Back When Ol’ Henry Was Penning the Lyrics

A  little ditty written by Longfellow during 1864 after he received word his son had been wounded on the field of battle. 

 

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

 

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play,

And mild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along the unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head

“There is no peace on earth,” I said,

“For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Till ringing, singing on its way

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime, a chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good will to men

Not Worthy

I’ve been told a lot lately that I’m not worthy and I’m okay with that since I already had an inkling of the sorts but the latest rejection came from a local newspaper who asked for candidates who wanted to be on the editorial board to submit their names, history, and preferences to them.  Welp, the ol’ Frustrated did exactly that and I guess by their silence they have spoken… the ol’ Frustrated just ain’t worthy to be on their editorial board.  Looking back at my application I’m not sure why because I answered their questions with the wisdom that comes from being in your 40’s.   Some quick examples;

What is your political view and affiliation?  I am generally conservative and ran under the Republican ticket.  However, these days I’m not really anything but just a ticked off citizen who thinks we should ship all politicians to Iraq to let them fight the war and start all over here at home.

What are  your religious views?  Welp, I think Jesus was on to something when he changed the water to wine and maybe if we spent our time trying to do the same there wouldn’t be so much sadness in the world.

What are your views of our county and city government?  I don’t think our county is any more inbred or illiterate than the next county but after seeing the last passel of politicians we put in office I’m not so sure.  I do think they all have pretty nice smiles and look good in front of the camera which is good thing since there really isn’t anything worse than an ugly poor politician.

In your opinion, what is the greatest challenge facing our city in the next decade? I am fearful our city will be stuck with only one diet choice of Slurpees at the 7-11.  Such backward thinking and lack of city planning doesn’t speak well for our city.

I know, I couldn’t believe they deemed me unworthy either.  Sigh.  Maybe I was too forward thinking on the Slurpee issue.

Guard Shoots Gunman at Church

My oh my, things have changed.  You get a crazy man shooting up a church and the hired guard shoots him dead.  Now is it me or doesn’t this present in some way a paradoxical quandary?   On one hand the church is about turning the other cheek but on the other the mass murdering of innocent life demands a good citizen to stand up and protect the innocent.  Turn the cheek… gun down the madman.  In Texas I know folks with conceal and carry licenses aren’t allowed to have a gun on church property but I’m sure that doesn’t cover paid staff who most likely have a certification to carry in the line of their job.

Reminds me of a discussion in a Christian Ethics class (I know, the title itself is an oxymoron since being ethics should = true Christianity but  hey, it was required and it was a good class) when the prof asked us to answer Yoder’s debate over whether a Christian had the right to kill an intruder in their own home.  He actually took it a bit further than that by asking if it was ethical for a Christian to take the life of an unrepentant sinner and by doing so remove any chance they had to seek God’s mercy.  The question became even more complicated when Yoder asked if you had the right to determine what everyone in the house wanted at that moment.  After all, they might actually want to lay down their lives for this intruder if that meant the intruder would have the opportunity to repent later of their sin.  Who are  you to decide the desire of everyone’s heart who is involved in the moment?

The Texan in me says, “Kill ‘em and let God worry about it.”  The Christian in me says, “Dang those Mennonites!  Why did they have to ask so many @_#*^^(_$%@+)#(&^+@!# questions?”

What that has to do with my original premise I don’t know but I am thinking the guard has a tough situation on his hands.  No doubt he saved many people from dying but if he is a religious man won’t he always wonder at the end of the day about the man he killed?  Maybe not.  I know I would be haunted for a lifetime but for this person I hope that he is spared such late night torment.

Maybe what really bugs me is that churches now feel so threatened by society they have a compulsion to have armed guards to protect their members, property, and clergy.  This weekend I guess some guy proved them right which saddens me to no end.  Have we slipped so far in this country that nothing is sacred anymore?  If you don’t like a church or if they haven’t treated you right then let ‘em know with your voice or your feet, don’t storm the gates with an Uzi (don’t panic Beef, I know it wasn’t an Uzi that was used… it just sounded more poetic).

Turn the cheek or kill the gunman.  Sigh.  We shouldn’t ever have to choose.