Quotation Saturday ~ War, Peace

Dallas, Texas

Dealey Plaza

Pss. 28:3  “Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.”

 DIVISION

“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.” 
― Winston S. Churchill

“We need to eliminate the concept of division by class, skills, race, income, religion, and nationality. Every human requires food and water to survive and every human has a heart that bleeds, loves, and grieves.” 
― Suzy Kassem

“Faults are thick where love is thin.” 
― English Proverb

“Americans claimed to be following a higher law, even when this higher law only turned out to be a personal preference.” 
― Mark A. Noll, The Civil War as a Theological Crisis

HATE

“If you want to forget something or someone, never hate it, or never hate him/her. Everything and everyone that you hate is engraved upon your heart; if you want to let go of something, if you want to forget, you cannot hate.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” 
― James Baldwin

“Hate hurts the hater more'n the hated.” 
― Madeleine L'Engle

“To hate man and worship God seems to be the sum of all the creeds.” 
― Robert G. Ingersolln 

RACE

“When you hate a person because of their race or religion, it is then you realize in the depths of yourself, you really hate YOU.”
~ Joni Zipp

“We are all equal in the fact that we are all different. We are all the same in the fact that we will never be the same. We are united by the reality that all colours and all cultures are distinct & individual. We are harmonious in the reality that we are all held to this earth by the same gravity. We don't share blood, but we share the air that keeps us alive. I will not blind myself and say that my black brother is not different from me. I will not blind myself and say that my brown sister is not different from me. But my black brother is he as much as I am me. But my brown sister is she as much as I am me.”
― C. JoyBell C.

“Race doesn't really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don't have that choice.” 
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“It is when we think we can act like God, that all respect is lost, and I think this is the downfall of peace. We lie if we say we do not see color and culture and difference. We fool ourselves and cheat ourselves when we say that all of us are the same. We should not want to be the same as others and we should not want others to be the same as us. Rather, we ought to glory and shine in all of our differences, flaunting them fabulously for all to see! It is never a conformity that we need! We need not to conform! What we need is to burst out into all these beautiful colors!” 
― C. JoyBell C.

WAR

“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” 
― Plato

“Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” 
― Ernest Hemingway

“All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal.” 
― John Steinbeck

“There's never been a true war that wasn't fought between two sets of people who were certain they were in the right. The really dangerous people believe they are doing whatever they are doing solely and only because it is without question the right thing to do. And that is what makes them dangerous.” 
― Neil Gaiman

PEACE

“Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:

- I shall not fear anyone on Earth. 
- I shall fear only God. 
- I shall not bear ill will toward anyone. 
- I shall not submit to injustice from anyone. 
- I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.” 
― Mahatma Gandhi

“If man thinks war is a means to peace, that man is delusional.”
~ Joni Zipp

“It's so hard to forget pain, but it's even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.” 
― Chuck Palahniuk

“Dad, how do soldiers killing each other solve the world's problems?” 
― Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985-1995: An Exhibition Catalogue

Pss. 29:11 “The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.”

Fort McHenry

Baltimore, Maryland

Quotation Saturday ~ Memorial Day

Fort McHenry

Baltimore, Maryland

WAR

“We the people, in order to form a unified world must stop to fact check before posting lies to diversify. We the people are the victims of a ‘click-bait-share’ system. Anger, rage and misunderstanding are all the causes of internal wars. You, my friends, are the ones so eager to share the lies without seeking out facts thus causing and feeding into the war of the races. You are the ones who start the wars.”
~ Joni Zipp

“Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched."
[My Uncle Sosthenes]” 
~ Guy de Maupassant

“In war, the first casualty is truth.” 
~ Terry Hayes

“Wars today seem to occur at a more precise point in time but deep down they are permanent.” 
~ Bernardo Carvalho

MISUNDERSTANDING

“We're all born with selfish desires, so we can all relate to those feelings in others. But kindness is something made individually by each person...so it's easy to misunderstand when others are trying to be kind to you.” 
~ Natsuki Takaya

“They have the unique ability to listen to one story and understand another.” 
~ Pandora Poikilos

“The common man prays, 'I want a cookie right now!' And God responds, 'If you'd listen to what I say, tomorrow it will bring you 100 cookies.” 
~ Criss Jami

SEGREGATION

“All good people agree,
And all good people say,
All nice people, like Us, are We
And every one else is They:
But if you cross over the sea,
Instead of over the way,
You may end by (think of it!) looking on We
As only a sort of They!” 
~ Rudyard Kipling

