TREASURES Page 2
The Silent Ranks
I wear no uniforms, no blues or army greens.
But I am in the military in the ranks rarely seen.
I have no rank upon my shoulders. Salutes I do not give.
But the military world is the place where I live.
I'm not in the chain of command, orders I do not get.
But my husband is the one who does, this I can not forget.
I'm not the one who fires the weapon, who puts my life on the
line.
But my job is just as tough. I'm the one that's left behind.
My husband is a patriot, a brave and prideful man.
and the call to serve his country not all can understand.
Behind the lines I see the things needed to keep this country
free.
My husband makes the sacrifice, but so do our kids and me.
I love the man I married. Soldiering is his life.
But I stand among the silent ranks
known as the Military Wife.
--Author Unknown
Thanks Rena K.
for forwarding above email 12/23/02
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This is Leonard Pitts Column from
the Miami Herald Published 9/12/2001
It's my job to have something to say.
They pay me to provide words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul. But in this moment of airless shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to say, the only words that seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown author of this suffering.
You monster. You beast. You unspeakable bastard.
What lesson did you hope to teach us by your coward's attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us?
What was it you hoped we would learn? Whatever it was, please know that you failed.
Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.
Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve. Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.
We're wealthy, too, spoiled by the ready availability of trinkets and material goods, and maybe because of that, we walk through life with a certain sense of blithe entitlement. We are fundamentally decent, though -- peace-loving and compassionate. We struggle to know the right thing and to do it. And we are, the overwhelming majority of us, people of faith, believers in a just and loving God.
Some people -- you, perhaps -- think that any or all of this makes us weak. You're mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we are strong in ways that cannot be measured by arsenals.
IN PAIN Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning and we are in shock. We're still grappling with the unreality of the awful thing you did, still working to make ourselves understand that this isn't a special effect from some Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot development from a Tom Clancy novel. Both in terms of the awful scope of their ambition and the probable final death toll, your attacks are likely to go down as the worst acts of terrorism in the history of the United States and, probably, the history of the world. You've bloodied us as we have never been bloodied before.
But there's a gulf of difference between making us bloody and making us fall. This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter sorrow the last time anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone brought us such abrupt and monumental pain. When roused, we are righteous in our outrage, terrible in our force. When provoked by this level of barbarism, we will bear any suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit of justice.
I tell you this without fear of contradiction. I know my people, as you, I think, do not. What I know reassures me. It also causes me to tremble with dread of the future.
In the days to come, there will be recrimination and accusation, fingers pointing to determine whose failure allowed this to happen and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. There will be heightened security, misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms. We'll go forward from this moment sobered, chastened, sad. But determined, too.
Unimaginably determined.
THE STEEL IN US You see the steel in us is not always readily apparent. That aspect of our character is seldom understood by people who don't know us well. On this day, the family's bickering is put on
hold.
As Americans we will weep, as Americans we will mourn, and as Americans, we will rise in defense of all that we cherish. So I ask again: What was it you hoped to teach us? It occurs to me that maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your hatred. If that's the case, consider the message received.
And take this message in exchange:
You don't know my people.
You don't know what we're capable of. You don't know what you just started. But you're about to learn.
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* Notes from interviews on Chem/Bio threats
seen on
TV news channels:
Greta VanSusteren with Stephen Morse, Center for Public Health
Preparedness
Dr. David Franz, former Army Medical Research Commander
On Biological Attacks:
-- Bio agents are nonvolatile nor active on skin, so are hard to
disperse, and the weather must be perfect also.
-- It's also extremely difficult to contaminate water systems.
-- Most "speculations" on this form of attack are not
possible.
Chemical Agents:
-- These are more possible to use.
-- Would be industrial chemicals rather than those developed as
chemical weapons, which they'd be unable to get.
-- Chemicals are volatile, but cannot cover large areas.
From Congressman Christopher Shays, House Government Reform Committee:
-- Chemical agents can be detected immediately, but it takes about
four to five days to realize a biological attack.
-- Gas masks won't help as they have to be individually fitted and
have specific filters for differing pollutants.
-- Better threat assessment is for agencies to share information that
they usually keep to themselves now, and reorganize the
military.
Peter Black, *Etronica*, national security expert who wrote book on
homeland attack:
-- Calls terrorist attacks "asymmetric warfare" warfare as
so much damage can be done for so little cost to perps.
-- All must be awake and aware!
-- People who live near water, power, oil, and natural gas pipelines
need to
be especially vigilant of suspicious activity and know where to report
it.
U.S. Government:
-- Has 400 tons of medical supplies and hundreds of staff ready to go
immediately to any chem/bio attack in United States.
-- Whenever supplies become available again, all us boomers ~ and
anyone else who got their smallpox inoculation prior to 1972 (or never
at all) ~ should be revaccinated as it was good for only 30 years.
But, as with rabies, effective inoculations can be given AFTER
contact.
* The Michigan National Guard has taken over security at BioPort, the
only maker of Anthrax.
THANKS CARMEN
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Forsaken
Roots in the United States
Did you
know that 52 of the 55 signers of the Declaration of Independence
were orthodox, deeply committed Christians? The other three all
believed in
the Bible as the divine truth, the God of scripture, and in His
personal
intervention.
It is the same Congress that formed the American Bible Society.
Immediately
after creating the Declaration of Independence, the Continental
Congress
voted to purchase and import 20,000 copies of scripture for the people
of
this nation.
Patrick Henry, who is called the firebrand of the American Revolution,
is
still remembered for his words, "Give me liberty or give me
death." But in
current textbooks the context of these words is deleted. Here is what
he
actually said:
"An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us.
