Gerry Charlotte Phelps

Dog Saves Abandoned Newborn

     "China," rescuer of abandoned newborn baby

                   (Image from cnn.com)

This mother dog in Argentina heard the cries of a just-born boy in a field in rural Argentina, where his mother, 14, had abandoned him.  It is winter in Argentina now. The field, at 37 degrees, was too cold for the baby to have lived through the night.

"China," a farmer's dog, searched out the crying baby in the dark field.  Somehow the 8 year old China carried the 8 pound, 13 ounce baby back about 150 feet to her litter of newborn pups.  She and the six pups kept the baby warm enough to keep it alive.  Later in the night the farmer heard the baby cry and searched until he found it beside his dog and her pups.  He called the police.

Police Chief Daniel Salcedo said "She took it like a puppy and rescued it.  The doctors told us if she hadn't done this, the baby would have died.  The dog is a hero to us."

Dr. Egidio Melia said the police brought the baby to the hospital at 11:30 p.m.  The doctors said the baby was only a few hours old.  He had some superficial scratches and bruises and was bleeding from the mouth, but was actually in good shape.  He has been transferred to a children's hospital in the capitol, Buenos Aires.  He will live, thanks to China, the super-mom dog. 

(From http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/08/22/argentina.dog.tale/index.html)

Son of Illegal Aliens Wins Gold at Olympics

_

Henry Cejudo, 21, U.S.A Gold Medal Winner in Wrestling,

                              2008 Olympic Games

_

See video of his winning match at http://www.nbcolympics.com/wrestling/news/newsid=233761.html?_source=rss&cid=

Henry Cejudo made history with his big win in the freestyle 55-kilogram wrestling final.

Cejudo, crying the moment the match ended and wrapping himself in an American flag, defeated Tomohiro Matsunaga of Japan 2-2 on tiebreaker and 3-0 in the best-of-three match. Cejudo was 31st in last year's world championships, his only prior tournament at this level.

Cejudo, the son of undocumented Mexican aliens who bypassed a college career to try to become an Olympian, assures  the United States of winning a freestyle wrestling gold for the ninth consecutive Olympics at which it has competed.

Two years after U.S. coach Kevin Jackson called him the future of wrestling, the future became the present in a dazzling four-match flurry, making Cejudo the youngest American to win an Olympic wrestling gold medal.

None of the other 49 did it the way he did.

"I always knew I was going to be here," Cejudo said, his blackened right eye a contrast to the gold medal he clutched ever-so-tight. "I watched the Olympics as a kid and I knew I'd be here. It was tough. But it's all worth it."

The tears that fell moments after he defeated Matsunaga gave way to a smile as wide as a wrestling mat, as he realized what he had done it. And, too, how he had done it.

American wrestlers are supposed to go to college, then enter the Olympic program when they're experienced and ready; Cejudo did so at age 17 and is the only wrestler to win a national senior championship before leaving high school.

From high school to the big time -- the same path LeBron James and Kobe Bryant took in basketball.

On his day of days, Cejudo all but gave away periods, gambling he'd have enough energy to wear down his opponents in the last two periods, admittedly causing Jackson moments of panic.

"I'm kind of unorthodox," Cejudo said.

The whiz kid won because he was every bit a wizard against wrestlers older and more wizened. His success story is the kind that seems hackneyed and a cliche, at least until it happens with the Olympics as a backdrop.

"This proves that whatever you want to do as an American, you can do it," Cejudo said.

Michael Phelps - New Hope for ADD Kids

                                  (Image from latimes.com)

Michael Phelps told the interviewer about being an ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) kid, in a long magazine article a couple of years ago.  He simply had incredible surplus energy.  He told about how he would check in at home after school, then leave for the park.  There hs would tear around, trying to burn off as much energy as he could, so that when he returned home, his behavior would not exhaust his mom.  Pretty insughtful for a kid, obviously.  And pretty considerate of his mom too.

