Patriotic – Page 3 – It seems to me . . .

OUR FLAG

It seems to me . . .

Bob Beanblossom November 2015

Our self-declared enemies–those nations of the past, defeated and dead, and those today who would destroy us–all boasted that an enslaved world would bow to their standards–their flags.

By the grace of God we are still in the fight. Let us continue on that well-trodden path called Liberty, built by the blood and sweat of patriots. Let us go with our standard–the Stars and Stripes–held up high and lofty, where eagles fly, so that free men can look up to it while standing tall and proud: One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. That is the legacy we have inherited from our fathers and the one we owe to our children.

Politics

Today there is still a solution to the elitist politician problem: if he is in office don’t vote for him–vote for the person running against him–one time. Repeat the process the next election. We don’t need politicians to enact term limits. We still have the vote. But we do have to use it. We may not always have it. Today we the people still choose who to raise to the ranks of service and power, and who to return to the ranks of private citizen. Elections are not the numbing numberless polls that threaten to overwhelm us with what their clients want us to believe, but that bastion of power where sovereign citizens exercise their right and duty granted by the federal and state constitutions–the rule of law–to select those men and women whom they–each individual voter–believes will represent their best interests and those of our nation and states for the coming term. And conversely and concurrently, to reject those whom are esteemed to be antithetical to those values.

It is an awesome responsibility that the Founding Fathers have bestowed upon us. One that we have not always upheld very well. Our failure leads to empowered politicians rather than dedicated statesmen–a term largely unheard today and unknown to many. We the people. We hold the power: strong if used, worse than useless if not. Every election is a legacy for our children and grandchildren. The burden is on every individual voter every election.

President John F. Kennedy famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

The answer begins with your vote.

FALLEN HEROES–Thoughts for Memorial Day

It seems to me . . .

By Bob Beanblossom

July 2015/May 2017

It seems to me that this deserves to be re-posted. As we approach Memorial Day 2017, the nation is struggling as never before with the redefinition of our very core values. Marriage, the sanctity of life–both for the elderly and the unborn, the innocent and the gang-banger–and our very system of government. Respect has been replaced by hatred and animosity. We used to “respect the office” even if we didn’t like the officeholder. Today our very values are determined by our anger as incessant polls tell us who and what we like.

This is not about politics or polls, what bathroom you want to use, or who you think is oppressing or repressing you. It is about those who sacrificed to make your public viewpoint possible even if you disagree with them and spit in their face: the men and women, and their families, who make it possible for Americans and immigrants to tread–actually or figuratively–on our flag and what it costs to remain flying on the standards of the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

I have a special dedication again this year:

To the CHS Class of ’65, my classmates from Cedarville High School. Located in the heart of the Corn Belt, CHS is in Cedarville Township, Greene County, Ohio. It’s history dates to its Revolutionary War founders who were paid for their service in land. The local gravestones attest their contributions to our community.

Cedarville boasted that it had ‘more churches than gas stations.’ Many more. Still does.

We grew up in a town that watched over us. The party line was in full force, and far more efficient than today’s social media. Families that were strong and central. Broken homes were the exception rather than the rule. We were as at home in our friends homes as in our own–and respected and obeyed their parents as our own. School was the focal point of our lives: It was where we learned and where we played. We thought of ourselves as unique among our peers.

It was a time of optimism. Our dads and uncles won WWII, but we didn’t know much about Korea. We still ‘Liked IKE,’ and JFK’s assassination was sobering but didn’t dampen our spirits. Kennedy had backed down Khrushchev’s Soviet Union and Castro in what would be called the Cuban Missile Crisis, we were winning the space race, and we were embarking on the Great Adventure–jobs, college, families. Our future looked bright.

In 1965, the reality of Vietnam had not hit our young lives–yet.

Soon, some of us drifted into military service–as volunteers or draftees–ending up In-Country or in support activities. The nation in general tried to ignore Vietnam while some ‘radicals’ actively protested American involvement. The latter turned their ire upon the men and women in uniform. The most graphic war coverage that had ever been aired on television only heightened the division in our land. We came home to find our families, our communities, our nation fundamentally changed.

