I Pledge Allegiance

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

The Pledge to be allegiant ... to be loyal, to protect, and I would assume "to take care of" is part of being "allegiant".  Wouldn't you?  It seems to me, that policies in this country can easily be measured against the words of this pledge, and a very easy and logical conclusion can be made, that they do not measure up to standards of this pledge.  

"...and to the republic for which it stands..."  

A republic is a system where the THE PEOPLE have the say.  The voice of THE PEOPLE is what governs.  The government serves THE PEOPLE!  Who are "The People"...?  The citizens of the United States.  These are logical conclusions.  To become a citizen of the United States, there is a process, and set of minimum qualifications.  I do believe in vetting people before they have the privilage and the right to come into this nation and reside as an official citizen of this country.  

Why is government allowing anybody and everybody to come into this country?  If one is pledging allegiance to these words, which the government officials "say" they do...then why is someone (that has not had to go through any sort of minimum due process) allowed to come into this country?  Are our representatives that naïve to the idea that an open southern boarder would not be abused by those with nefarious intentions of this world?  

Why are those that wonder into this country given government provided transportation, $500 per night hotel accommodations, food, and money?  Paid for by We "THE PEOPLE"?  How is this "just"?  Was this ever provided for those that are here legally?  

"...one nation..."

We are all equal.  Nobody is owed anything.  We all have (legally speaking) the same rights and privileges that the other has.  There are so many ways one can offer value, for which one can be compensated and earn in this country.  If you want to make more and increase your pay, then become more valuable in the marketplace.  We are one nation, yet it sure doesn't feel like it at all lately.  We have so many that want to change this country.  This country has a set of rules and ways it's going to operate.  If you don't like it, then go to another country that aligns with your values and views on how government is to run!  If American isn't your flavor, then go somewhere else that is!  With so many options out there,..go somewhere that fits you.  

"...under God..."  Whichever way you wish to worship God, or your version of what God is, then this country allows that and protects it.  We are free to think of God as we wish.  However, we are not allowed to infringe on the freedom that someone else has,  to think of, and worship their God the way they see fit. If there is no God in your belief system, then that is your right.  Accept that we all have our rights in this country to think of Deity (or not think of Deity) the way one sees fit.  I see this as words of gratitude, equality, and humility.  "Under God".  This country and its values,...how easily it can be corrupted and destroyed.  Maybe the admissions of God are good things!  To be kind, and to love others, to respect others, to have op[en and civil conversations, to forgive, be tolerant, and value life itself...  Hmmm...aren't these things good?  

"...indivisible..." Wow...

"...with liberty and justice for all."  The two words LIBERTY and JUSTICE.  I think they go hand in hand.  Liberty and freedom.  NOT to do anything though.  Justice must hold the line and cause consequence when ones' liberties have been violated.  Why is law not enforced?  Why is there a budget as to what laws will be enforced or not?  If a law is broken, now there is a monetary measuring stick as to whether or not there will be consequences?  I was shocked the other day when I heard a politician say "The cost to incarcerate someone for 90 days is greater than the monetary amount of what they stole from a store.  So we will not prosecute those crimes."  WOW!!  What sort of behavior do you think this is going to foster and encourage?  Seriously?  A lawless society and a corrupt government.  Lawless at the top, that trickles down to the citizens and non-citizens of this country.  No justice, allows liberties of the individual to be violated.  A store owner has to allow their merchandise to be stollen, and will run the risk of being tried in a court of law if they chose to defend their property and livelihood?  WTF?!  Those in power won't prosecute the lawless criminal?..., yet WILL prosecute the one who is trying to defend ones' own property, family, and/or livelihood?!  Why isn't this country trying to defend the lawless boarder?  

So much to say about this country, both good and bad.  Forget campaign slogans and put those aside.  Just using the full intend of the words...

"Make America Great Again" ... "Build Back Better"

These are GOOD things!!! Yet I don't see anything wrong with trying to make this country great again, and/or build it back better.  Seems to me it's simple when it comes to policy.  Does the existing and/or proposed policy live up to the standards of the pledge of allegiance?  Most that we see today... simply don't!  If they don't,... then the policies should be examined and changed.  We can do better!  

Simple to me.  

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The above was written on Sept 23, 2023 and I chose not to publish it.  

It's time to publish this!  GO TRUMP!!  #change #DrainTheSwamp

Two Lives

"We have two lives, Roy...The life we learn with and the life we live after that."

