Let's Go

What the guys said who rushed the jihadi on the French train.  It says a lot.

It's not reckless nor is it heedless.  Quite the contrary.  There is a time to do, for if we wait or hesitate, we are dead. 

Again, go to the net and find all the variations of the story.  It amounts to the same thing in my mind; ie, some Americans save the day.

There comes a time in the affairs of men-and women, where we act or we do not.  If your life is on the line, the risk is surprisingly simple. 

There us no time to think.  Action is required. 

There is a lot of hesitation in the world.  Sometimes it's merited.  One needs to weigh the fors and agins in some cases.  But down to the wire, that is gone.

What these guys di was indeed American.  We are a country built on decisive action.  It is an attribute of /freedom.

In the larger world, it is American to act, and it is universal.

Brushfires lit, finally the whole world will be able to act. 

Freedom is not exclusive to Americans.  But we should light the way,.

Let's go.

Serenity

Nope.  Not the Joss Whedon movie that was a conclusion to the short lived Firefly.

It is the name of a restaurant in Zionsville, the hometown of a major part of my family.  The major surprise is where it's at.

I was indeed surprised, even shocked to find out my GreatGrandmother's home had been converted into said restaurant. 

I spent a great deal of time with Grandma (pronounced Gramma) Hiland over my early life.  She was a great positive influence who has never flagged, even all these years later.  What she taught me has lived within me and guided me, in spite of any detour.  I have always gotten back on course.

The revelation of this development has caused me to reflect, even beyond my normal memories.  I am not living in the past, mind you.  I am remembering.  All the good and bad of those years has coalesced in warm reflections.

Grandma Hiland, Rose Belle StClair Hiland, was a moral compass for me, my Dad and so many more. 

She was a lifelong Democrat and a suffragette.  What a difference between her and the monster that has morphed into a collectivist miasma now.  Her moral compass never flagged.  She was loyal, dedicated and American. 

She treated people equally, content of character uppermost, long before MLK. 

Her love was unconditional.  She gave as well as she got and more.

Her instincts re human nature were incisive.  Yet she overlooked the flaws in her own family.  That was part of her inclusive nature.

Her door was always unlocked, well til real late at night.  People all day long would come and pay their respects.  And she always had time for all of them.

When I visited her, quite frequently, I never felt jealous of that.  She had time for all.  Old friends and new, family, folks she influenced, they all came.

When I visited, I often ran errands for her.  I'd go from the grocery store to the bank and anywhere else she bade me.  Returning, Grandma always had lunch ready, for she loved to cook.  And that included breakfast, lunch and dinner, which she called breakfast, dinner and supper.

I'll never forget she would say I could sleep as late as I wanted.

Then , invariably, at between 6-7am, she'd yell, 'Mike, Mike MIKE!'

We'd sit down to an old fashioned farm breakfast and talk.  And talk.  And learn of family, friends, clan, as well as what was important.  That was mostly to be honest and face problems with no excuses. 

She had a most incisive view, not only of individual people, but of events

I'm going to write a memoir about her, my relationship with her, and how it all plays out.

At night, in the bedroom upstairs, I would sometimes stand at the window, gazing down on Main Street.  Quiet, streetlights shining, I was able to be peaceful, to sort things out.

Grandma Hiland's place was a peaceful nest in a sea of turmoil.

There is no coincidence the place is now called Serenity.

Rosebush

They are resilient, beautiful and represent love.  The sturdiness has been hijacked by collectivists as a symbol of 'socialism'.  Symbols are just that for weal or woe.

In this particular instance, I'm thinking of my ex's front yard.  She is doing well, btw.  In law school, determined to help children who have been sexually abused.

There is a lot of work to be done round her place.  I have helped as best I can.  This particular work was the other day.

Sunday 8/23 was her birthday.  I decided to clear a rosebush in her front yard.

It had been there for decades, planted originally by her Mom.  It used to thrive, then fell into stagnation.

As dawn approached, I tore into the vines and reedy weeds which were threatening it.  The bush seemed overcome, barely discernable, in a mass of choking weeds.