With that as background, this is about those we knew–and only knew of–who came the hard way. Although dedicated Americans had to work for years to have some of our brothers and sisters brought home, and POWs reunited with their homeland, the majority of the 58,200 who died serving an ungrateful nation came home to be united with their forebears in family plots or national cemeteries. Special military units were established to quickly and efficiently assure proper ID, rapid transportation, and graveside honors. No use delaying the inevitable. Neighbors offered their sympathy then quickly return to the routine of life. Widows in military housing were turned out quickly–there were no provisions for ‘non-military‘ tenants. The effects–the hurt, the anger–were undercurrents that permeated our culture.

Cedarville liked parades. Every memorial Day the town would gather at the town cemetery a mile or so north of town. A parade would end up there, a speaker or two would remind us of our heritage and those who served, and we would all go home.

Somehow, after ‘Nam, it wasn’t quite the same.

Here’s to those men and women, fallen in combat, and passing on since, who answered the call of our country–in all eras.

Parents and grandparents, teachers, pastors–please take time to teach our children how great America has been, where that greatness came from–and what it cost.

As we celebrate another national holiday honoring our country’s heritage I would like you to join me as we focus our thoughts just a little. We often take time during public events to remember those who died in the course of defending our freedom—our Fallen Heroes. This is as it should be. Americans who died in combat and those who died in terrorist attacks deserve individually and corporately our respect and remembrance. They were dads and moms, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and friends. They deserve an America that continues to be a bastion of freemen observing human rights and civil liberties, regulated by the Constitution, that is built and maintained on the foundation of God’s Law. Heroes they are. But perhaps not because of the reasons you think if you have not been ‘there,’

THEY GAVE THEIR LIVES

This is the great myth we hold regarding those who died in combat and, increasingly, in terrorist attacks. Without minimizing their loss in any way whatsoever, I would like us to recognize that very few of these Americans gave their lives. I will discuss those in the next section. The vast majority who died serving us in a military capacity or as civilian targets had their lives wrenched from them violently and impersonally. These without exception wanted to live to go home to their families and friends. They wanted to live another hour, another day, another year. Each had hopes and dreams. Each had something left undone. Their deaths were neither peaceful nor picturesque—theirs was not the stuff of movies and TV. If death did not come instantly, theirs was a time of ultimate loneliness and suffering—often terror—as they realized that they were beyond the help of their friends and of the world’s finest medical teams. If not a child of God, their aloneness was complete and devastating—more devastating than the wounds themselves. Even if saved by the grace of our Lord, there was a sense of the incomplete: words to be spoken, relationships to savor, things not accomplished. These many who died in our service did not give their lives—they had them taken away violently and out of time.

FALLEN HEROES

This is the relatively small group of those who died on the battlefield as a result of intentional actions. They are rightly called Heroes. These men and women truly gave their lives. They picked the hour and the minute, expecting their actions to prove fatal. Some few survived. Most, however, died “for their country” only in a distant sort of way. Each died defending and protecting their friends, their buddies. If you will read the citations issued for these heroes and talk with combat veterans (and terrorist attack survivors)—if they will share their most private and haunting thoughts with you—you will find invariably that these heroes chose their actions to protect that small group of individuals that was closer to them than can be explained. Brought together by moments of terror and hours of waiting, they were closer than brothers. These are the Heroes. They died no less violently, and with no less pain and anguish, but willfully and willingly for the few, for their friends. Again, this in no way diminishes their heroism.

Their behavior may seem to be paradoxical to many, especially to family and friends who bear their own grief to their graves. There is a precedent that we might look at, however. Many years ago on a hill called Golgotha, the very Son of God gave his life intentionally and completely, not for the masses, but for me. And for you. In a very real sense he died for each individual man and woman from Adam and Eve through the last person to ever be born before time itself dies. That death was no surprise. Planned from the beginning of eternity, it is God’s provision to provide a path of salvation to his fallen creature, Man. He has made this known to all men—Battlefield conversions are common, battlefield atheists are rare:

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men . . . (Titus 2:11)

Unlike the beneficiary of the battlefield hero, God’s salvation requires us to accept the gift of Christ’s death in order to secure our own life. Failure to accept that offering results in eternal death. It is a life or death decision. The offering is certain and universal:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:16-17)

THE SURVIVORS

We sometimes hear about Post Trauma Stress Disorder (PTSD) among combat veterans. In the past it was called “Shell Shock” or simply ignored. It is real and it is pervasive. Without going into medical areas that I am in no way qualified to discuss, let me simply give you a layman’s perspective.

