The Pledge of Allegiance - Under God or Not?

I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, One Nation Under God, indivisible for Liberty and Justice for All.  Under God, seems harmless enough doesn’t it?  Its been a part of our school day since anyone can remember.  It was the early morning mantra in school, even before the teacher spoke and before any important announcements that needed to be made. So should the phrase “Under God” be removed or not?  According to some it should be, while others are willing to argue otherwise.

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist Minister, for a magazine contest writing.  The Pledge was part of the flag code in 1942 and the phrase “under God” was not added to the text until June of 1954 when President Dwight Eisenhower signed a joint-party congressional act to have the words added.    Some may argue that the phrase “under God” was added to the Pledge because the United States is Christian nation and 80% of all Americans support the Pledge of Allegiance the way it is.  However, there are those that believe that church and state should absolutely be separated and having the phrase “under God” is not separating the two.  As of Aug 2006, the word “God” appeared in the US Code of Laws 68 times, 46 are references to “acts of God and 22 mention “God” in other capacities.  In June of 2006, US Senator Barack Obama said in a keynote address “A sense of proportion should also guide those who police the boundaries between the church and state.  Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation - context matters.  It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase “under God.” I didn’t.”

Some people believe that the phrase is used a religious coercion, a theological principle, a request to affirm your allegiance to patriotism for your country and a Christian God.   Currently, there is an association, named the American Humanist Association, that is waging “war” against the phrase.  The group has said that about one third of the American Citizens would like for the phrase to be removed from the Pledge and encouraging a boycott of the Pledge Allegiance.  They express that the words were added in the middle of a communist witch hunt hysteria of sorts, and that it is discriminatory to those who don’t believe in God.  Atheists will no doubt maintain that any religion at all, like the phrase “under God” excludes them by endorsing the idea of religion. This group, the American Humanist Association, is also encouraging people to stay seated instead of standing when the Pledge is recited.  There are other groups that are fighting to keep the pledge as is.  One particular group, the Liberty Institute, is working through the courts to counterbalance the American Humanist Association’s push.  The President and CEO, Kelly Shackleford, says the attempt to take out “under God” is an attack on religious freedom.  

Does “under God” put a type of pressure on people and on children to profess their belief in a Christian God?  Would getting rid of “under God” eliminate the argument or would it make it worse?  Sandra Day O’Connor, a former Supreme Court Justice of the United States, wrote the following statement in her June 2004 opinion of the judgment made in the USSC case in the Elk Grove Unified School District vs Michael Newdow:  “Fifty years have passed since the words “under God” were added, a span of time that is not inconsiderable, given the relative youth of our Nation.  The Pledge has become, alongside the singing of the Star Spangled Banner, our most routine ceremonial act of patriotism;... As a result, the Pledge and the context in which it is employed are familiar and nearly inseparable n the public mind.” Inseparable not only to American citizens but also to the world.  When other countries read the Pledge of Allegiance, hear it or even hear the Star Spangled Banner along with the Pledge of Allegiance, the United States of America, our Military and our Patriotism is never questioned and it is considered synonymous.

Should those that oppose just decide not to participate in the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance?   Is the phrase “under God” too ingrained in our culture to get rid of it?  Is referencing God a part of our patriotic and national identity?  God is referred to three times in the Declaration of Independence, the very founding document of this country.  This country was founded on Judeo-Christian values and God is referenced many times in various documents of this country’s heritage written by our founding fathers.   Pat Robertson, Founder and Chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, had a press release in June of 2002, stating that each state of the union makes reference to God in certain documents of their history.  Oaths sworn in court use the phrase “ … so help me God.”  The Supreme Court convenes with a prayer, ‘God save this honorable court.’  We are and have continued to be a religious people since our founding.

Congress inserted the phrase “One Nation Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance for the express purpose of reaffirming America’s unique understanding of this truth, and to distinguish America from Atheistic nations who recognize no higher authority than the State (January 12, 2004, ACLJ, Position paper on the Pledge of Allegiance, www.aclj.org).

FIGHT FOR LISA

FIGHT FOR LISA
http://www.fightforlisa.com/

This website has been made for a dear friend of ours, Lisa Holtz, from Avon, New York.

Lisa is battling Ovarian Cancer, some days are harder than others.  If you know friends, loved ones and acquaintances who have been through the ordeal of a diagnosis of cancer and the treatments, they can be hard enough to go through, whether alone and/or with support of family, friends, doctors and cancer survivors.

We as a community, whether away from home or together, are asking for the Avon NY community and other local towns to pull together.  To rally around Lisa, whether you know her or haven't had the opportunity to get to know her, and help and support her and her son Talon through this. 

We can all take some time out of our busy lives to stop and think for just a moment, "How would I be able to endure this if this were me or someone I love?", "How can I help someone in need, even if it a small charity?", "How can I be a support to a community trying to help one of their own even if I haven't grown up there?", "Would I want that type of support in my community for one of our's?" 

