A Reminder to Remember

Legend has it; Decoration Day started in the South, when widows and mothers of fallen Confederate soldiers were busy clearing the graves of their loved ones and couldn’t bear to watch as the union soldier’s burial area become overgrown.  Not only did they clear the area but placed flowers on the graves, knowing that somewhere there was a widow or mother who didn’t know where their soldier was and knew they were never coming home.

Flash forward one hundred years and remembering my southern family tradition of working all day Saturday and Sunday of Decoration Day weekend in the hills of Southeastern Kentucky, clearing and cleaning family cemeteries, repairing fences, trimming trees, filling in sunken graves and preparing for our families Decoration Day celebration. As our families gathered to eat in picnic style, kids running about the yard, the adults talk among each other, waiting for the arrival of the flora to decorate the cemeteries. Soon the flora would arrive, lunch was served and as the last piece of pie was removed from the pan, the adults moved to the truck that carried the flora wreaths and crosses of roses with red, white and blue ribbons.  Soon all the kids were shushed and directed to the cemetery to wait for grand parents and senior family members make their way through the lines of family. As flowers were put in place, the markers and graves that brought the most tears were those whose lives ended defending our nation. Twenty years before, an uncle survived the invasion of Normandy, only to die the next day from a snipers bullet.  The weather marked grave of a WWI uncle who died from exposure in Europe and an uncle who was wounded in Tennessee during battle who was brought home to die from the wounds sustained. I knew all the stories and could see the pain in the watery eyes of the grownups as they relived the memories.

Those traditions are long past as I only get to visit the different family cemeteries every several years.  As with many other families, traditions change, families move away and we don’t seem to make the time to teach our children traditions of old.  Decoration Day is Memorial Day and I will for ever have the memories of what Memorial Day really is; a time to remember those who stood before us, to defend us, who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation and family. Memorial Day is a reminder to remember.  

Darkened Hallway

Having taken the opportunity to run for office, attend many County and City Commission meetings, one thing that I can never get out of my mind is the number of people and organizations asking for tax payer money.  While campaigning, I was confronted many times by frustrated organizations asking why I would not support their organization.  The confused looks I received from them when I answered; “since when was it the government’s responsibility to support any charitable organization”.

So exactly where do we draw the line of who to support and who doesn’t get support?  Which organization deserves funding and which do not?  I will always take a stand against government support for any charity or private support groups.

 A non-profit organization should have a business plan or follow a successful business model in order to meet their goals.  I recently attended a Commission meeting where an organization asked the commissioners for money, (from the tax payers), to assist the organization to get back on their feet after their building burned to the ground and the thrift shop that financed the organization was lost.  The organization supplied food and clothing to the needy of a local community and was a daily food source for many.  The Commission turned them down and I agreed with the Commission.  The organization did not have a business plan for a catastrophic event and the reliance of prayer to rebuild an organizational facility did not reflect a strong business model.

At the same meeting, another organization pleaded for money from the commission and asked for additional support above and beyond what they had already received.  So where do we draw the line?  So how do you feel about having to pay your taxes, (by threat of force), and have it given to someone or an organization without your voice of approval?  The government already has numerous safety nets for the people, but yet the people want more.  How much is enough?  The Department of Agriculture, HUD, FEMA, state welfare and Medicaid are just a few government organizations taking your tax money and giving it to someone else, (by threat of force), and you do not have a voice of who receives it or how it is spent. 

I will share with you the dream that I had while campaigning;

Walking down a dark narrow weaving hallway, lined floor to ceiling with extended arms with open hands waving and touching me as I walked down the endless hallway. The emotion and anger I felt from the hands as I walked past the clutching hands turning into fist, pushing them away and dodging others.  Hands grasping my clothing, being pulled in one direction then another, then I awoke.

I understand the emotions of our elected officials but I only wish they had the courage to look at the requestors and ask them to go back to their community and ask the community for the needed support.  If an organization is worthwhile and presents itself as a professional organization, the community will support it. But, we all know politicians have to buy votes, so they enact bills, so our money will buy the votes, which support needy organizations, for the votes that keep them in office. 

So now you can answer the question; does politicians/government support needy organizations out of the goodness of their hearts or are they buying votes? 

So do we need to stop it or how do we stop it?

20 Years of War

  August will mark the twentieth anniversary of our country going to war in the Middle East. Since 1990 our country has been preparing for war, fighting battles, enforcing no-fly zones, protecting people from ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia and watching of our towers fall in New York City.  For the past nine years we have fought a war in Afghanistan to remove terrorist from their training grounds and push them into Pakistan and converted the war to a tribal factor that we once supported.  We removed a dictator from his authoritarian position and put ourselves into the position of rebuilding a nation.  We watch our soldiers in the field, hobbled by current rules of engagement and watch them return home in flag draped coffins all for the sake of our freedom and security.  I, like many others, am tired of war and I’m tired of watching other nations being rebuilt on our borrowed dollars while our country slowly divides itself under the stress of debt and unemployment.  

  So do you feel more secure now than you did twenty years ago, ten years or just five years ago?  Have our actions in the Middle East made it a better place to live or is it just as dangerous as it was twenty years ago when we started our escapade?  How much longer can our country afford to pursue our military conquest in the region before we tear our country apart with debt and division?

  The twentieth anniversary of going to war is nothing to be proud of nor disgraced over.  I like many others have been part of the battles to preserve our freedom and liberties.  I call upon on our nation’s leadership to bring an end to the hostilities in the Middle East, bring our service members home to heal and prepare for future battles that are sure to come from those that despise us for our way of life.

Hungry Cows

Many of the lessons I have learned in life come from growing up on the farm and working on neighbors farms around livestock.  I equate recessions in the economy as the winters of life and growing up in Northern Indiana, the winters can be harsh. In the winter, livestock no longer having the ability to graze in pastures, would survive in filthy feed lots, covered in mud and filth, eating silage, hay and dried grain.  The amount of work needed to keep a feed lot full of food and water, and shoveled out, was an everyday job, just to keep the cattle happy. When I think of members of society on public assistance, I think of “Hungry Cows” in the winter.  The amount of effort and resources to keep those on public assistance resembles the efforts in keeping the mangers full of hay, silage lines clear and grain bins full and the endless residue piling up.  When spring finally arrived and the pastures greened up, we would open the gates and watch many cows leave the feed lot to head to the “greener pastures” while a few waited in the filth of the feed lot to eat the dried hay and silage.  When the last stems of hay were gone and the last pieces of silage licked up, the hungry cows would walk around the feed lot, bawling, to get our attention, so we would bring more food.  We would switch them and try to direct them to the gate to the pathway of greener pastures, but they would just run away from the gate and head back to the empty mangers and bawl even more.  After a couple of switching’s, they turned on us when we entered the lot and would attempt to attack us. Finally, after all efforts to get them to leave on their own, we brought out the cattle prods.  After several shocks and attempts of retaliation, they wised up and headed for “greener pastures”.  So why tell this story?  People on public assistance do not have the incentive to get off public assistance.  It’s easier to live off what is handed to them versus heading to greener pastures.  It’s time to give the many on assistance incentives and time frames, to get off the system and better themselves.  Just like the hungry cows in the feed lot, many people need additional coaxing to head to greener pastures, but it takes courage to stand up to the public and give them the prod.
  So when you look at the numbers of the many on public assistance, you too can think of “Hungry Cows”.  The gate is open; all they have to do is head down the path to greener pastures.