Civilization is threaten.  Terrorist have not just attacked Paris, they have waged war on civilization as we know it.  However this is not new.  Yes we should pray for Paris, but we should pray for 224 Russian civilians killed by ISIS  in the Sinai airline bombing last month, we should pray for 43 Lebanese citizens, yes most of them Muslim, that were killed by ISIS bombers in Beirut this week, we should pray for the millions of Syrians, Afghanis and Libyans fleeing ISIS, Taliban, and Al Quad-a terror as they migrate to Europe, and we should pray for the Kenyan students, 147 killed by Al Shabab in April of this year.  So many terrorist attacks by militant muslims, yet we shrug about until it hits Western Europe or the USA.

World War 3 started a while ago, now that it has come to Europe, maybe we’ll notice.  Its sad to me that so many others die, so many others have to flee, before we realize that we are at war.  If they are not Americans, or Western Europeans, we just don’t pay much attention.  We talk about our national interest, we talk about containment and security.  We worry about “boots-on-the-ground” as if we can somehow do the minimum we must and still provide security.  There is no security, and we bring it on ourselves when we don’t worry and care, and fight for all the innocents that represent civilization.  Our civilization is not just for Western Europeans and Americans.  Civilization and the right to live without fear of the brutality of terror should be the interest of all of us, and we should care and pray for every foothold of civilization everywhere.  We should protect the innocent and the tolerant everywhere.   Its time we realize that we cannot ignore this assault on civilization and hope to contain it to Africa and the Middle East.  We need to see this as a world war not against other nations, not against other religions or race, its a war against the brutal terrorists that seek to force at the edge of a sword all others to bow to their power, and their version of militant islam.

We in the United States must lead, we must show others that we value civilization and civilized people everywhere, and help them rise to beat back the terrorists and replace them with a revitalized civilization and civility.   If we don’t then we cannot win and we will watch many others suffer and we will suffer as well as civilization dies.  It will die not as one fell swoop, civilization will die by many million cuts if we fail to act.  We will not win in one fell swoop either, we will be fighting this war for generations.  Its sad but there are too many anti-civilization groups that would like to drive the world back to the middle-ages, all of them must be eradicated.  We cannot rest until they have no place left to hide.

Mike

Some 80 years ago during the great depression, our Federal government came forward and created welfare programs to help an impoverished nation feed its masses. Work was scarce and seismic shifts in the form of migrations from the dustbowls of Oklahoma to farm lands of California were underway. Read the Grapes of Wrath for dramatic representation of how people suffered, struggled and survived… Whole industries were collapsing and millions struggled. Today it would be unimaginable in our country, but due to war in the Middle East we can get a glimpse of what it was like.  In the 1930’s the idea of government hand out was strange and abhorrent to many fiercely proud americans. We were a culture of work, effort and reward. Handouts were difficult to accept. Our government created posters and marketed the welfare programs. Some had to be convinced that it was good and acceptable to take handouts. Today, we are a culture that is looking for handouts everywhere. We seek discounted loans, we seek food assistance, housing assistance, discounts on any number of expenses, and numerous means to avoid taxes. This is beyond being prudent shoppers, we now want healthcare free, or substantially subsidized, we seek to sue our local grocery for a slip and a fall because the floor is wet, we want our employer to give us more time off because we work too hard. We expect to be paid something for doing little to no work, for taking no risk. We are a culture looking for that bargain, that free ride.
Three generations removed from a people that would be appalled at our thinking. The more we have the more we want. The more we get for doing nothing, the more we’ll brag about it. Our great grandparents would have been amazed by the technology, but embarrassed by this society and the direction it is headed and how government regulations and overreach has become acceptable to all of us. Maybe Atlas really has shrugged. Maybe we are becoming those imagined peoples that are dependent on government and continue to ask what can our government do for us as we stifle further innovation and we no longer value hard and smart work.

