“When you start wiping out your history — sanitizing your history — to make you feel better, it’s a bad thing.” ~ Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State

Good morning to one and all. I do hope everyone is able to embrace the day with spunk and optimism. Yes, I fully realize, that optimism is hard to come by on this Thursday, August 24, 2017. This rash of statue demolitions is making any kind of sane outlook for our future as a nation hard to envision. Here in our area, a major university is changing the name on a set of their buildings, not because the name itself is connected to something that is currently declared offensive, but, get this, because it sounds like it might be. Don't doubt me on this. They said they were doing it out of an abundance of respect for the sensitivity of their diverse student body. Another university out west has used a white stallion for many years as their school mascot. Big problem. The horse is white. The name of the horse is the same as the name of the horse ridden by Confederate General Robert E. Lee. It's spelled differently, has no connection whatsoever, but, they are giving serious consideration to making a change. I did check this one out. ESPN has confirmed that one of their play by play announcer who is Asian and named Robert Lee has been pulled from covering a particular sporting event in the South. Their statement said they regretted it had come to this. Folks, this is no longer a slippery slope, what we have is an avalanche of madness. Now I move on to the newest edition of lunacy on steroids. One writer has now introduced the fact that it's time for folks to add The Alamo to the list of symbols that offend some people. One prominent hall of fame black athlete now in his mid-fifties declared his own take on this nonsense. He said he grew up black, he grew up in a black neighborhood, he went to black schools, and he has always been black. However, he added that not once in his entire life had he ever heard about any statue of any kind ever being a problem. I do hope we all can see clearly the bottom line here: WEDGE ISSUE. Politics. Period. See? You had thought that I wasn't paying attention to this stuff. Right? Now you know. I was and am. And, you also now know what I think about it.

We are still dealing with the loss of mom and dad. I was watching, of all things, the sitcom, "Last Man Standing", where the main character's dad had brought a lady friend over to meet the family. That made for a huge problem even though it had been five years since the mom had died. One little comment in that show hit me like a ton of bricks. In explaining his issues, the son told his dad that he couldn't help himself because every time his dad came through the door he expected to see his mom with him. That hit a nerve with me. I find myself so many times thinking I will hear their voices again, see them again, have them call me on the phone, and it only took one little comment to get me going again. We all deal with issues in our own way. Most of the time I am very calm, cool, and collected, because of my great thankfulness for the joy we shared together for such a wonderful long run. But, yours truly, does have his moments. And, that was one of them. It kind of slipped up on me and even surprised me just a tad. So, there you have it, I just might not be so strong after all. That reminds me, "The joy of the Lord is my strength." (Nehemiah 8:10) Amen.

You just never know what might be served up here at the ole blogger ranch. I think of it like a smorgasbord, without the salad guard. You can take in what you like and leave the other on the table. I have folks that I know, some of them in my own family, who see the political world totally opposite to the way I see it. I do not doubt their sincerity. And, I am glad we live in a land where we can disagree, hopefully, agreeably. At the same time, them being true believers does not alter my way of weighing the facts as I see them. Because of that, often you get my take because it's my blog, my viewpoints, and my little corner of the electronic blogging universe. There may well come a time when those who provide this utility will change the rules and folks like me will not be able to use their facility to express ourselves. I am not of the doomsayer mindset, but, something like that happening would not surprise me at all. I might add something for us all to consider. There are institutions that are well respected in the mainstream world and one of their main functions is to define those in our nation they determine to be a hate group. Their current list of hate designees includes a number of Christ centered ministries. Those ministries have published their guiding principles that reflect what they believe to be God's viewpoints. God's viewpoints are unwelcome by the mainstream world. That, my friend, is something we all should pay attention to, and I'll leave you to connect how it does, in fact, relate to the statue issue. Think. Pray. And, may God bless us all is my prayer. Amen. ....More later.