“To become a true global citizen, one must abandon all notions of 'otherness' and instead embrace 'togetherness'. The world is no longer white, black, yellow and brown. Through love, tribes have been intermixing colors to reveal a new rainbow world. And as more time passes, this racial and cultural blending will make it harder for humans to side with one race, nation or religion over another. Therefore, practical wisdom should be used to abandon any cultural, social, religious, tribal, and national beliefs of alterity altogether. This is the only way mankind will truly evolve. Segregation is a word of the past. Unity is the key to a peaceful future.” 
~ Suzy Kassem

“Ignoring the evils of our history will only cause them to reoccur.” 
~ R.M. Donaldson

“Having the liberty to have freedom of choice is the greatest thing that each and every one of us has because that makes us who we are. Do not however, use this as an excuse to discriminate, segregate and stereotype mass amounts of people on the basis of a small group of individuals who have either the power or the spotlight to do bad things” 
~ Calum Alexander Logan

MEMORIAL DAY

“The atrocities of war are only overshadowed by the heroism of their dead.” 
~ Todd Stocker

“As individuals die every moment, how insensitive and fabricated a love it is to set aside a day from selfish routine in prideful, patriotic commemoration of tragedy. Just as God is provoked by those who tithe simply because they feel that they must tithe, I am provoked by those who commemorate simply because they feel that they must commemorate.” 
~ Criss Jami

“We'd like to think that it is not our fault that great men and women died fighting for the security of our nation and safety of our communities. But we know this not to be true. They committed their lives for us in instances where either we were too afraid to do it ourselves or failed to find alternate solutions on our own. We enjoy the fruits of their ultimate sacrifice and owe their families a heartfelt thanks and apology every day.” 
~ D'Andre Lampkin

“You are silent now who once stood on battlefields ravaged by destruction unimaginable, holding in those desperate places the line of freedom for others you would never know, and who would never know you. And being one of those you never knew, I would give all I have to clasp your hand one single time, look into eyes that witnessed the bloodied carnage that results when freedom refuses to bow to chains of any kind, and simply say 'thank you.” 
~ Craig D. Lounsbrough


Have a safe and blessed Memorial Day weekend remembering this:

“-We need more love, to supersede hatred,
-We need more strength, 
to resist our weaknesses, 
-We need more inspiration, 
to lighten up our inner mind. 
-We need more learning, 
to erase our ignorance, 
-We need more wisdom, 
to live longer and happier, 
-We need more truths, to suppress deceptions, 
-We need more health, 
to enjoy our wealth, 
-We need more peace, to stay in harmony with our brethren 
-We need more smiles, 
to brighten up our day, 
-We need more hero's, and not zero's, 
-We need more change of ourselves, to change the lives of others, 
-We need more understanding, 
to tackle our misunderstanding, 
-We need more sympathy, 
not apathy, 
-We need more forgiveness, 
not vengeance, 
-We need more humility to be lifted up, 
-We need more patience and not undue eagerness, 
-We need more focus, to avoid distraction, 
-We need more optimism, 
not pessimism 
-We need more justice, 
not injustice, 
-We need more facts, not fiction,
-We need more education, 
to curb illiteracy, 
-We need more skills, not incompetence, 
-We need more challenges, 
to make attempts, 
-We need more talents, 
to create the extraordinary, 
-We need more helping hands, 
not stingy folks, 
-We need more efforts, 
not laziness, 
-We need more jokes, to forget our worries, 
-We need more spirituality, 
not mean religion, 
-We need more freedom, 
not enslavement, 
-We need more peacemakers, 
not revolutionaries...with these, we create a heaven on earth.” 
~ Michael Bassey Johnson

The Snowstorm

Luke 8:23 “But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.”

The impending storm has the media all up in arms causing people to panic using words like historic, devastating, menacing and catastrophic. While the media likes to blow things out of proportion I personally, having lived on the east coast for 37 years of my life, can add simple words to tell the truth of the matter like immobilizing, standstill and simply put, a snowstorm.

My mother tells me they have already closed schools for the day (Friday) and the storm isn’t going to hit until tonight! They are calling for one inch of snow today, 8-12 this evening with high winds, and tomorrow an additional 10-14 inches! While this storm will put traffic at a standstill and immobilize the millions that are crammed into Maryland it is also going to affect millions of others from the surrounding states. While a lot of people are joking saying:
“It’s a snowstorm deal with it.”
“So much for Global Warming!”
“I guess Climate Change was a farce.” And the ever popular,
“You haven’t seen a snowstorm until you lived in ______!” put any northern state in the blank.

What will be on the rise during this storm I can assure you, will be ignorance, speed demons, hurried people, car wrecks, selfish antics and greed.

What I’d like to SEE during this storm and will happen but on rare occasions is compassion, concern and consideration. Trust me, I’ve lived through quite a few of these colossal blizzards in my lifetime. 