:  "The Natural" (Movie)

I heard this the other day and it struck me funny.  I've thought about it since, so I decided to break my online silence and start to write again, and share what's in this head of mine. Hmm,...Two lives.

Do we really live two lives?  and then I naturally would ask myself ..."Which one am I in the middle of now?"  I suppose for me, as I think about this, it makes sense that the things we are meant to learn, ARE learned, then we are able to be at peace and live the rest of our life in peace and in harmony having finally learned the lessons we came to learn.  If we DON'T learn them, then we are still in the middle of the circle that causes us to face the same lessons (over and over again) until we finally get it.  As I think about what I want out of my life at this point,.. I can only say that all I want is PEACE right now.  Which actually indicated that I don't feel peace much in my life.  I feel at odds and in conflict a lot of the time.  If there's conflict, then there is pain, where there is pain, there isn't much bliss, where there isn't much bliss, then I have to look in the mirror and change some things that will allow the bliss and the peace to flow again.  

The first life,.. the one that we learn with,..  The silliness of life that we get out of our system.  Becoming an adult and putting away that childish side of me.  That's not the "life we learn with" (to me).  Once those silly things are put away (some people never get there, even in their older years), we then, with our very best efforts and intentions, we still stumble and fall and learn.  Doing our very best, jobs or businesses fail, and things don't always work out.  We learn and adapt.  Relationships, with stars in our eyes and hearts SO full, we try with our absolute best foot forward, and yet still,.. things don't work out all the time.  We turn circles and continue with the same patterns and yet still don't learn the intended lessons.  At what point does the life we are learning with, turn into the life we live after that?  Perhaps there is a flaw in the movie quote.  I would say that we haven't ever arrived, yet we should always continue learning.  Learning is a lifelong pursuit.  Yet I don't thing that's what the quote was talking about.  I think it's painting to two lives where the first we learn our lessons (some never do),...yet then we finally find a balance in life where we are at peace, happy, and settled.  The inner storm isn't there anymore, and we have learned to be at peace inside.  We let go of the mistakes we made, the mistakes others have made, and learn that there just isn't any reason to carry that around with us any longer.  The unnecessary weight of pain, guilt, and shame, that we carry on our shoulders.  Just forgive it ALL and let go.  

Perhaps that is a better to think of it.  The life we lived as we would not let things go, and we would guard our stance and positions with ego and fear,..then finally letting go of it all and then living that 2nd life of freedom from our baggage of "stuff" that we somehow felt so inclined to hold onto.  This person wronged me there, and this other person or circumstance wronged me over there too!  Victim thinking and hanging onto it all.  Justified by our own hurt narrative,.. then finally seeing that it’s all cancer to hold onto those things.  Let them go,.. and then LIVE!  Other circumstances arise,...LET THEM GO IMMEDIATELY!  I suppose we get better at it, because that ol' ego wants to live.  Oh boy does that ego want to live and be the victim.  Let it all go as Michael Singer says in his book "The Untethered Soul"...Chapter 8, which is entitled "Let Go Now or Fall"... Wow,.. how I have been blessed to have this chapter sent to me today.  I was asked to read it slowly with an open heart.  I did as I was invited to do.  With prayer before reading it, and an open heart, I did read it.  It logically yet gently taught me to just let go.  I loved it.  I am so grateful, humbled, and filled with grace and love. 

Perhaps it’s on each and every one of us, to decide when we’ll begin that “2nd life”, which only begins when each of us decides to forgive ourselves, others, and circumstances; when we can finally live that second life.  That one of PEACE that I believe many want.  It’s on US to just decide that it’s time to let go, forgive, and have and experience that PEACE!  

Yes please!  

Dance with Life

This song has meant so much to me ever since I saw this movie (Phenomenon...John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Forest Whitaker, Robert Duvall) back in 1996.  The film is about what is possible in this human experience.  It's about the mind and heart, and how they both can be unlocked to unlimited potential and wonder.  It's about how we should not fear greatness, and yet most do fear what might be different than what they see as acceptable.  It's about allow life to simply BE what is can be,...so beautiful and of a higher frequency with which most are unfamiliar.  It's about stopping the "rush of life" to just feel the one-ness of energy and existence with nature, Mother Earth, and The Universe.  To truly feel and witness the awe and wonder that exists even by listening to your own breath, your own heart beat, and the love that is truly all around and in us at every moment.