But we shall
not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the
destinies of nations. The battle sir, is not to the strong alone. Is
life so
dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and
slavery?
Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may
take, but as for
me, give me liberty, or give me death."
These sentences have been erased from our textbooks. Was Patrick Henry
a
Christian? You be the judge. The following year, 1776, he wrote
this:
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that
this great Nation
was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions,
but on
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other
faiths
have been afforded freedom of worship here."
Consider these words that Thomas Jefferson wrote on the front of his
well-worn Bible:
"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the
doctrines of
Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied
to
the unity of our Creator "
He was also the chairman of the American Bible Society, which he
considered
his highest and most important role.
On July 4, 1821, President Adams said,
"The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it
connected in one
indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the
principles of
Christianity."
Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President of the United States reaffirmed
this
truth when he wrote,
"The foundations of our society and our government rest so much
on the
teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if
faith
in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our
country."
In 1782, the United States Congress voted this resolution:
"The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the
Holy Bible
for use in all schools."
William Holmes McGuffey is the author of the McGuffey Reader, which
was used
for over 100 years in our public schools with over 125 million copies
sold
until it was stopped in 1963. President Lincoln called him the
"Schoolmaster
of the Nation." Listen to these words of Mr. McGuffey:
"The Christian religion is the religion of our country. >From
it are derived
our notions on the character of God, on the great moral Governor of
the
universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free
institutions. From no source has the author drawn more
conspicuously than
from the sacred Scriptures. From all these extracts from the
Bible I make
no apology."
Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly
Christian, including the first, Harvard University, chartered in 1636.
In
the original Harvard Student Handbook, rule number 1 was that students
seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study
the
scriptures:
"Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to
consider
well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus
Christ,
which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as
the
only foundation for our children to follow the moral principles of the
Ten
Commandments.”
James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution of the
United States,
said this:
"We have staked the whole future of our new nation not upon the
power of
government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our
political
constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern
ourselves
according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."
So much for the so-called "separation of church and state."
Today, we are asking God to bless America. But, how can He bless
a Nation
that has departed so far from Him? Prior to September 11, He was
not
welcome in America and is still unwelcome in all of our public
schools. Most of
what you read in this article has been erased from our textbooks.
Revisionists
have rewritten history to remove the truth about our country's
Christian roots.
"I tremble for my country when I recall that God is just,
and that His justice will not sleep forever."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Thanks OE
Shaeffer for forwarding above email 1/8/03
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We offer this symbol in
a small effort to show our support for this Nation and its men and
women who have fallen victim to this senseless tragedy, and for those
who are being called to war in defense of our country. While we
are grateful that this tragedy has not touched us personally we find
ourselves personally touched by the number of people who, in their
final moments, sought to reach out to their families with words of
love to comfort those who would be left behind. In honor of
those brave souls who now form legions of angels to watch over those
in need, the time has come for us to rise up as a nation to aid those
families who have truly paid the ultimate price for freedom. We
must, as a people, shoulder the responsibility to ensure that those
families will see a future without fear where any threat to freedom is
met with the full force of our nation's strength.
As we prepare to send our young men and women into battle against this
evil we must stand firm in our support of the Commander in Chief and
as citizens we must demand of our representatives that they do the
same. We must stand indivisible and arm our military with the
freedom to answer this act of war with the unrestrained authority of a
formal declaration of war. We have been and remain the land of
the free; now we will show the world that we are indeed the home of
the brave.
About the symbol: A
continuous ring formed by a cable of steel in which the strength of each
strand becomes un-breakable when combined, frames our nations two
proudest symbols and represents our endless dedication to the protection
of our principles. Display this symbol as a statement of your support
for our nation. Feel free to post it on your web sites, use it on
your mailing labels and display it your windows. Please also feel
free to make a few copies and pass them out to friends, family or anyone
else who shares our passion for the greatest country on earth.
About the symbol: A continuous ring formed by a cable of
steel in which the strength of each.
Sincerely,
James E. Hamilton, North Fort Myers,
Florida
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an e-mail I rec'd 6/8/2002:
A POWERFUL POEM
It was late one Tuesday evening, Before a mother could sit
down,
To tell her only child about The terror that hit downtown.
She looked into the eyes of her son. God, she loved him so,
She felt her heart begin to break And the hurt begin to show.
She gathered all her strength and courage, as her story she
began to tell.
"Baby don't cry, but I'm afraid daddy Might be under a
building that fell."
The boy looked back at his mother, His eyes made not one blink.
And the mother's tears began to fall. What would her baby think?
You see, his dad is a firefighter, And his hero from the day of his
birth.
He loved his dad more than anything else That could ever inherit this
earth.
The mother's head began to drop, Her forehead resting on palm.
She thought her son would be upset. Instead, he was very calm.
The boy leaned over towards his mom, And put his hand upon her
head.
in her ear he began to whisper, And this is what he said:
"Mommy please don't cry, I knew daddy wasn't coming home.
I talked to him just a while ago, But it wasn't on the phone.
He told me that he loved me, And he promised we'd meet again.
He told of his new home, And the job he was to begin."
"God is building an army, And there are many angels needed.
That, is where daddy and the others went. They weren't all
defeated."
It was then, the mother lifted her head. The tears streamed down
her face.
And she could feel her husband's presence, As it filled her
heart with grace.
It was then she knew her son was right. He was in God's great army
now.
She also knew her son was safe, That he'd be kept from harm
somehow.
So,
evildoers of the world beware.
An army is on the way.
Bolstered by new angels,
Who left the towers that day..
Their
commander has never been beaten.
His power has never been matched,
And if evil thinks He was almighty before...... Well, the surface has just been scratched!
GOD
BLESS AMERICA !!!!!
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