Then came the big revelation.  Michael did not tire like other athletes.  His energy just did not stop.  He was one of those rare athletes who could do more than one major swimming event in one day's time.  If fact, he sometimes did more than two in one day!  He seemed not to get tired, not in the way the other athletes did.  His energy came right back.

Think what that means.  Many believe that kids are often misdiagnosed as being ADD when they are not, and medicated when they should not be.  Most ADD kids are boys - who are often more energetically active than girls anyhow - and whose energy and restlessness may be disruptive in a classroom.

But what Michael's case shows is that many of them may simply be exceptional, super-charged future athletic champions.  How many more "Michael Phelps kids" are out there, controlled by ADD medications rather than working out until they drop?  It may be that what many ADD kids need to be doing is working exceptionally hard to become champions, rather than being medically quieted down.

Today Michael told an interviewer that as an ADD kid, he didn't want to take the medications.  Instead, he asked his parents to let him burn up energy by working out hard at the pool.  That was the start of his sizzling-fast surge to championship.  Michael was just 15 at his first Olympics.  Now, at age 23, he is already being called "The Greatest Olympian," with 11 lifetime gold medals - more than anyone in Olympic history.  He may even win more before these Olympics close..

Smart coaches looking for young potential champs would do well, it seems, to look among ADD kids in the future.  Rather than a handicap, an ADD label may actually indicate great possibilities for unusual success.

If so, Michael Phelps' incredible achievements in swimming could someday be eclipsed by what he has added to our understanding of the strange phenomenon of ADD, and even of some possible great advantages.

I Can!

                    Tony Melendez

       (Image from roguecountry.com)

See this young man playing the guitar at a huge rally for the Pope here.  6 minutes.  Amazing!

The English translation is here and below:

The guitar is special to me; I found my father's guitar and started playing with it. At the beginning it was only a toy, it was something I was just trying to do and never thought I would hear music from it someday....

Holy Father... we are proud to present to you... Tony Melendez!

I'm Tony Melendez, I was born in Nicaragua but have lived in the US almost my whole life, I'm a singer, and guitarist.we came here to the US because I was a kid with no arms and medicine in Nicaragua was nowhere near as advanced. I was born like this because of a medicine called thalidomide that was given to my mother while she was pregnant with me... that's why I don't have my arms. At the beginning I was so young that I did not understand that I didn't have arms. When I was a little bit older other kids teased me saying "he doesn't have arms... he doesn't have arms." My heart was sore... it hurt so much.

Since I was a young man I had to learn how to use my feet. I wanted to help myself. I wrote and played with my toes. I have two sisters and a brother. My brother and I work together. My mother is still alive but my father passed away. I see now what they sacrificed back then... my father sacrificed everything. He left his country to bring his son here; he was the one that always told me: "Tony, you have to try... you have to do it by yourself."

As a young man I always dreamt of one day getting married, but as a teenager the girls ran away from me saying, "a guy with no arms... a guy with no arms!" Finally I found a beautiful girl. Her name is Lynn. To me, she represents strength and companionship. We had to adopt two kids because we could not have any children. We went to El Salvador where my father was born and we adopted a girl and we went to Nicaragua and adopted a little boy.

I started in music since I was a little boy. My mother sang and my father used to play the guitar. I think I decided to follow their steps. I used to practice 6 to 7 hours every day and eventually what I did started to sound like music.

God has given me strength, God has given me my family, and he has given me my music which makes me feel strongly connected with him. That helped me grow... it has calmed my heart. People ask me, "Tony, why do you feel so whole? And I answer: "I have these (my feet) which do everything for me, I have my family... my heart wants to dance, wants to sing, and wants to live life... because in God's eyes, I'm whole."

Song

Holy Father... we are proud to present to you ... Tony Melendez.

Holy Father: "Tony... you are truly a courageous young man; you are giving hope to all of us. My wish to you is to continue giving this hope to all people."