PTSD is the survivor’s curse. It is that pervasive, nagging knowledge that you survived when others did not—sometimes battlefield friends and acquaintances, often those we did not even know—sometimes Heroes who died saving your life. It is driven by memories and what-if’s.

Vietnam was the first “live” war that the American public experienced. Technology brought some of the reality of war to televisions in the homeland in a way that had never before been possible. Yet it was (and still is) a censored reality, tempered by some sense of propriety. The public gets to see exciting explosions, and an occasional sad faced child, but generally war coverage is distant and impersonal. It occasionally includes images of a fallen soldier coming home to grieving family, and friends, and community. It never included the rows and rows of neatly stacked aluminum boxes of the fallen waiting to bring the fallen home to be processed and further shipped to waiting loved ones. Shining brightly in the sun, these boxes greeted soldiers coming in-country to begin their war, and reminded those leaving the war zone that “there, but by the grace of God go I.”

Today the media largely ignores the wars our soldiers are fighting, and the casualties are seldom mentioned–unless something happens to fit a political agenda. Today we hear more about social engineering in the armed forces instead of the always outstanding service of the men and women in uniform.

God has made provisions for those who serve, and those who wait:

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5:10)

All human activities have consequences. For those who know war intimately, it is a never ending part of who they have become. Memories remain, and with them the question: Why did I survive when others did not. The memories may subside at times—be masked by the business of life–but they never really go away. The effects spill over to the “real” world.

THE HOME TEAM

It remains, then, for us to honor those who served us that is in some way fitting to their loss. This honor cannot be confined to special holidays. It requires the maintenance of a strong America continually growing on the foundation of the rule of law with a people who have a moral anchor in the Living Word. Without the ongoing attention of “We the People” to maintain that rule of law–law based upon a written and rightly interpreted Constitution–their sacrifice will be useless, and their country—our country—will be lost.

May God Bless America has been the prayer of every President–until now. May we not only seek to secure that blessing, but to re-establish a nation worthy of that blessing.

President John F. Kennedy said it well in his inaugural address in 1961 (excerpted):

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course.

“Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe. Now the trumpet summons us again — not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are — but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation” — a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.

“Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

As I re-read this, I find that I am unable to ask that God bless this country. I cannot ask God to bless the wickedness that permeates our government, our cities, our homes. My prayer, instead, is for revival, for cleansing, and for a return to the values of our founding fathers—that those whose blood has been shed for us will not have died in vain. Each of us is culpable, each of us holds the possibility of the rebirth of America’s greatness–measured in the spirit of her people, not in the gross national product. America’s greatness, under God, begins and ends with me, and with you.

ENEMIES

It seems to me . . .

Bob Beanblossom November 2015

HARD THOUGHTS

We Americans live generally isolated from the realities of the world outside or our own experience. Middle class America is far more in tune with rivalries rather than enemies. Sports and games diffuse our natural aggressiveness to some extent. There is growing evidence that these, coupled with a turning away from foundational moral values, is giving rise to increasing incidents of vicarious violence being acted out, but that is another subject. We often have little concept of the realities of life in the subculture of American gangs and certainly none for the millions of people living in war-ravaged countries where violent death is the rule rather than the exception. Our sporting events, game shows, video games and the like all come to an end, even if we carry some residual emotion into our every-day world. We look at 9-11 and Benghazi as isolated events rather than part of an escalating, ongoing set of events that will have ever-more impact on each of us in ways we cannot—or will not–imagine. France seems so far away, as does a Russian aircraft. We wonder with Hillary Clinton, “What difference does it make?” And move on to the next celebrity scandal without waiting for an answer.