Before I started, I noted at the top there was a tendril poking out.  It was a new branch, with fresh leaves and thorns, green and springy.

It poked out and up, seeming to seek sunlight and moisture, even when the weeds were trying to engulf it in order to take its essence.

That tendril appeared to say, 'F*** you weeds!  I'm alive!  And I'm gonna live!'.

I cleared best I could, displaying the top tendril and two lateral ones.

A neighbor, on disability yet a landscaper, finished the process, til the rosebush was left alone, pristine in its renewed life, for all the living tendrils were green and fresh.

I will nourish it with plant food.  There is hope it will grow and thrive like it had for decades previously.

Need I say anything about analogies even metaphors?

To our enemies I say, F*** you collectivist weeds!  The Republic is Alive!  And it's gonna LIVE!

If Only.

The collectivist trolls are busier than ever.  Constant exposure has demanded constant revision.  Plus, many of them are emboldened with their dear leader and the carefully placed collectivist cabinet members, Congress members and assorted lackeys in many posts/positions within and around government.  Makes FDR's days look mild. 

I note the activity and its varying degrees of success.  Some trolls get easily rebuffed.  Others hang on and, as others respond, gain strength, thus dominating a thread.  I never participate, except to leave a cryptic message, 'don't feed the trolls'.

I remember a particular response about one of the lies/schemes of the Occupier of the Oval Office.  I said he was raised Marxist and there were many around him.  A shill, known for his sarcastic remarks, answered that, yes, there were a lot of those still around.  I rejoined with a picture of the actor Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing from 1931's Dracula.  He says in the course of the movie that 'the strength of the vampire is that no one believes he exists', accompanied with a lol.  The shill didn't respond.  But another tag teamed me and said, 'f*** you Michael'.  How eloquent.

Often I answer, well when I do, with cryptic truthful remarks.  That got me accused of sniping and blocked from Jim Beaver's page on FB.  Actually, I was getting others to think and challenge him.  The collectivists indeed flee from truth like a vampire from sunlight, when facts are presented to countermand Alinsky trolls.  It is a matter of tactics.  Use the enemy's machinations against him/her.

I happened upon a recent discussion.  Someone declared that communism is evil.  I agree of course.  It's always dehumanizing, callous and authoritarian.  Anyway, responses varied, but I noted the trolls/apologists.  There was a claim, with much poo-pooing of the original poster, that communism was misunderstood.

They put Lenin and Stalin etc on the chopping block and said indeed, there was failure.  However, it would take worldwide communism to achieve not just control, but perfection.  I've heard that lame, dangerous excuse before.  They also claimed communism was just an alternative to what existed, as long as this universal goal was achieved.

On paper, actually abbreviated, they try to say collectivism is ideal.  Everyone shares, makes up for one another.  Government only controls so everyone benefits, etc.  It's the old tory.

The grass is always greener.  Put your mind on hold and do what you're told.  They're working out the bugs.

The opposite is true with our Constitutional Republic.  We are a work in progress.  There are problems, but they are faced, not covered up with erasure nor revision.  It's the here and now, not over the hill.

Collectivism is built on lies and half truths.  There fore this kinder gentler approach is meant to confuse and mislead, especially those not using critical thinking (a term twisted to fit the opposite..  Read Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. 

They all suffer from that 'if only' syndrome.  Let's say the nightmare happens and the world is beaten, that collectivism rules.  The purge would continue.  Perfection is elusive.  So, there would be pogroms, new initiatives like 5 year plans etc.  All this would do is feed the beast on a larger scale.

Our Republic realizes perfection is unattainable.  Yet we strive for it.  The difference is that and dealing truthfully with problems.  The main obstacles have always been collectivism interfering and subverting our Freedom.

That Liberty, that Freedom means we are free to make mistakes and learn from them, not to bludgeon scapegoats and rewrite something in a new set of lies.

If only we convince the world of that.  Then again, it must start with each of us, then the US, then the world. 

If only becomes surety.  A difference we can thrive with.  Based in truth, warts ad all.