God has always been in my life. At that moment (with the Holy Father) it is as if he had told me: "Tony, you have to go to work, you have to sing, you have to help, you have to become feet, head and hands," and I started to travel and sing and talk to young people around the world.

I see a person like you that has arms, that has everything, everything, and you say: "I can't, I can't!" Yes, you can! Yes, you can! They have asked me: "Tony, where are the miracles?" and I always say: "I see your hand, and the fact that you are able to raise your hand, that's a miracle."

Please don't ever tell me that you can't. Never tell me that because you. yes you, can do so much more, just get up and say: "I want... I Can... I will move forward. You have a world out there waiting for you to say: "Yes!"

Tony's message to you and me and all of us, then, is simply this:

1.  Be thankful for the things God has given you.

2.  Use them to help others.

3.  Don't ever say "I can't"!

4.  Say "This is what I want to do."

5.  Say "I CAN do it!"

6.  Say "I'm going to move ahead with it."

Remember - "I can do all things through Christ, Who strengthens me."  (Philippians 4:13)

(Hat Tip to Norm Hooben.)

Thank You, Tony

                       Tony Snow At His Last White House Briefing

                               (Image from swamppolitics.com)

They never knew quite what to do about their respect for Tony Snow.  The problem was, he wore his Christianity on his sleeve.  When he had a Fox News show, he often closed with a short, sometimes frankly Christian editorial on his thoughts about something.  That embarrassed a lot of his colleagues in the press.  But he just did his work so darned well!  No one could help respecting him for his professional excellence and his dependable respect and consideration for others.

When he stepped into being Press Secretary for the President, following the long torpor of McClellan's tenure, it was a welcome breath of fresh air for everyone.  And Tony seemed born for the job.  Unfailingly courteous but nevertheless an aggressive partisan for the President, he did the daily battle of the pressroom with class and integrity.  The press responded with new vigor and seemed to thrive in a more heady press-room atmosphere.  They grew fond of him.  Heck, they loved him.  Nobody could not like Tony Snow.

We all followed his battle with cancer, hoping and praying for the best.  His death today was very bad news, and we feel a poignant loss of our own as we grieve with his family.  We already miss him and his example.  But oh, what a memory he left for us! 

Thank you, Tony.  Thank you.

(For video of David Gregory's fine recent interview with Tony, go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25649744)

Who Should Have Gotten the Peace Prize

Ilena Sendler should have been given the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. (See 2 minute video.) 

This heroic nurse saved thousands of Jewish children from the Nazi death camps in WWII.

                                  Ilena Sendler

  (Image from esteblognoesparati.files.wordpress.com)

She smuggled them out of the Warsaw Ghetto in ambulances as "typhus" patients, she hid them temporarily in tool boxes, trash cans and coffins, she trained dogs to bark to hide their cries, then found them refuge in convents and with families. When she was finally caught by the Nazis, they tortured her, breaking both legs and arms, but she never gave them information.  She kept and hid information about each child, and tried to unite them with their parents after WWII.  But most parents had not survived, so she worked to find other places for these children.

Much honored, nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize, she was nominated again for the 2007 Prize. But the Prize was given instead to Al Gore for a slide show.

Now it is too late.  Ilena died May 12 in a Warsaw hospital.  Still, while it may be too late now to give her the Prize, it is not too late to honor her.

But here is a question:  If you were on the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in 2007, who would you have voted for?

Consider her story, here and below:

Rome, May 13, 2008 / 12:32 pm (CNA).- On May 12 Irene Sendler, the courageous Polish Catholic nurse who saved Jewish children from death at the hands of the Nazis, died at the age of 98 in a hospital in Warsaw.

Sendler became known as the angel of the Warsaw ghetto for having saved 2,500 Jewish children from certain death.