THE REAL WORLD

Millions of people around the world live in a different reality, one with the threat of violent death from real enemies, where hunger is normal, and where clean water is not only absent but unknown, where sickness comes in tsunami-strength waves. Where a change of clothes is beyond any expectation, and personal property means shared family eating utensils. Hope is the next meal, and happiness is the absence of strangers with AK-47s. Many of these citizens of the world’s war-ravaged countries are highly mobile. They move from food source to food source, from extreme danger to relative danger: Often these are what we term refugee camps—what they call home for the moment. With living conditions marginal, food and water usually inadequate, and medical facilities stretched beyond capacity, conditions might be a bit better than their last home. Today many are crossing national borders—meaningless to the wandering masses—following the rumors of better conditions.

Dreams of a safe and secure plot of land, some seed and a pair of breeding animals, is a remote dream. Places where work for the able and an outlet for cottage industry production is non-existent. These citizens of the world have been reduced to the state of livestock, a burden without any benefit to their reluctant benefactors. In this process, death is a constant companion: bullets and bombs, starvation and illness, all come indiscriminately to young and old. Every family knows death intimately.

SO WHAT?

Today the Western world faces an imminent threat: the signs are highly visible to those who will but look around. Our enemies are committed to destroying our nations, our lifestyles, and us. They are not reticent. They are brazen in their proclamations that our destruction is their goal. Our national response has been to overtly ignore or, worse yet, mask the threat through “politically correct” jargon and increasing federal funding for their activities. While We the People—the voters—complain now and then of our government’s overt aid to those who have declared their intention to destroy us, we in fact do little to get the attention of those in power—those we elect, those who are only in power because we elect them. We are the source of power unless we abdicate that responsibility. Our politicians are certainly responsible for their actions, but we are responsible for putting them in office, keeping them in office, and advising them clearly of our expectations while we are they are serving us, their constituents. The idea of a powerless citizenry in America is ludicrous—a travesty of our heritage and the provisions of our Constitution. We are only powerless when we choose to be.

VICTORY ?

There can be no victory without an enemy. As nice as it would be to live in perpetual peace, that will not—cannot—be on this side of eternity. Survival is a continuum with victory in one direction and slavery on the other. Victory requires a clear understanding of who the enemy is, a realistic plan action, and the resolve to press forward to victory at all costs.

THE ENEMY

Our enemy—not of our choice, but of his—is militant Islam. As politically incorrect as that is to say out loud today, if we want our grandchildren to enjoy the America we have, it is time to face the facts. Islam is committed to destroying all nations, all people, who are not Muslims. Contrary to what we are being told, Islam’s holy book, the Quran, contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with infidels—non-Muslims. This is not a philosophical, go out and make converts type of war, it is real war. These commands include instructions to chop off heads and fingers of the infidels (sound familiar?) and kill them wherever they may be hiding. The Quran calls Muslims who resist this calling “infidels.” For example:

“And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out.” (Quran 2:191) The context is offensive, not defensive.

“And soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for they that joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority.” (Quran 3:151) Specifically, Christians who were seen by Muhammed as polytheists.

“Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.” (Quran 4:74) Impetus for suicide bombers.

“The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement.” (Quran 5:33) War against a Muslim country begets war.

This is but a small sampling of the Quran’s call to the destruction of all infidels. Again, any non-Muslim is an infidel.

The enemy is ideologically easy to identify. A major problem arises when we look at the masses of displaced people—the refugees—in the typical American way. Americans have three natural sequential responses: 1) Show some pity and want to help them, 2) Show some concern that (in the case of the refugees currently moving into Europe and America) there seems to be a disproportionate percentage of young able-bodied men who might be agents of Muhammed, and 3) Then forget it about the problem until some major disaster brings it to our attention again. If we choose the typical route, we are defeated.

We tend to be over-simplistic in our approach to everything. TV has trained us that our problems can all be solved in a half-hour segment with ten-minutes of commercials telling us what meds to take and where to find an attorney to sue the manufacturer when we do take them. Life is not like that, and our enemy is real. His actions are predictable, his targets much less so.

