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I have often thought that I was born after my time as
there are some things in today's world that, for the life of me, I just cannot seem to get used to. One is our growing lack
of love and respect for our neighbor. Another is our growing lack of love and respect for our President.
As you might or might not have already gathered for
yourself, I have always been a great lover of the old black and white classics. As such, I couldn't help but notice that,
in so many of those films, they showed places of business that had a picture of the United States President who was in office
at the time the films were made or set in hanging on the wall. I wondered if that was just for show, so I once asked my parents
if they really did that. To my great surprise, they told me yes, it was quite common to see such pictures in stores and businesses
back then.
So what of us now?
Was it that the American people of those days were
just purposefully blind to the imperfections of some of their Presidents? Or could it have been that they just had the
privilege of a knowledge that we have since either forgotten or just carelessly tossed aside?
The past presidential election was very possibly the
most controversial one of our era. The following is what I sent in an e-mail to an internet contact of mine (We will say her
name is "Victoria".), during the year of 2005, as a result of her disapproval of who I chose to vote for. ...
Dear Victoria,
You are not going to like some of what I am about to say. I will tell you
that straight out. Still, you know me; if I have something to say, I say it and you went offline a while ago before I had
the chance to do so, even though you had been the one to bring the subject up in the first place. Just please remember that,
whatever I say to you right now, Victoria, I am still your friend, have always been your friend and, if you allow me to do
so, will always be your friend.
You said that most of our military is against President Bush. Well,
the problem with many, NOT all, of the members in our military is that, for years, all most of them have had to
do are drills and training exercises. It is too bad that we cannot have a system of getting into the military people that
want to be there based upon their patriotism and not upon the monetary fringe benefits. If we could, then we would have an
army that would be 100% for standing up for what we/they believe in and the things that this country stands for, despite the
costs.
The American people are spoiled, Victoria. That includes me. In our lifetimes,
we have never really had to fight for much of anything and we know little about trial and sacrifice.
If I could take you back a bit over 60 years, there I could show you a breed
of Americans that were worthy of the title "Americans". When, like Saddam, Adolf Hitler was seeking world power, the
American people and their military banded together and proved to the entire world that they were worthy of note and would
not stand by idly while some evil tyrant tried to take over the one world that God had given them to live in. The
people back then revered and respected their president as something near to an icon. They were a proud people and they had
a right to be proud. They had earned the right to the liberties that they enjoyed; they had fought and died for those liberties.
Today, we put a man
into office and then we proceed to jump astride him at the very first sign of his having to do something that is controversial
and/or unpleasant without thought or consideration to the fact that there might be reasons for his actions that we are not
aware of. (There are some things they cannot/should not tell us after all. Also, the media has been very biased in its
reporting of the happenings in Iraq. ... I know for a FACT that some of our soldiers were killed and HUNG on crosses but,
of course, our media never showed you that! Of course not! To do so would be to admit that, sometimes, Americans
are the prey. Per the "times", that is now "politically 'incorrect'".) I have heard people here on the
internet say they wished our president dead for God's sake! What kind of person, no, what kind of AMERICAN can wish a thing
like that and then, in that same moment of time, believe themselves to be a part of this great nation of our's? If they had
said such a thing 60 years ago, they would have possibly been hung for treason.
Oh, but we are more
"civilized" now. No, we have become a bunch of bleeding-heart pacifists that are just happy as a lark while being
able to do the things that make us happy. But, just when something threatens that way of life and the battle to remove that
threat proves to be a bit rocky, we fold. We point a finger at our president and accuse him of anything and everything we
can think of. We bend over backwards to put all of the blame on his shoulders. ... We watch our President, our nation's leader,
grow old before our very eyes.
As for my going over
there to fight, Victoria, as you said I should have to do, well, I wish to God that I could! Nothing would
please me more than to be able to stand beside my dear, sweet niece right now and help her and those with her in their fight
to protect the things back home that we hold so very dear to our hearts. But, as you darned well know, I was born crippled
and I personally apologize to no one for that. While I would love to stand up and fight for my country,
I am 4'8", #120 and I doubt very seriously that I could do much good in Iraq, but please know that I would
TRY!
John Kerry is telling you and the rest of the American people what he
thinks you want to hear. He is a liar and an opportunist, Victoria, who will do any despicable thing he has to do to get into
the Oval Office. This battle has been going on for over 3 years now and the American people are tired. John Kerry knows
that and he is preying on that tiredness, that weakness. He knows that there are families and friends here in America who
just want their loved ones home safe.
The video you saw is very likely some hyped-up crap that, somewhere
along the line, was dredged up by Kerry and his band of liars.
In closing, let me tell you, Victoria, that you do not want your loved ones
home any more than I want mine home. But, at the same time, I want them to have a country worth coming home
to.
Love, Lonza
As I told Victoria, I have actually heard people say
they wished someone would kill our President. I was appalled when I heard them say that, just as I was and am at the mere
idea of burning our nation's flag as a form of public protest. My reasoning here is that, for example, if your church's minister
should do something that you disagree with, you don't retaliate by burning the Bible. Well, the same goes for the idea of
burning the American flag. Moreover, our Presidents might sometimes do things that I do not particularly agree with, but they
are STILL our President and thereby deserving of the RESPECT due them as the holder of that office.
With these thoughts in mind, I share with you the words
of the late Benjamin Franklin on "dissent". Pay attention, Americans. ;-)
"Let us be aware in these infant
years of our beloved Republic. . . There are those who wait to celebrate our failure. Be not disheartened, this will always
be so, for we have lighted our candle of liberty in a dark world and each of us is in charge of keeping it lighted. And though
the winds of dissent may threaten our flame, despair not, remembering that a nation which allows dissent is stronger from
with-in and brighter from with-out. For when dissent becomes a crime, hope becomes despair. ...
"Dissent, but dissent honorably. Dissent with faith in your hearts, not despair. Dissent to
rebuild not to destroy. Dissent from with-in for dissent from with-out becomes attack. Speak out for what you believe in at
least as loudly as you speak against the system, for gentlemen, if ours is a generation to say democracy will not administer
to the people, let it be a conscious decision arrived at only after every opportunity for man to rule himself has failed."
... Benjamin Franklin
I underlined the word "honorably" for the obvious reasons.
I actually saw in the profile of someone here on the internet
where they had stooped to taking some of Benjamin Franklin's words and changing them to meet their own ideals and
beliefs. They had quoted Mr. Franklin as having said, ...
"Those who would sacrifice security for freedom deserve neither."
LET IT BE KNOWN that Benjamin Franklin did NOT say that.
Indeed, what he actually said was, ...
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
So, if the person responsible for having butchered the
words of Benjamin Franklin to meet their own warped ideals and beliefs should ever happen upon this website, they will
then know they have been caught. In the future, if you simply MUST go against the very foundation that
this country was built upon, please do it on your own and not rely upon the great MEN of our past to help you.
To all of those who risked their lives and to the families of
those who gave their lives to save those they could, thank you. ... Lonza J. Farkas
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