Nanette Malher
Memorial Day in America
If we would be soldiers
By Nanette Malher
We all noticed when our representatives recently "listened" to their constituents concerning the closing of Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. detention camp located at the southern end of Cuba and controlled by the United States since 1903. We saw the results of the bi-partisan vote: 90 to 6 in favor of keeping it open. Obviously, we, the people, made our voices heard. The politicians want to be re-elected, and so they voted against the president's wishes to close Guantanamo and move Islamic terrorists to prisons in the United States (at a cost of $80 million), because we, the people, are concerned for the nation's safety. If only we could make our voices that loud concerning other issues: illegal immigration, religious freedom (which is being taken away daily in the name of "equality"), the new march to socialism, etc., etc., etc.
Of course, our president is still bent on forcing all Americans to adhere to his principles. He stated after the Senate vote, his first defeat since taking office, that he will hold to his promise to close Guantanamo. He is not governing for the people. He is governing according to his own self-interests. He has not done the right thing by America in any of his actions since becoming president. It will take millions of loud, forceful voices to stop his dictatorial reign. The question remains: How do we do it? In light of Memorial Day, and all the lives that have been lost — freely given by those who have served so honorably so that we who are left can continue to enjoy freedom, it seems that Americans are about to give away the very thing that separates us from the rest of the world.
On May 23, 2009, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee[1] spoke at a special Memorial Day service in Nashville, TN, where every branch of our military was honored. He didn't mince words. Huckabee stated that we are now engaged in the most dangerous war we've ever faced, because we are fighting an enemy that has no country or uniform. Today, radical, religious zealots all over the world, and within the U.S., want to "stop us from breathing" until there are none of us left.
"Us" includes anyone who is not Muslim. Think hard on the previous sentence. Even if you believe in the Great Nothing, radical Muslims want you dead because you do not adhere to their way of thinking. I know people personally, who will argue with great conviction that Muslim groups, such as Hamas, are "kind and benevolent" organizations that "help orphans and widows." When we hear people say these things, we must have the courage to stand up for the Truth — not some convenient, worldly, made-up version of it. The real Truth is that radical Islam will destroy the world if we turn a blind eye or breathe a mass, sympathetic, humanist sigh and allow it to happen. In this new war, we are all called to be soldiers.
Huckabee compared the act of being a soldier to what it should be like to be a soldier for God. An American soldier must separate himself from what he has known in his civilian life in order to serve with a steadfast conviction and without hesitation. He explained that when a person trains to be a soldier, individual will is broken so that in a time of crisis, the only thought is to "do the right thing" — no matter what the cost. A true soldier gains an extraordinary type of discipline that allows him to react to difficult circumstances instantly. In many cases, he will suffer. In some cases, he will lose his life, as was the case with Private First Class Ross A. McGinnis. McGinnis was in Baghdad, Iraq, on December 4, 2006, patrolling in a military vehicle and manning an M2 .50-caliber machine gun when a live grenade was thrown into the gunner's hatch. His immediate reaction was to throw his body over the grenade to protect his fellow soldiers. The grenade exploded. McGinnis died. His actions saved four of his fellow soldiers from injury and/or certain death. He gave all that he had — his entire life — for his country.
As servants of God, we must also separate ourselves from old and destructive ways and adhere to an unswerving discipline so that we will act instinctively and without hesitation in times of great difficulty. We may not be liked by all people. We may have to suffer some consequences for disagreeing with the world's point of view. But in all our actions, we must always strive to "do the right thing." Unlike radical Muslims, our God is a God of love. However, we are not called to love evil. We must give our lives to root it out, and as we do so, we have only one Commander in Chief to please: The True God of Love.
Huckabee told a story about visiting a Holocaust memorial in Israel with his daughter, who was about 11 at the time. He said it was an extremely emotional experience and he wondered how his daughter would respond. At the end of the tour, she silently took a pen out of his pocket and filled out a guest card. There was a place for a comment. In her 11-year-old "scrawl" she wrote: "Why didn't somebody do something?"
From the heart of a child, that is the exact point, my dear Americans. "Somebody" needs to be "us" — every day — doing something to counteract the evil that is overtaking all that is good about this country. Our America is being attacked from without and from within. We can't just talk about it, or be anxious because we have no idea what to do, or be paralyzed with fear because we have no desire to involve ourselves. We cannot be soldiers for God without taking some kind of action.[2] Contact your representatives until they are sick of hearing from you. Let the local and national media know that they are not covering the real news. Speak the Truth to your friends and neighbors with all the love and kindness you can muster, but with the conviction of laying your life on the line.
A nation cannot save itself; only the people can save it. One voice is lost in the wilderness. Millions of voices cannot be ignored. You are not alone in your quest to restore what is right and true, but you will be alone if you think it falls to others to take action.
The Honorable Governor Mike Huckabee, a true patriot and soldier of God, left a thankful group of Americans with one final thought on what we can do in the face of the current darkness:
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah: 6:8)
If only our president truly understood what it means to be an American and a soldier.