To "Dance with life",... what does this mean?

"Dance like nobody is watching" is a common phrase we've all heard.  It is about being present, and BEING YOU!  Nobody is there to judge in any way, so just BE YOU!  Full of life and energy, passion, and zest.

Is it possible to live this way?
When the kids are screaming, and one needs to be at practice in 15 minutes, and the others are hungry and need to be fed.  When homework or job deadlines are due and you're under the pressures of circumstance.  When misunderstandings between people occur, someone has wronged you, and problems seem to be overwhelming.  Can we really "dance with life" in those moments?  When those things that happen that cause us to no longer "Dance with Life" and be present.  God knows that I have not been fully present in some of those moments in my life, yet others I have.  I haven't always consciously understood the contributing factors that cause us to respond better or worse to the circumstances that arise.   As I've learned more of the ego, and how much it plays a part in most of our lives.  I've learned the ego is a killer of "The Dance"... Becoming more aware of the ego, is the beginning of the end of ego.  I've also learned that maintaining an "attitude of gratitude" is a helping factor to difficult situations,...yet when we are wronged and the ego flares up,..it has been sometimes difficult for me to remember gratitude in those situations.

Recently I've met someone that has taught me so much about love and gratitude!  "Is it loving?" is her filter to any response or circumstance...and now it's mine as well.  Am I choosing a loving response?  Can I remember that question in those moments when the kids are screaming in the car and they're late for practice?  Can I remember that I love my child and want them to know that, more than whether or not they're at practice on time?  Can I recognize that I'm usually doing my best and sometimes circumstances cause us to be late from time to time?..and IT'S OK!  Life will still be ok, and tomorrow you'll get them there on time.  In those fights or misunderstandings can we remember that we do love this person?  If we don't can we remember to love ourselves, and not allow something that isn't loving to come from our own selves?...

"The Dance" and the beauty of life comes from BEING LOVING with others and ourselves,...and GRATEFUL!

What has been AMAZING to me as of recent... is that as we seek to surrender to LOVE and GRATITUDE,.. then we somehow get introduced to people and circumstances that allow love to grow and expand!  It's a miracle to me, that as we truly love those in our lives, and as we feel so filled with love,...then boom, our world expands and new situations and people enter our lives and we somehow feel so much more love for those that have come.
My Mother use to talk of this miracle.  I remember her saying "When I had my first child, and I felt so much love for this little gift from God,...and I can't imagine loving another child as much as I do this one.  Then when a second child comes along, and boom...My heart expanded and I was blessed and filled with so much more love.  It truly is a miracle!  Imagine how big and expansive God's love is for all of His children!!"

As we surrender to love,..then our love expands,..and we get to surrender more and more to BEING LOVE.

The "Dance with Life" that I've had has recently expended to such a bigger circle for me.  I have met my match made in heaven, and it is nothing short of a miracle!  Love is a miracle, and we get to choose it, or not.

(Opening lyrics to this song)
"I was thinking out loud 
One life's such a short time for love
When a match made in heaven arrives
Eternity is never enough"

It is so exciting, humbling, and so loving!  It's a miracle to me as to how much she and I have been blessed lately!  I believe that God and The Universe have so much to show us!!  It truly is beautiful and ours'!!

It's interesting that people have their opinions about it, and how they think it's "supposed to be",..or reasons why it might be challenging.  What is amazing is that she and I simply choose to surrender to "Our Dance"!  To be present, to be loving, to be grateful for the miracle that it IS!  To be open to what is possible for our hearts and minds (as this film teaches)... Details can and do figure themselves out ONLY IF we can remain present, loving, and grateful.  The possibilities are endless, and frequency is based on love and hope which only points upward!  To SOAR and DANCE with Her as we choose this life that WE see...togther!  God, how I thank Thee for bringing me someone with whom I choose to soar and build.

(Closing lyrics to this song)

"Swim in the soul of your eyes
'til we melt into the night
We need to dance with life
And leave a brilliant light behind"

She is light, She is Love, She is my Match,...She knows how to "Dance with Life",.. Yes Please!

Oh how I hope you love this song as I do:
~  "Dance with Life" by Bryan Ferry  ~
Go watch the movie too!! ..."Phenomenon"

Open to your thoughts on this "Dance with Life" topic!