Their methods are manifold, and each needs to be addressed. There are no short cuts.

Infiltration and domestication. They take advantage of our “Ya’ll come” nature and lack of knowledge regarding their value system to integrate our a) neighborhoods, b) business, c) schools, and 4) politics into their organization. Our way of life—America, the great melting pot—is to them our weakness. Their religion, which is their government, is hostile to us, their host.
1. Mosques that teach the Quran are springing up in our neighborhoods.
2. Government aid gives Muslim businesses major tax breaks and other incentives not afforded the citizens whose tax dollars fund those benefits.
3. The Quran and foundations of Islam are taught in our public schools while Judeo-Christian values and the Bible of our founding fathers are excluded.
4. Their representatives “reasonably” ask that we recognize, and even adopt, Sharia law. Some areas of our country have already done this. Here are some provisions of that law:
  1. Theft is punishable by amputation of the right hand.
  2. Criticizing or denying any part of the Quran is punishable by death.

A Muslim who converts to another religion, and the person who leads a Muslim away from that faith are both subject to the death penalty.

A man can beat his wife for insubordination.
And much more.

Muslim and Muslim-sympathizer politicians such as the Obama administration are enacting laws and regulations that are obviously pro-Islam and anti-Christian faster than the unwitting politicians who vote for them can comprehend. Most don’t have a clue what they are voting for, usually because they are so concerned with reelection that little else matters. We can change that if we are choose.

America’s drifting, anchorless value(less) system that has rejected our Judeo-Christian roots is prime for ideologues such as Islam activists to infiltrate and supplant.

If this seems far-fetched and impossible in our land, take a few moments away from your favorite entertainment and look at the history of Europe over the last few years. And what the results have been. You might have to look beyond the popular media.

Their choice of tactics is urban guerilla warfare: we call it terrorism. If we take the time to look—and this will require going beyond the traditional media that sells opinion as news, and exists solely as outlets for their advertisers—you will see that this is worldwide and our welcoming borders are no barrier to their activities.

Our politicians have been willing participants in the give-away of our nation by the most corrupt anti-American administration in our nation’s history, whether it be wars with no enemies and no definition of victory, to executive agreements that give enemies who take our money while simultaneously vowing to destroy us. Congress is no less liable that our President. We, the voting public, are no less liable than Congress.

VICTORY!

Victory is possible. Even at this late date, we can win our country back from the enemies of our Constitution and heritage. The enemy is two-fold:

The enemy within: Politicians and power mongers of any and all persuasions who do not put the rule of law ahead of personal gain and power.
The enemy without: Islam militants who would destroy our country at any cost.

We can take control and change this destructive course, but only if we as a people act decisively and consistently. At the present time, every elected official is totally dependent upon the voter to get into and stay in office. We have the power. Will we use it, or just wait for the next TV hero to solve the 30-minute crisis while our nation crumbles?

The Enemy Within:

We will not all agree on every solution to every problem. That’s OK. That is why the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, not freedom from hearing. We are destroying the exercise of that right by playing sectarian chess with our courts and law-making bodies. That route will backfire on every player in time as new issues with more powerful or engaging public relations spring up. It is causing the destruction of the rule of law.

Bring important words back into our political vocabulary: Statesman, honesty, accountability, personal responsibility, service.

Compromise is not a bad word, as long as it is not a compromise of foundational ideals. Give and take is the design of our government. Passing laws unread, and legislating from the court bench is not.

The ballot box, though sometimes compromised, is our big hammer, President Roosevelt’s ‘Big Stick” redefined. The Black Panthers’ “Power to the People” re-tasked for all Americans. It is our hands.

We will never like every aspect of any candidate. Vote for the one who best represents your values. If you never find one you can support, get up and run for office. Others may believe as you do.

Between elections, maintain a great flood of mail, email, phone calls, and personal visits to your elected representatives, praising the good, admonishing the bad, and providing input ahead of votes to help shape their votes.

Bring the media into accountability. Do not support those outlets, no matter how big and established they might be, if they do not “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Period. If we don’t support them by consuming their garbage, the advertisers will abandon them, too. Here is our vote: The dollars follow the crowd in advertising.

