ReDirect: A Reason for Giving

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action, caring, common sense, COURTESY, Good Samaritan, help, humanity, neighbors, thoughtfulness

It does no real good at this point, to dwell on the enormity of negative aspects of the Obama Administration. The extent of his disrespect for America and for the American people, whether they/we acknowledge that disrespect or not, is inexcusable. Nevertheless, it appears, at least for the present, that our hands are tied. So, beating the dead horse of his outrageous crimes, lies, and deceptions seems more of a distraction from all that is GOOD, all that is holy, and all that is AMERICAN … for me.

I will continue to write about whatever is on my heart, but I expect it to be more God-centered. Of course, it will still flavor my love for this nation and her people, but I choose to look for the GOOD. It may be harder to find than the bad, but I will find some and share it here in the hope that we will all be inspired toward improvement, toward a higher calling, toward genuine service.

On that note …

[WATCH] Why Has This Man’s Viral Video Restored a Little Faith in Humanity?

Go and do likewise!

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Taking Back our NEIGHBORHOODS!

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caring, faith, faith-based, generous, help, Holiday Season, needy, neighborhoods, Neighborly, neighbors, Pray for America, prayer, Presidential Prayer Team, sharing

How ’bout a Holiday Block Party?

As we come into the Holiday Season, we must understand that many of our neighbors are financially and/or emotionally stretched beyond their means. Others will run up extravagant credit card bills to lavish their loved ones with “stuff” that will be trashed or discarded within a month. Across the nation, food banks are struggling to keep their shelves stocked for the genuinely needy. Homeless shelters see the weather turning colder and more desperate people in need of shelter. Of course, there are those among us who abuse the system and drain our resources, but that doesn’t negate the true need that exists.

It is my contention that we are ALL people of faith … the question is in what or Whom do we put our faith? It is not up to me to decide, nor is it up to me to sit in judgment! It is up to you and me to CARE about our neighbors! Can we DO this, or are we too ruined by fear and suspicion?

caring …

Years ago, before 9/11 … before the nation went crazy, we knew our neighbors. Our children played together. We got to know different family and cultural traditions through people we lived next to and worked with. It made us richer human beings. Jews, Christians, and Catholics all living together, sharing “American Life!” Germans, Irish, Ethiopian, Chinese, Argentinian, Ukraine, Nigerian, Cuban … it didn’t matter where we came from. We were all AMERICANS. We still are!!!

Listed below is a short list of some of my favorite organizations that help our NEIGHBORS. Maybe if we all added our NEIGHBORS to our Christmas/Chanakah list, we’d appreciate the season more?

• CITY MISSION
• MERCURY ONE
• SALVATION ARMY
• CARE.org
• CATHOLIC CHARITIES

Share Your Holiday Spirit with Your NEIGHBOR!

Be creative! Get acquainted with NEIGHBORS. We don’t have to be best friends, but we all have something to share with one another!
DONATE to one of the organizations listed above, or one of your choice, and help bridge the gap for those in need.

Who are We Now? Who will We be in a Decade?

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America, American Identity, American moral decay, Benghazi, build, care, caring, Christianity, Common Core, Egypt, good or evil, IRS, islam, It's TIME!, Judaism, leadership, morality, morals, NSA, right or wrong, seniors

Reclaim it or lose it! It’s up to us!

Who are We Now?

To stand by silently while we look at the face of evil in full display before our very eyes is the very essence of condoning the evil being perpetuated.

If ever there was a time for decent people to stand up and be heard, this is it. We are assaulted on every front with compromise, corruption, and cowardice. Those we elected to represent us are not doing so, but rather working their own agendas at our expense.

We each in our own private agony seek a way to turn our nation back to her Foundation. But what can one man or one woman do against the blind hordes?

CARE!!!

Why do American families feel the need to put their Seniors away in “care” facilities?

Why do African-Americans try to emulate the gangster culture, then wonder why the neighborhood crime rate goes up?

Why do young girls, pre-teen girls (and boys), feel the desperate need for a boyfriend, to be “sexually attractive” and sexually active and we say, ok?

Why do we look the other way for marital infidelity, pedophilia, drug or alcohol abuse, even shoplifting?

WHO ARE WE? We used to understand that kindness, integrity, honor were good things. Now, we look the other way. We lock ourselves behind the walls of our little (mortgaged?) castle and think we’re immune. We even know the famous quote about evil being the result of what happens when “GOOD” people do nothing. Have we connected the dots yet? We’ve done NOTHING for decades and evil, perversion, corruption, degradation … moral decay has swept across this land.

So … who are we? Who do we want our CHILDREN to be?

Re-Defining Personal Freedom
and our National Identity

I have listed a number of articles below, each spotlighting an error, a bungle, a wrong turn. I know it sometimes seems hopeless, but I honestly believe we are making headway one American at a time. I also believe we can only lead the way if we know where we’re going. It’s one thing to tear apart the policies of the President. It’s another thing to know where we need to go. One answer: the CONSTITUTION!

• Story of teacher convicted of rape makes the case for school choice
• Scalia: SCOTUS shouldn’t ‘invent’ new minorities
• Confused and Adrift
• Missouri Banned the Wrong Clown
• Benghazi: No One Is Accountable
• Egypt’s Brotherhood as beleaguered as its leader
• More Single Moms Have Never Married
• Common Core: Reinforcing Failure

It’s time we reach out and CARE for one another again. Fear has gotten us no where! It’s time to care about our Seniors and the riches of wisdom and experience they can share with us. It’s time to care about the children who spend their days in daycare or poor schools and what they’re learning. It’s time to care about the growing corruption in Washington DC, and take a stand for who we want to be 10 years from now. It’s time to get beyond Democrat or Republican and embrace one another as AMERICANS! It’s TIME to stop pointing fingers and start using our hands to help build the America we want to pass on to our children and grandchildren … One American at a time! IT’S TIME!!!