Most of you out there have more of a connection to Lisa than others, but we all care the same. You can read more about Lisa here http://www.fightforlisa.com/about-lisa.html 

This is the latest post from FIGHT FOR LISA FB Page - Just got some sad news about Lisa Holtz, she has had some tests done and her Dr. has found more lymph nodes growing and now they think it has reached her lungs. Lisa's Dr. thinks her Ovarian Cancer has spread, she now has to undergo a lot of tests to see what is going on and how far it has spread. 

Lisa text me this message today------ God wants me to fight he is testing me, but I'm running out of fuel! Nothing ever goes easy for me. 

It's time to raise the bar, I need everyone's help to raise as much money as we can to help her not only with the cost of meds and all her medical bills but also it's for her son who will be left with nothing if I don't do something soon, PLEASE not only can you donate but I would like if everyone could LIKE and SHARE her page, if I can get a million likes in a short time she could get more help!                     

via Jennifer McCart 06/09/2014

https://www.facebook.com/fightforlisa

Stop for a Moment

What is it about today that you are negative about or just wishing you could start over???  Is there something you may have forgotten or procrastinated about or is it something you have been stressed about for a long time and just now started to seriously think about and have to either change it or get rid of it.

Stop for a moment and think about what really matters in your life.  Family, your Spouse or significant other, your children, your grandchildren, friends, your career, potential promotion and how you are going to get that promotion - What really matters??

In all of life's quandaries and chaos, what time have you given to the thought of what makes you physically smile, laugh until you cry or just makes your heart "smile", light up with joy?  There are many things in life to be thankful for and to truly share that joy or peace with others.  We as humans find it necessary to fill certain voids in our lives with needful things, some of these things are not so needful and those are the pieces of our life that push out the peace, positivity and joy that we need to find.  We have to start replacing the negative with positive.

Do we have to constantly think of what others think of us - we do at times depending on the situation, but other times how we truly are shouldn't matter to people, or so you think. How we act toward others gives people impressions that we can live with or not want them to think of us, which in some cases can be a bit debasing  to you because you may not be that way at all.  Stop for a moment and think of that - Ask yourself have I been a good person, great person, outstanding individual or have I been miserable, someone I wouldn't befriend or give any time to?  How we treat others is how we would want to be treated - as the old adage goes "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

We all are guilty of "tagging" people, demoralizing, repudiating and persecuting others for their way of life, the way they dress, the people they keep for company, the career they have chosen - the list can go on and on.  If we stop and think of that, how can we change as a person so that others can look at you differently and you can stop and answer the questions asked previously.  How do you want your family, spouse/significant other, children and friends to look at you?  Have you truly brought joy to your life and to others or do you just not care because this is how you have always been and if people don't like me then they don't like me - DON'T BE IN MY LIFE.  Where will you be then - lonely, with or without a lot of money, a career that "loves" you back, an empty way of life with no "real-ness" or tangibility to it, just ethereal?!

We all need someone positive, something positive, something that gives us that moment of clarity, peace, joy, that feeling you get when you breathe out to release the negative, the feeling you get when you close your eyes and exhale and just let go.  Stop for a moment and try to remember that feeling.  Close your eyes and think of a happy memory, something that makes you smile, makes your heart feel full of joy - think of what truly matters and make it a point to act on the positive.

Life is too short to be miserable all the time, I, for one, have been guilty of being a chronic negative person on many aspects of my life and I am sure you will read about them here ... People and situations that grind my gears, but, I too, have to teach myself to be positive and to have others look at me as being a positive person ... Its all a learning process in this negative world we have to live in  - just STOP FOR A MOMENT and take a better look at what you feel or think really matters.

To Be Thankful

BEING THANKFUL - something all of us have done a few times in our lives.  What does being THANKFUL mean?

THANKFUL - adjective - Glad that something has happened or not happened; that someone or something exists.
- expression of thanks
- conscious of benefit received.

As we are going into the SEASON OF PERPETUAL HOPE, we should be thankful for many things in our lives.  Thankful for our careers and the money we receive for doing our job (God knows jobs are far and few between these days, especially good ones).  Thankful for the wordly possessions we have, the creature comforts we have been given when there are so many of those around the world that don't have what so many of us do. Thankful for friends - many or few - they are there for each of our hardships, joys, tears (sad or happy), milestones in life, ear to vent to.  Thankful for our health, the health of our loved ones - even though we don't like to think about it, there are those that don't have the health they wish for or that their loved ones may not have for one reason or another.  Thankful for the very breath we take each day and given another day to fix what we have to that has been broken, fractured or splintered or to continue the goals we have to reach.  If you're not thankful for at least that, there is the alternative.