During that time she worked for the Warsaw department of social wellbeing which administered the community soup kitchens throughout the city.  She worked tirelessly helping Jews and Catholics.

After the creation of the Warsaw ghetto, Sendler was able to take in the children of many families in order to keep them from being deported to the concentration camps.  She transported the children in ambulances as if they were sick with typhus, she hid them in trash cans, tool boxes, supply chests or coffins and later in convents and Catholic homes.

She created an archive with the real identities of the children so that one day they could be reunited with their surviving family members.

In 1943 she was detained by the Gestapo and taken to prison where she was brutally tortured.  A Divine Mercy holy card was found in her cell with the phrase, Jesus I trust in you, which she kept until 1979 when she gave it to John Paul II as a gift.

She never betrayed her mission and she was sentenced to death, but she was freed thanks to the intervention of the Polish resistance.

At the end of the war she was able to recover her archives. Although most of the families of the children she saved had died in the concentration camps, she placed many of the children in orphanages, and some were sent to Palestine.

In 1965, the organization Yad Vashem of Jerusalem granted her the title righteous among the nations.  During the last years of her life she received the thanks of the children she had saved, and was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

                                   Ilena Sendler   

            (Image from byfiles.storage.live.com)

What do you think?

(Hat Tip to Norman Hooben.)

The Source of Our Freedom

                       (Image from media-2.web.britannica.com)

"In the Ancient world, freedom was viewed as a privilege rather than a right," says Samuel Gregg of the Acton Institute.  Their latest film, The Birth of Freedom, examines the question of why in light of this we in the West enjoy freedom today

Freedom for all is at the heart of the American experiment.  According to the film,

The American founders said that all men are created equal and are endowed with certain unalienable rights—that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They called this a self-evident truth. Eighty-seven years later, Abraham Lincoln reaffirmed this idea on the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg. And in 1963 these same words echoed from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as Martin Luther King, Jr. urged America to fulfill the promise of its founding.

But how did the West move from the Ancient idea that freedom is a privilege to be enjoyed by the few to the idea that freedom is a right to be enjoyed by all? After all, as the film goes on to say:

. . . humans are separated by enormous differences in talent and circumstance.  Why would anyone believe that all men are created equal?  That all should be free?  That all deserve a voice in choosing their leaders?  Why would any nation consider this a self-evident truth?

The answers to those questions not only give Americans a greater sense of identity, but are needed to lift billions of humans today out of the dungeon of tyranny and into the sunlight of freedom.

The short version of how freedom was born in the Western world is: Christianity.

As Glenn Sunshine, Professor of History at Central Connecticut State University remarks in the film, “The idea of human rights was the invention of medieval theologians.” Similarly Catholic scholar George Weigel comments that it was the “school of Christian freedom” that taught Europeans that they were each “somebody not just something.”

Weigel writes in his book The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God:

. . . freedom is the method by which we become the kind of people our noblest instincts incline us to be: the kind of people who can, for example, build free and democratic societies characterized by tolerance, civility, and respect for others, societies in which the rights of all are protected by both law and moral commitments of “we the people” who make the law.

This notion of freedom stands in stark contrast with the notion of freedom as simply an exercise of my will, an idea that Weigel finds rooted in William of Ockham’s philosophy of nominalism and taking final shape in the work of Friedrich Nietzsche. It is this notion of freedom as willfulness that is, unfortunately, practiced and taught throughout secularized Europe and America today.

The Birth of Freedom sounds notes of caution. Alan Crippen, president of the John Jay Institute for Faith, Society and Law says, “When you take God out of the picture you take this notion of higher law, of the whole framework for ordered liberty out of the picture.” The result degenerates into license. License in turn easily breaks down into tyranny.  And tyranny is the normative state of pre-Christian and post-Christian societies.

The Birth of Freedom is intended for television, but has yet to be scheduled. In the meanwhile, there are public screenings scheduled and Acton is making the film available for private screenings in churches, Sunday school classes, living rooms, and auditoriums at minimal cost. They are particularly anxious to have the film shown at colleges, seminaries, and universities and will help to make that happen.

