abortion after Mitch McConnell’s success in politically stacking the court for that outcome.  

The problem with abortion has never been its legality.  The reality is that abortion is not a legal issue and certainly not a political issue but rather a moral issue.  Whenever morality is of prevailing importance in any debate passions run much higher. 

The question always ignored and the problem with the so called “Pro-Choice” crowd is; If she doesn’t want a child then why – in God’s holy name - is she pregnant?

The battle cry of the “Pro-Choice” crowd centers around the infernal question: “Why should the government be allowed to make a decision about what I can to do with my body and my life?”

 Answer:  The American people, NOT the government, make the decision.

 In America, the most important role of the government, as defined in the constitution, is protection and the right to life.  Laws define the moral code and fabric of a society.  Hence laws forbidding murders, steeling, rapes, bigamy, pedophilia and et al are instituted by the government. 

 Are we not being told what to do with our bodies when we are required to fasten our seats, or when we are forbidden from driving of 100 miles-per-hour in a 70 mile-an-hour speed limit zone and et al.?  All these restrictions on unsavory and irrational behavior are designed to provide further protections to society and thus further establish a moral code within our society. 

 At six weeks of gestation, it is no longer a mystery or a debate as to the nature and composition of a fetus as a heartbeat can be detected.  Forty-nine years ago, that medical technology did NOT exist and birth defects were untreatable.  Today most can be treated.  Today disabled children are protected by a bill of rights.  As a result, women who once firmly believed their right to privacy was inviolate are now troubled by not knowing where their privacy ends and another human being’s dignity begins.  This brings us squarely face-to-face with morality.  It is the this moral issue that makes abortion so very contentious. 

 In supporting the libertarian point of view of individual freedom requires that a society be highly steeped in strong moral virtues.  If that moral code is absent, as it clearly is in America, libertarianism is unworkable.  America is the breeding ground for spree shootings and mass killings that go on unabated; many of us will remain forever heartbroken that America had to institute laws requiring the country to mask-up in a pandemic to protect society at large.  For that restriction to be avoided, Americans would have had to enthusiastically and thus voluntary embrace the practice.  We didn't.  So, the government acted.  Thus, libertarianism and its demand for individual freedom are dealt serious blows each time, we as a nation, force the government to act in our best interest. 

 Abortion was designed and implemented as protection against the most extreme and disastrous circumstances.  It was was never intended as a practice to end unwanted pregnancies for convenience or to skirt responsibilities and obligations for bad behavior, i.e., to be exploited as a method of birth control.  As such, our morality demands that action be taken and that action can only be effective if instituted by the government.  Abortion is, by its very nature, a struggle to further define the morality of America.

 Until we adequately deal with the despicable immorality of abortion on demand, nothing can change – NOTHING will ever change.  This is why we now have a Supreme Court on the verge of doing the wrong thing to do the right thing.

Memorial Day

The first and the most important aspect of Memorial Day that needs serious clarification is it purpose – It’s reason for existing.  It is to honor those who DIED while in military service.  It was never dedicated to honor all who served in the military.  Veterans Day, November 11^th, celebrates the service of ALL U.S. military veterans.  Armed Forces Day, celebrated on the third Saturday in May, is set aside to honor all those who are currently serving in the military.  

The second troubling aspect of Memorial Day is that it has been obscured over the years by marketing and commercialism.  Most Americans now view it as three-day weekend signaling the beginning of summer and expanded recreational activities.  Very few have any sense of obligation to attend a memorial service at a cemetery.  Attend a parade in their honor of or fallen soldiers.  Place flowers or flags at the head stones of those who died.  Attend a church service in appreciation or remembrance for their “last full measure of devotion.”  With each passing year fewer of us are willing to pause, for even a few hours, from our boating, fishing, golfing, picnics or whatever to offer the proper honor and respect to those who died for our liberties and security.

There are 365 days in a year.

Memorial Day is the only day we are asked to remember and honor those who died for us. 

Time MUST be given to say thank you on that Memorial Day Monday.

We have a duty – An Obligation – to do so.