The people in the North will make fun of the people in the South for their inability to handle ice and snow as if they deal with that stuff all the time. I lived in Texas a few years and no, they can’t handle snow and ice only because they’re lucky (or not) to see the stuff maybe once in ten years! Where the people in the North have had to deal with storms of massive proportions yearly.

When Steven bought his Ford Explorer years ago in Texas, it wasn’t a four-wheel drive but when we got to Nebraska and had to buy a new truck it is all they sold, 4 wheel drives. When asked WHY the difference, the seller simply put, ‘they don’t need 4 wheel drives in the south.’

As our self-centered ME generation plows ahead all that they can think to do is make fun of people? Seriously? Every storm is different but rest assured there WILL be casualties, there will be homes, houses and cars destroyed, backs will be injured, elderly will be left powerless and the homeless will suffocate and die. And all you can do is poke fun? Maybe you’re also proud of the person you’ve become?

It seems like an all to often knee jerk reaction making fun of the less fortunate but it is getting really old this day and age, in my book. I remember more times than once taking eight hours to shovel out a car and its parking spot only to move the car and someone else jump into your hard work. I remember bailing out three, four, ten neighbors at a time so they could see the outside world in the midst of a two foot snow barrier and yes I remember taking the elderly food during these rough storms! 

But today? People will shoot you for a parking spot, elderly will be left to die, neighbors will build walls of discontent to have everything THEIR way. That’s just the way the world is these days.

Eight inches of snow in Nashville Tennessee? While all of you Climate Change scoffers sit there and laugh please be aware of the drastic changes going on around you that you can SEE if only you had eyes to see. Climate Change by definition states: a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.

Now I have not done any scientific research on Climate Change but I am not so stupid that I can’t SEE visually what is going on around me! Let me just say, the week of December 25th, Baltimore saw temps in the seventies and had people jogging around the Inner Harbor in shorts and tank tops and note that this current blizzard is the FIRST snowstorm of their winter season!

Hurricanes raging in the Atlantic in January, snow in Texas, El Paso no less, tornadoes in many places that’s not normal for JANUARY, Fracking causing earthquakes in Oklahoma and yet you still laugh?

We the people are destroying the earth and all you can do is sit and frantically post silly BS on facebook and twitter? I sit in awe of your selfish ego. Compassion is more than just reading and reposting what you can on the internet. Loving God is more than just spouting a few words of praise. Being Christ-like is more than just being nice to a person. It SHOULD be a way of life and for some it IS a way of life. 

My prayers go out to the people in the midst of the storms. My prayer is for them to look at the world and slow down. The world, hopefully, will still be here next week so what is the hurry to grab bread, milk and toilet paper? Remember, to love one another as you love yourself! If you can’t love someone you’ve never met, you have very little love for yourself. 

Mark 12:31 “And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

Quotation Saturday ~ Fourth of July!

Fort McHenry - Baltimore Maryland

Acts 22:28 “And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.”

FOURTH OF JULY

“The most elusive and ultimately impossible act of liberation is freedom from sin and self, and no document or declaration of man regardless of how exquisitely penned can do that. Such an astonishing act of liberation could only have been penned in one place: the cross.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Years ago, a group of good, wise, brave, God-fearing men stood up to claim and defend the human right for independence. Those men are now dead. Their work is not. But if good, wise, brave, God-fearing men fail to stand up in their stead, that independence will cease to exist.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich

“Freedom is the atmosphere in which humanity thrives. Breathe it in.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich

“To celebrate the Fourth of July meant something definite in those days.”
― Carol Ryrie Brink

Annapolis Maryland

PATRIOTISM

“They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.”
― Ernest Hemingway

“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“Patriots always talk of dying for their country but never of killing for their country.”
― Bertrand Russell

Texas

FREEDOM

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”
― Virginia Woolf

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
― Charlotte Brontë

“When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”
― Nelson Mandela

“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.”
― Stephen King, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

Fort McHenry - Looking at the Francis Scott Key Bridge

INDEPENDENCE

“I'd rather die my way than live yours.”
― Lauren Oliver

“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”
― Jane Austen

“To find yourself, think for yourself.”
― Socrates

“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice."
[Stanford University commencement speech, 2005]”
― Steve Jobs

Texas

CELEBRATION

“People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. To be entertained is a passive state--it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle.... Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one's actions.
Source: The Wisdom of Heschel”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel

“Celebration is an act of impressing sadistic someone residing in you.”
― Santosh Kalwar

“Life is a celebration. Free your mind to find the liberation.”
― Debasish Mridha

“So much of life is in the smallness of moments...but they are harder to mark. So we need the grander celebrations and occasions. People like to feel significant”
― Ally Condie

Annapolis State House