(Thanks to Jim Tonkowich.)

Is This The World's Best Dad?

                               Dick and Rick Hoyt

                       (Image from p4.p.planet.net)

See this incredible video at http://www.westernfuels.org/annoucements/news.cfm and another at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4B-r8KJhlE&feature=related  The news anchor calls thie "the greatest love story ever told."

                                         Rick and Dick Hoyt

                                (Image from cache.boston.com)

When Rick was born, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck.  He looked normal, but was badly brain-damaged, with cerebral palsy.  The doctor told Dick and his wife that Rick would never walk or talk.  The recommendation was that they put Rick away in an institution and forget him. They said no, they were going to raise Rick with their other boys, just like any other kid.

                            Rick Hoyt

   (Image from sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com)

Rick says that when he is racing with his dad, he does not feel disabled at all.

                   Dick and Rick Hoyt

          (Image from teammcualy.com)

Now, at the ages of 66 and 44, they have over 900 races and several tri-athalons behind them.  They plan to continue as long as they can.  Rick has been communicating through a special computer since he was 12.  He graduated from high school and college, and now lives in his own apartment.

Not all Dads who love their families this much are physically as strong and athletic as Dick.  But there are surely countless other such incredible Dads.  Being a top athlete and tremendously strong are absolutely not required!

Maybe you know about some other special example of a totally great Dad.  Please, let us all know about him by commenting here. 

Maybe it won't be on time for the Father's Day we just passed.  But these stories always count.  Without them, how would we know just how far love can take us?

(Hat Tip to "Earl" at 7villages.com)

Where Is God In Wartime?

                                     (Image from Pulitzer.org)

At Breakpoint toay, from "Faith Under Fire" by Chuck Colson, here .

How do soldiers keep their faith in God’s goodness amidst all the horrors of battle?  Soldiers have ssked that question since the American Revolution.  It occupies their thoughts and often seeps into the letters they write.

Among the letters Andrew Carroll collected in Grace Under Fire, is one from Private Walter Bromwich, who wrote:

“How can there be fairness in one man being maimed for life, suffering agonies, and another killed instantaneously, while I get out of it safe?” Bromwich asked his pastor back in Pennsylvania. “What I would like to believe,” Bromwich wrote, “is that God is in this war, not as a spectator, but backing up everything that is good in us. I don’t know whether God goes forth with armies, but I do know that He is in lots of our men or they would not do what they do.”

Private First Class William Kiessel, poised to invade France, wrote to friends not to pray for his safety, because:

“...safety isn’t the ultimate goal. True exemplary conduct is.” And he added, “What is important is that whatever does happen to me I will do absolutely nothing that will shame my character or my God.”

Lieutenant Colonel Scott Barnes, a doctor who treated hundreds of wounded patients in Iraq, offered an answer to that question in an email home to family and friends.

“Some of my colleagues have wondered out loud,” he wrote, “how there can be a God with all of this suffering. I just remind them that He might just be right in some of our hands and working right beside us.

“Where is God? He is in the O.R. guiding the hands of the surgeons, He is in the will of the sergeants helping organize a blood drive as only they can, He is in the hearts of the soldiers who immediately rolled up their sleeves to give what they had to save a dying brother whom they don’t even know”—or even a captured enemy.

Letters like these renewed Carroll’s own faith in God.

“They showed me that even in the bleakest of circumstances, with God’s help, we can...endure any hardship. Because of Him, we are never alone.”

Chuck Colson ends by saying:

Where is Christ during the horrors of war today? He’s on the Cross.

We at home are deeply grateful to you and we are proud of your service to our nation and our God as you defend the innocent. And I encourage you to remember the words found in Deuteronomy: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified . . . for the Lord your God goes with you, he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

May God bless and keep you, and protect you and your families.