NOTES:
© Nanette Malher
We all noticed when our representatives recently "listened" to their constituents concerning the closing of Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. detention camp located at the southern end of Cuba and controlled by the United States since 1903. We saw the results of the bi-partisan vote: 90 to 6 in favor of keeping it open. Obviously, we, the people, made our voices heard. The politicians want to be re-elected, and so they voted against the president's wishes to close Guantanamo and move Islamic terrorists to prisons in the United States (at a cost of $80 million), because we, the people, are concerned for the nation's safety. If only we could make our voices that loud concerning other issues: illegal immigration, religious freedom (which is being taken away daily in the name of "equality"), the new march to socialism, etc., etc., etc.
Of course, our president is still bent on forcing all Americans to adhere to his principles. He stated after the Senate vote, his first defeat since taking office, that he will hold to his promise to close Guantanamo. He is not governing for the people. He is governing according to his own self-interests. He has not done the right thing by America in any of his actions since becoming president. It will take millions of loud, forceful voices to stop his dictatorial reign. The question remains: How do we do it? In light of Memorial Day, and all the lives that have been lost — freely given by those who have served so honorably so that we who are left can continue to enjoy freedom, it seems that Americans are about to give away the very thing that separates us from the rest of the world.
On May 23, 2009, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee[1] spoke at a special Memorial Day service in Nashville, TN, where every branch of our military was honored. He didn't mince words. Huckabee stated that we are now engaged in the most dangerous war we've ever faced, because we are fighting an enemy that has no country or uniform. Today, radical, religious zealots all over the world, and within the U.S., want to "stop us from breathing" until there are none of us left.
"Us" includes anyone who is not Muslim. Think hard on the previous sentence. Even if you believe in the Great Nothing, radical Muslims want you dead because you do not adhere to their way of thinking. I know people personally, who will argue with great conviction that Muslim groups, such as Hamas, are "kind and benevolent" organizations that "help orphans and widows." When we hear people say these things, we must have the courage to stand up for the Truth — not some convenient, worldly, made-up version of it. The real Truth is that radical Islam will destroy the world if we turn a blind eye or breathe a mass, sympathetic, humanist sigh and allow it to happen. In this new war, we are all called to be soldiers.
Huckabee compared the act of being a soldier to what it should be like to be a soldier for God. An American soldier must separate himself from what he has known in his civilian life in order to serve with a steadfast conviction and without hesitation. He explained that when a person trains to be a soldier, individual will is broken so that in a time of crisis, the only thought is to "do the right thing" — no matter what the cost. A true soldier gains an extraordinary type of discipline that allows him to react to difficult circumstances instantly. In many cases, he will suffer. In some cases, he will lose his life, as was the case with Private First Class Ross A. McGinnis. McGinnis was in Baghdad, Iraq, on December 4, 2006, patrolling in a military vehicle and manning an M2 .50-caliber machine gun when a live grenade was thrown into the gunner's hatch. His immediate reaction was to throw his body over the grenade to protect his fellow soldiers. The grenade exploded. McGinnis died. His actions saved four of his fellow soldiers from injury and/or certain death. He gave all that he had — his entire life — for his country.
As servants of God, we must also separate ourselves from old and destructive ways and adhere to an unswerving discipline so that we will act instinctively and without hesitation in times of great difficulty. We may not be liked by all people. We may have to suffer some consequences for disagreeing with the world's point of view. But in all our actions, we must always strive to "do the right thing." Unlike radical Muslims, our God is a God of love. However, we are not called to love evil. We must give our lives to root it out, and as we do so, we have only one Commander in Chief to please: The True God of Love.
Huckabee told a story about visiting a Holocaust memorial in Israel with his daughter, who was about 11 at the time. He said it was an extremely emotional experience and he wondered how his daughter would respond. At the end of the tour, she silently took a pen out of his pocket and filled out a guest card. There was a place for a comment. In her 11-year-old "scrawl" she wrote: "Why didn't somebody do something?"
From the heart of a child, that is the exact point, my dear Americans. "Somebody" needs to be "us" — every day — doing something to counteract the evil that is overtaking all that is good about this country. Our America is being attacked from without and from within. We can't just talk about it, or be anxious because we have no idea what to do, or be paralyzed with fear because we have no desire to involve ourselves. We cannot be soldiers for God without taking some kind of action.[2] Contact your representatives until they are sick of hearing from you. Let the local and national media know that they are not covering the real news. Speak the Truth to your friends and neighbors with all the love and kindness you can muster, but with the conviction of laying your life on the line.
A nation cannot save itself; only the people can save it. One voice is lost in the wilderness. Millions of voices cannot be ignored. You are not alone in your quest to restore what is right and true, but you will be alone if you think it falls to others to take action.
The Honorable Governor Mike Huckabee, a true patriot and soldier of God, left a thankful group of Americans with one final thought on what we can do in the face of the current darkness:
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah: 6:8)
If only our president truly understood what it means to be an American and a soldier.
NOTES:
[2] Contact your state representatives and Congress on crucial issues that affect your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness in America.
© Nanette Malher
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