Mike

Morning sky is yellow, the pool is green

Sure to be reminded it should really be clean

Its fall here, air and water should be cool and clear

As we lounge nearby with our cigars and beer

Working hard sweat rolls down my nose

Attacking mold with bleach and water hose

Green, black oh so stubborn clinging mold

Clean deck, clean pool, will it ever release its hold

Best times of the year are near: fall, winter, spring

If only El Nino would give up her stubborn cling

Oh well… maybe forget all this and go golfing instead

Out there I don’t mind green nor sweat rolling off my head!

Mike

A Little More

Taste is so enticing

A little more of course

With extra chocolate icing

A great feeling a great time

A little more of course

It makes for a fun rhyme

Beautiful music, terrific score

A little more of course

Please come back for that encore

Your thoughts, ideas so neat

A little more of course

Share your mind without repeat

A hug from you so sweet

A little more of course

It makes me feel complete

Mike

I was thinking how innocent and precious children are, how as we get older we can let the fun run out of our lives, while we focus on demands of our day.  Each year we may be a little wiser, a little more sure of our way, however to enjoy and celebrate life with wonder and excite we must stay in touch with the child within our souls… Let others see that little boy, that little girl in you, stay in touch with them, they are inspiring and amazing!

The Little Boy in Me

Hold me on your knee

Play with me in your mind

The little boy inside of me

Teach me of sun and moon

Roll with me rock and stone

Sing to me a pretty tune

I want to be your little boy

I promise I will be good

Give me some time and toy

Protect me and hold my hand

I am but a little boy and unsure

Help me walk today in the sand

By the ocean of white and blue

Walk with me, splash and play

Young, pretty we are all new

I’ve really enjoyed an extra hour this morning, that I know I have to give back in the spring, but for the moment it felt great to sleep just a little more 🙂

Stone Walls

I’ve written about wisdom and how to seek it with the advantage of curiosity, perspective and honest self-assessment and I’ve written about time and generations, and about how love lasts. How it is passed down from generation to generation. But it occurred to me yesterday that it’s the hardened heart of those we love that is most challenging, more so than our own challenges to find love, truth and wisdom.   Because those that we love and cherish the most hurt themselves and all near them when they find themselves withdrawn with a heart ensconced within the stonewall house they’ve built.   Time will not change them as they continue to build their protective walls, and lay traps for those that get too close. Wisdom cannot be heard through these walls that grow thicker over time. Only through consistent pattern of loving, of providing pressure on that wall, warming the stone slowly so that the heart begins to warm, then they may take down their own walls, remove the traps and allow themselves to be loved.

When confronted with conflict we so often revert to what happened when we first build our own walls, what our parents, caregivers did. If it was love that warmed our heart through the stone we hid behind then its love that we give, if  we felt a sledge hammer against our walls we will use a sledge hammer with the same lack of progress that we know. If we were left alone, in time we learned that this is a way to live, a way to be protected without knowing love.  We may do the same and it carries from generation to generation unless we break the cycle.

A heart warmed with love can then listen to wisdom, a heart warmed with love can in time love back and this lasts forever. Love changes us, not time, not wisdom… It’s love and it lasts!

Mike

The wind and waves have a rhyme all their own

Angry, calm, always changing as present to me

My mind sails along adjusting always as one

I see and view and sing with all of thee

While second mind is working tiller and lines

Enchanted and mesmerized by the sea

Scooting along the water with haste

No where to go, no where to be

Just we and the wind enjoying our race

Thank you for being along with me

Our souls wandering with the wind

This is how tranquility and peace should be

Mike

I saw a tree today

Alone in mature confidence

Its leaves of scarlet and gold perfected

Sparkling in morning suns radiance

Autumn of life and another year’s rings

Cool breeze rustle cause a few to leave

But loud and strong her voice still sings

Rising above occasioned fog and dew

Glistened leaves reflecting beauty

Delighting senses for all of us too

Mike 

Dreams

Ageless again I’ll be

As time stands still

Night in my forest, its me

Angels, demons and sages

A tug of war they play

In scenes of life’s many pages

Joy, fears, inspirations they use

To win by making me believe

In this forested game of no rules

I hope the angels or sages win

Joy or inspiration in this timeless game

And not the demons from within

Dream in my forest where forever young is me

Dream in my forest where time knows no bounds

Dream in my forest and lets see who I’ll be

Mike