All That Love Can Give

                    (Image from farm2.static.flicker.com)

This is from Richard Fernandez, the "Wretchard" of the famed "Belmont Club, here.  A Harvard-trained Filipino, he speaks eloquently of the his childhood memories of the fabled Filipino heroes who fought back against the Japanese occupation of the Phillipines during WWII:

I thought they would never die; that through some mysterious process sheer bravery would save them from old age and death.

As I child I sat listening to my parent's family friends tell of the ones who didn't make it. Of the guerrilla Captain from Calumpit. A Japanese ratissage had hauled up all the men in town on the bridge. They were lined up on the bridge where a hooded informer led a Japanese officer to the only man he knew for certain to be in the guerillas -- the Captain.

A Nipponese officer asked him to identify his men. He refused. The Japanese officer flicked off his ear with a sword. The Captain stood straighter. And the inquisition went on until he fell to his knees, every part of him that could be sliced off, gone. And then the Japanese officer shot him through the head.

I asked our family friend if the Captain had revealed the names of his men. "No," he said, "and he could have shifted the whole questioning to his second in command -- his Lieutenant. But he didn't."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Because I was the Lieutenant. I stood next to him in that line. And he never said a word."

I knew then that I would never be as brave as that unnamed Captain whose identity is lost to posterity, save through the memory of a child, as he writes decades later.

And as they began to pass, I realized that the tears at the funerals were in part for ourselves. We were weeping for ourselves. While they lived we felt safe in their fading shadows. And the tears were for a day when we knew we would be alone, orphaned in our patch of history.

Then no longer could the Captain on the bridge come to strengthen us in our dreams. They say that no man comes into his inheritance until he possesses it himself.

We have been given all that love can give. The rest is up to us.

The Mansions of the Lord - On Memorial Day

What do we owe to our armed forces, past and present?  We set aside at least one day, Memorial Day, to thank them, and to remember and pray for them and their dear ones. 

In their honor, here is the poignant music, "Mansions of the Lord," used at the Reagan memorial service.  Another version to honor our armed forces is here. 

Words and music by Randall Wallace.  (Hat Tip to the Belmont Club here.)   

"The Mansions of the Lord"

To fallen soldiers let us sing
where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
to the mansions of the Lord

No more bleeding no more fight
No prayers pleading through the night
just divine embrace, eternal light
in the mansions of the Lord

Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard tho the angels sleep
All through the ages safely keep the mansions of the Lord

A Great Way to Honor Our Fire Fighters

                               CLICK here FOR VIDEO

This is from a 14-year-old boy whose fire-fighter father died in the Twin Towers on 9/11.  Remember when you read it that this remarkable young man is just 14.  You might even like his idea.  (It costs nothing, and makes a lot of sense.)

Hello, I lost my Dad on September 11th; he was Chief Edward Geraghty, Battalion 9, New York City Fire Department.  He lost his life with many other heroes that day, victims of the terrorists.  Firefighters from all over have come to the aid and rescue of the tragedy in New York and Washington, D.C.

Many firefighters lost their lives to save someone else's.  The truth of the matter is, they do this every single day.  They truly are heroes.

I know many people feel helpless, especially those who live far from NYC and D.C.  We all want to do something to show our appreciation, our support!  I think we can.  In honor of the bravery, courage and determination of American firefighters, there should be a day in our nation to celebrate and appreciate their hard work and never-ending passion for saving lives.  I think we should honor all those other heroes who still live today.

I'm starting a petition for a National Firefighters' Day.  Will you help make every September 11th "National Firefighters' Day"?

Please join me!  Thank you, Connor Geraghty, age 14, Rockville Centre, New York.  (I Love U, DAD!!)

PS:  When this list reaches 500 names, please send it back to me at ceg8587@aol.com.