The Enemy Without (and Within):

We have more advantages in this area than we realize. Unlike the war-torn Middle-East, we have order and a measure of the rule of law throughout the United States. Unlike Europe, we do not have un-vetted immigrants flowing wholesale across borders with little or no control. (Our southern border does require attention and is a proven source of Muslim ingress. These would be particularly suspect regarding their intentions).

This very day, however, our President is again showing his bent to support non-citizen Muslims against his sworn duties to the Americans who elected him, and against the explicitly expressed opinions of Governors and an increasing number of other lawmakers. He is opening our borders to these refugees:

With no vetting in spite of a significant percentage that are adult males who fit profiles for known terrorist operatives.
Will provide them with welfare benefits including housing allowances, food stamps, Medicare and Medicaid for LIFE. At our expense.

American intelligence and military power, though compromised by this Administration, and highly sectarian, is still substantial. Fighting fire with fire is our strong suite. We need a combined intelligence community that combines all resources for a single purpose—the preservation of America. Our elite troops in all services must be allowed to do what they have been trained to do. They have proven their skills.

Cooperation, through NATO or another venue, could bring similar resources from around the world to bear on the enemy. We should be supporting France as it strikes at the enemy both externally and internally.

The process is not without problems. There will be setbacks, other attacks. Each will bring stronger retaliation. Each will bring us closer to eradicating the menace, and subduing the remnant into peaceful coexistence (have we heard that before?). We will not change their ideology. But we can certainly continually decimate the militant element as it appears.

All this is our call. We the People. We the voters. We can continue to hide our heads in entertainment and other diversions, or get busy and assure that this country is fit for our grandchildren.

SIMPLY PROFOUND

It seems to me . . .

Bob Beanblossom November 2015

OPENING THOUGHTS

Our grasp of the world is experiential. That is to say that the words we use are anchored to what we know. You may argue that we see and interpret visual events without words, but let’s look at that.

Try it—think of any common or oddball word you can and “see” what happens. Since all of us have different sets of experiences within some commonalities, we all have similar but different definitions of words. Try “milk.” Someone may, in their mind’s eye, see a glass of milk, while another would visualize a cow in a milking stall, and so on.

This difference, though often unnoticed, is usually of small consequence. And if we feel the need, we can add modifiers to clarify that we mean “glass of milk,” or “milk cow.” Understanding requires a concept of both the word and its particular use: text and context.

The less concrete a concept is, however, the more diverse is our understanding. It is more difficult to assure an accurate or even functional understanding in a person with whom we are trying to communicate. Peace is such a word. To some it might be the political state of things where war is either past or distant. This would be a difficult concept for a child growing up in a war-ravaged area to comprehend. To others, it might be the brief periods between frequent terrorist attacks. This is a difficult concept for those who have never experienced war and ongoing violence either on a geopolitical scale or within their community or home environments.

Some may relate Peace to the condition of their mind and spirit as a result of a close relationship with their Savior, Jesus Christ, no matter what the situation around them might be. This is impossible for the unsaved to comprehend, and not within their definition of the word. It is, of course, contextual. The usage, all of the words tied together that we use to express a thought, narrow our meaning to help convey with some precision what we intend our hearer/reader to understand.

These are concepts that we have words to identify, but still remain abstractions, ideas that we cannot get our minds around. Infinite is one of them. We have the intellectual capacity to understand that there something beyond and bigger than the biggest, but our experience makes it impossible to comprehend.

Words affect all of our communications. This includes spoken and written words in various forms as personal contact, visual, and audiovisual. Words affect our dreams since, like the “real world” or a video presentation, we translate visual experiences to words to contemplate and share with others.

We have looked at both the concrete (milk) and the abstract (peace.) Let’s look at a historical event and see how our experiential concepts defined by words affect our understanding.

In the Same Country

Let’s look at a familiar passage from Luke’s Gospel in the Bible. A group of shepherds are being informed of the birth of Jesus, the long awaited Messiah, the Christ:

Luke 2:

⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward me

¹⁵And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. ¹⁶And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. ¹⁸And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.