The American Spirit

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"other" awareness, America, American Spirit, caring, character training, giving, gratitude, Human nature, thoughtfulness, unselfishness, volunteering

The American Spirit

I love my country, but I’m not deceived,
She’s not nearly as perfect as I’d like her to be;
Crime in the streets, deception in high office,
Unmentionable behavior betrays moral jaundice.

Hands open, outstretched fingers,
Isolation and alone-ness, mistrust lingers,
Are they straining to give or greedy for gain,
Promises are made, perhaps just to entertain.

I can’t draw love, but I know it when I see it,
It’s a reflection of gratitude, we can do it or be it;
Many strive and struggle for more,
While only a few recognize their riches galore!

Takers or givers, it’s a confidence trick,
Am I too poor to give or just too ME-sick;
Its much easier to moan over what I might lack,
Than to honor what I have enough to give back.

Too long we’ve allowed our fears to control us,
To separate, isolate, violate and surcharge us,
While slowly and carefully our freedoms erode,
In echo to history’s warnings forebode.

A nation of light, God’s mercy to share,
With any and every one brought to bear,
Equally, the price of freedom to share,
Unless ingratitude strips us bare.

BekindReWrite’s Inspiration Monday XVI
I can never quite figure out exactly WHEN these assignments are DUE! hahaha But here is my contribution for this set of prompts! lol

The Devaluing of Morality in America

Tags

"life lessons", caring, character training, hippies, Human nature, morality, neighbors, spiritual, Viet Nam

Taking the temperature!

1. Is there a general decline of morality on every level, i.e. elected public officials, celebrities, and “Joe-the-plumber,” or is it centered in a particular group or stratus?

2. Is there morality without religion? If yes, please give examples. If non, why not?

3. What is the current “morality” of the United States? Why?

4. Is there any excuse for bad behavior (whatever that may be)?

The 10 Commandments ~ Outdated?

MY OBSERVATION is that our American culture has been sliding downhill since the 60’s, and unlike some, I do not necessarily blame it on the removal of prayer from schools. I look at the disintegration of the American family as the microcosm of the step by step elimination of morality in America. In my mind, a number of things factor into what I see as an obvious decline in general morality.

A general mental numbness among most family oriented people coming out of the 50’s into the early 60’s. Americans knew what was expected of them: they went to work, they went to school, they did their thing, but they did it according to the established mores, based on the Christian foundations of our nation. They went to church, synagogue, or used that time as “family time” to have a picnic, or go to dinner, This had nothing really to do with a church or religion as much as it did basic fundamental morality .i.e the 10 Commandments. TO my knowledge, there is nothing contained in the 10 Commandments that contradicts the basic tenets of any other major religion. And whenever those failed, we could always fall back on the Golden Rule. I’d wager the majority of our young people today – those under 25, have no idea what the Golden Rule is or its meaning.

"Father Knows Best" - One of many families that flooded TV

Korea and View Nam. These conflicts/wars were undefined and increasingly unpopular. In addition, and more importantly, it was the first time the media was permitted on the front lines, and they quickly learned sensational sells! They didn’t show us the victories, the heroic acts of our troops, or the desire of the South Vietnamese for our support. Instead, they showed us the frustration, the ugliness, the tragedy of war. Then these brave service men and women had to come back to ridicule and harassment from every angle on top of their own personal war baggage, PTSD, etc. These vets didn’t receive the help they needed to re-enter society, but were faced with the “horrors” everyday life in the USA in a different “morality.”

Disenfranchised soldiers rejected and mocked.

“If it feels good, do it!” Free love and the tearing down of authority marked the decade of the 60’s and continued through the 70’s. Many things once held “sacred” were mocked or devalued. Responsible leadership was despised. No one over 30 was trustworthy. Rules were seen only as things to question and eventually destroy. Rebellion was glamorous and desirable. If the government could break the “rules” and fight in Viet Nam, then we could break the rules, too. “Free love” was the cry of a group of “hippies” from Haight-Ashbury, CA. The stereotype included psychedelic drugs (LSD, mescaline, and opium mixtures of various and sundry sorts) and “head” music with raging guitars and pounding percussion mixed with lyrics that questioned gov’t, questioned our involvement in Viet Nam, and social conventions. Hippies wore Wild, colorful clothing and headbands, tie dye and every other person played guitar. All sexual boundaries were removed, and those who bought their lifestyle and attempted to mimic it. Living together became much more common and openly done.

"Woodstock" - an outdoor music festival in NY attended by 500,000 youths in 1969

The ME generation was born! Instead of weighing every action, thought and word by society’s standards, it suddenly became the norm to think only of self. Couples no longer needed to “commit” to one another, they stayed as long as they wanted then moved on. Same sex relationships started to become more open. The only consideration young people, in particular, had was their own needs, desires, and understanding. The concepts of “community” and even “family” greatly diminished.

Less about the whole and more about ME!

Right and Wrong - who decides?

These are at least 4 of the major reasons for what looks like the serious social malaise in which we find ourselves today. Kids killing kids, kids making babies, the “family” structure has disintegrated, generations of government dependents, an outrageous number of homeless. The majority of Americans have reverted to an isolationist attitude with personal privacy (the ultimate self-preservation) being held as the optimum social goal. True at least until an emergency, then slowly but surely neighbors remember neighbors and communities reach out to help other communities.

My question is … why can’t we LIVE there … eager to help one another, eager to talk to one another. Why can’t we live as caring neighbors everyday? THAT is morality!