Thankful for our FAMILY.
FAMILY - defined as a group of people related to each other;  a group of related people including people who lived in the past; A group of people of common ancestry; A group of things related by common characteristics; A people or group of peoples regarded as deriving from common stock and a unit of crime syndicate operating within a geographical area (Which we know that to be in all intents and purposes as a MAFIA)

Family, whatever your definition may be, is the very part of our existence that makes us who we have become.  Unfortunately we couldn't or didn't choose our family (biologically anyway), but they were chosen for us for a reason.  Given to us as a benefit, to shape us, to make us stronger in whatever obstacle may come before us.  Building our character, building our personalities, allowing us to learn from others misfortunes, mistakes and sometimes from their, for lack of a better word, stupidity.  Now, that may sound like a slap in the face to family and many of you may ask "Why should I be thankful for that?"  Well, that's what made you who you are.  Family has been our most basic, fundamental foundation in our lives and family is the most taken for granted.  Our lives have become so busy that sometimes we don't take the opportunity to be thankful for them, to ask God to protect them, help them in their time of need, to call them or contact them through whatever means necessary we have to truly tell them we love them, are thinking of them and to truly ask them how they have been doing and truly want to hear it, regardless of how long and drawn out the story may be.    Life in families can either be very joyful or can be painful, depending on the dynamics of the family.  The system of a family is like a set up of dominoes, kind of a weird example, but if you think about it, its true ... we have learned everything we know from our family from the time we are born until the time we venture out on our own, and hopefully what we have learned to our benefit we will take with us and show others the positivity of that.  Dominoes fall against each other and sometimes fall out of place but still bump the next domino to continue the "design" that has been laid before it, and so our lives can be thought of as such. When we fall out of place and bump what is before us, we may not always see the "design" but we know how we got to the point we are at in that moment and just trust that the bump we made will lead us to where we have to be by the support of those we have behind us or however we got there.

We need to be thankful everyday for what we have benefited from and not to just concentrate it to just one day out of the year, like so many do.  Make memories with your FAMILY, tell them you love them, forgive them for whatever you feel necessary they have to be forgiven for to make your family ties better and stronger.  Be thankful that you have your definition of a family, show each and everyone you consider to be a part of your "Family" that you are truly thankful for them to be in your life, there are those that can't do that at all.  Just remember that in the end, when all is said and done and there is nobody else, all you have is FAMILY.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

The Not so Natural Flow of Things

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” 
― Lao Tzu

Change, we all take it differently.  We change ourselves for the better, so we think.  Change - I like it, some say.     Change - I hate it, its not for me.    Change - To gain acceptance for the sake of our real selves.

MERRIAM WEBSTER SAYS -  CHANGE - verb - to make different in some particular; to make radically different; to give a different position, course or direction to; to make a shift from one to another; TO UNDERGO A MODIFICATION; TO UNDERGO A TRANSFORMATION


Norman Vincent Peale said - "Change your thoughts and you can change your world."
Mahatma Ghandi said - “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

Our brain is willing to adopt change and how we can transform our thoughts to ultimately transform our lives, meaning our thought process changes to fulfill what we think we are missing, I think ... 
The way we think affects the way we feel and then in turn "lays out" the quality of life we give ourselves and sometimes indirectly to others.
Transforming our thoughts sometimes can change in a blink of an eye and in other times we may need a little coercion to allow the change to flow, to pool into our mind, to sit and push us into a different direction.  We can create for ourselves affirmations whether they be positive or negative - I can't do this (negative) ... I am going to do this (positive) ... I should have done .... (negative) ... I will be doing ... (positive).  These are either going to be forceful or weak and we have to choose for ourselves how we are going to handle the CHANGE.

Sometimes, and I am very guilty of this almost everyday, we dwell on our misfortunes and failures and by doing this we subject ourselves to a negative thinking base and we feel that there will absolutely never be change in our fortune or future.

There are many people and I have a few on my Social Network that are just happy bubbly people all of the time - those are the kind of people that I do the "GAG ME" action with my pointer finger to the back of my throat ... but when you stop and think about it - something in their life changed that makes them feel that way or they are on some REALLY GOOD MEDS ... and if that is the case - SERIOUSLY throw some over here!!!! Then on the other end there are those on my Social Network that are ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE EVERYDAY and those people just exhaust me!!!! I mean literally exhaust the very core of that emotion, that miserable, I HATE EVERYONE, EVERYBODY IS A DOUCHEBAG, WHY DO I PUT MYSELF THROUGH THIS WASTED TIME (and keep going back to complain about it EVERYDAY) thought process ... those are the ones I want to just put my hand through the computer screen and choke them until their eyeballs pop out of their heads ... there I said it ... YEAH I SAID IT!!! ... lol
Anywho, the reason I am writing a Blog and eventually Vlog is because I think that if more people knew that there are those out there in the cyber world, virtual world - REAL WORLD - that have the same feelings, similar experiences and need someone to vent to, and are not alone - then I am doing something right ... I would like to think anyway ... 

So I have decided to just let this change in my life naturally flow, be it weird, CrAzzEE or maybe not even interesting, thats ok ... I am definitely going to have fun with this and hopefully a few of you will have some fun too ... sometimes we are very inquisitive as to what and how others feel and think and are willing to read, watch their successes and failures, as EPIC AS THEY MAY BE, and to laugh either with or at them ... either way its all good