Memorial Day Special

With Memorial day approaching this coming weekend, I wanted to offer a blog solely in honor of Memorial day. I've been reading Ronald Reagan's biography, "When Character was King," and have to say that I am even more impressed with him than I was before. His last speech before leaving the white house started with a story about a Navy ship that was sailing in the seas off Vietnam, and they came upon a boat of refugee's, about 30 people, and one of the men who could barely speak English stood up and said, "Hey American sailor, Hey Freedom man," Its such a simple story, but it really moved me. I remember once traveling in Europe, and in my terminal there were 5-7 American soldiers returning home to America, and just their presence gave me so much comfort. Reagan recounted how moved he was when he heard the story, because it says everything about who we are as a people. "Freedom Man". Our freedom is what makes us great, and our American soldiers really see themselves as defenders of freedom in the world. I think about it everyday, how great America truly is. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

But as Victor Frankl said, "If you are going to have a statue of Liberty, then you need a statue of Responsibility," Boy have we seen that in this country over our history, how Freedoms and Liberties can quickly turn into narcissism if we are not careful. But the genius of this country, is that we take our chances with more freedom everyday, because the desire for the True, the Good and Beautiful are present in every human life. But it needs to be constantly pointed out that the foundation of this country is not just more Liberty for its own sake, but more Liberty to do the right thing. More Freedom to choose the Good, the True and the Beautiful. What would be great about doing the right thing, if you were forced to do it.

That's why I really think the answer to the way our country has moved closer to Socialism is to become even more generous to the poor, to become more charitable. When we are over taxed, it becomes harder to give, but that is one of the ways to show the goodness present in Capitalism.

The Dignity of Atticus Fitch

My wife and I watched the classic movie "To Kill a Mockingbird" last night. If you haven't seen it or haven't seen it in a while, then do yourself a major favor and rent it this summer. There's so many incredible messages in the movie and even more in the book. I wanted to point out two points that really stuck with me, the first is the dignity of Atticus Fitch's poverty. In the very beginning of the movie, Scout asked her dad, "Atticus are we poor?", to which he responds, "we most certainly are,". He works for the local courthouse, so he clearly doesn't have a lot of money. But that is not his focus, his children and his work are his focus. Its sad in our culture that we attribute happiness to wealth, or greatness to how much we have, or how comfortable we are. Hollywood did the world a tremendous service with a character like Atticus Fitch, because he shows for our eyes, that greatness comes from the truth in love, not from money.

The second point is done in such an artistic way, that I have to admit being dumbstruck by its brilliance. How much son's want greatness from their fathers, and here's the good news, how our son's will measure greatness has nothing to do with money. It will have to do with the amount of times we choose to be strong, even when it hurts. There's a beautiful scene at the start of the film, when Atticus is sitting by himself on the porch swing, and his children are talking in their beds before falling asleep, Scout asks her brother, "was mom pretty?" Atticus over hears the conversation, as he rocks slowly by himself on the swing. Here is a man that has made a choice to stand in the gap for his children, even though its incredibly lonely and painfully, he doesn't leave them.

The final courtroom scene has probably released enough tears over the past 50 + years to cause major flooding through-out the world, as the entire black community is gathered in the loft of the courthouse, and as Atticus prepares to walk out, everyone stands to let him pass. His daughter is laying down from being tired, and the Reverend finally says, "please stand, your father is passing," Trust me, do yourself a favor and rent this movie this summer.

Humility and Happiness

GK Chesterton has a famous quote, "Without humility you can not enjoy anything, not even your pride," I've been reading Tom Wolfe's book, "Bonfire of the Vanities," Tom Wolfe's Wikipedia page claims that he is an atheist, and he might be, but he also seems to enjoy exploring religious themes. The books title actually comes from the book of Ecclesiastes, "Vanity of Vanities, all things are vanity,"

The one things about the book that I don't like is Tom Wolfe's lack of concern for common decency in describing things, I'm ok with starkness in literature, my favorite writers are extremely stark, Tolkien, Cormac McCarthy. But they do it in a serious way, to make a point. Tom Wolfe in my opinion, is too immodest in dealing with everyday faults, but at times in my opinion it lacks seriousness.

But what I have loved about the book is how clearly it proves the above quote from Chesterton, "Without humility you can not enjoy anything," The central character Sherman McCoy is a man with a life full of incredible blessings, he's extremely wealthy, he has a beautiful wife, a beautiful child, all of the privileges of life, etc, etc. But he is full of pride, and has no happiness. Sherman McCoy is not the only one where pride ruins things, the book is cast full of characters where their root sin is pride. It clearly shows people that are poor, outcast, that struggle because they refuse to accept humility. There is a difference between humiliation and humility. Humility is something that the rich, poor, and middle class all need.

Here's the good news, the opposite quote is also true, "with humility we can enjoy all things," Part of the lesson is of humility is that we can not make ourselves the center of the universe. Peter Kreft has a great quote, "Focus on God and other people, there a lot more interesting," There is so much in life to enjoy, people, nature, ideas, art, etc, that's enough reason to focus on humility.

The Sea and The Mystery of God

I have to say that I am completely and utterly fascinated by the Ocean, the grandeur and mystery. When I look back I'm actually surprised that I have never blogged on the ocean before, because of my deep attraction to it. My wife and I were listening to Peter Kreft's talk on the ocean, and we were mesmerized for over an hour, he could have went on for the entire night, and you would still want more, it was quite possibly the best talk I've ever listened to, probably because of love the subject so much. (you can find it for your ipod at http://www.peterkreft.com/).

I've always been taken by the beauty, the grandeur, the mystery, but there's something more that I was never able to put my finger on, and Peter Kreft hit it, the ocean is a lover. That's why people for centuries have referred to the ocean as She. The color and the smell is different every time you experience it. Think about that, and like every good lover, every time you have an encounter with the Ocean, you are always, and I mean always Renewed and Inspired, that's what great lovers do, they renew and inspire. Bad lovers, suck life out of their subject, like a vampire, good lovers infuse life. That's why the example of Jesus and a Vampire is important, the one sucks your blood out and takes, the other actually gives you His blood, and fills you with Life- The Eucharist.

The Ocean is a good Lover, its stormy sometimes, but we love even that, we love everything about it, because it reflects so much of who God is. He is full of mystery, but he's also close. Think of all the times you have simply flopped around the shore of the ocean and time stopped, the ocean was that close and personal. We have something of a holy fear of the ocean, not because its bad, but because its powerful, and awesome, we give that under-tow potential the respect it deserves and rightly so. God should be feared, because He is awesome and powerful.

The ocean always gives us its best, we should model this in our own life, to focus on giving energy and strength to those around us, and never sucking or controlling. The ocean doesn't try to control us, because it doesn't have to, the beauty of its self gift is enough already, it doesn't have to convince us to come back again, we are just drawn to it.

I am always amazed that when I swim in the ocean, I am revived for hours on end, and then at night I sleep with completely peace. Great spouses do the same thing, its a perfect example to follow, to make ourselves the gift, to think of others first!