I thought this was a great idea.   It costs nothing to support it.  In a sense, it will not add "one more holiday" to our calendar either, since we already observe 9/11 day anyhow. ( 9/11 is not already an officially recognized holiday, and can't be, as we don't make holidays of disasters.)  But doing this on 9/11 would serve two purposes.  It would continue to help us remember these incredible firefighter heroes.  And because of the tremendous role of firefighters on 9/11, it would continue to remind us of 9/11, long after memories of that day fade. 

It is a two-fer!  But most of all, it is a darned good idea, from a very good person with exceptional credentials to start it all.

Connor's not asking us to do too much, is he?

Here's how to do what Connor asks (made simple, hopefully, for beginners.):

1.  Highlight his message above.  Click on "Edit" at the upper left of your page, then on  "copy".

2.  Start an email message to everyone you want to send Connor's petition to.

3.  Click on "Edit" at the upper left of your page, then on "paste."

4.  Below that, on a new line, type a "1" then your name and the 2-letter abbreviation for your state.

5.  Then type "Instructions: add your name and state, then click 'forward', and send this to everyone on your email list."

That should do it.

(Hat tip to Norman Hooben)

Between Us and the Fire

Quiet, everyday heroes.  How many are there?  What does it cost them?

                                 CLICK here FOR VIDEO

Where do we go to thank them?

(Hat Tip to Joan Archibald.  Image from annasslant.com )

Female Teen Medic Gets Historic Silver Star

Army Spec. Monica LIn Brown, Lake Jackson, Texas

Texas Teen In Aghanistan Becomes Second Woman Since WWII to Win Silver Star

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, here

Sunday, March 9th 2008, 9:41 AM

CAMP SALERNO, Afghanistan - A 19-year-old medic from Texas will become the first woman in Afghanistan and only the second woman since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor.

Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province in April 2007, the military said.

After the explosion, which wounded five soldiers in her unit, Brown ran through insurgent gunfire and used her body to shield wounded comrades as mortars fell less than 100 yards away, the military said.

"I did not really think about anything except for getting the guys to a safer location and getting them taken care of and getting them out of there," Brown told The Associated Press on Saturday at a U.S. base in the eastern province of Khost.

Brown, of Lake Jackson, Texas, is scheduled to receive the Silver Star later this month. She was part of a four-vehicle convoy patrolling near Jani Kheil in the eastern province of Paktia on April 25, 2007, when a bomb struck one of the Humvees.

"We stopped the convoy. I opened up my door and grabbed my aid bag," Brown said.

She started running toward the burning vehicle as insurgents opened fire. All five wounded soldiers had scrambled out.

"I assessed the patients to see how bad they were. We tried to move them to a safer location because we were still receiving incoming fire," Brown said.

Pentagon policy prohibits women from serving in frontline combat roles - in the infantry, armor or artillery, for example. But the nature of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with no real front lines, has seen women soldiers take part in close-quarters combat more than previous conflicts.

Four Army nurses in World War II were the first women to receive the Silver Star, though three nurses serving in World War I were awarded the medal posthumously last year, according to the Army's Web site.

Brown, of the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, said ammunition going off inside the burning Humvee was sending shrapnel in all directions. She said they were sitting in a dangerous spot.

"So we dragged them for 100 or 200 meters, got them away from the Humvee a little bit," she said. "I was in a kind of a robot-mode, did not think about much but getting the guys taken care of."

For Brown, who knew all five wounded soldiers, it became a race to get them all to a safer location. Eventually, they moved the wounded some 500 yards away, treated them on site before putting them on a helicopter for evacuation.

"I did not really have time to be scared," Brown said. "Running back to the vehicle, I was nervous (since) I did not know how badly the guys were injured. That was scary."

The military said Brown's "bravery, unselfish actions and medical aid rendered under fire saved the lives of her comrades and represents the finest traditions of heroism in combat."

Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, of Nashville, Tenn., received the Silver Star in 2005 for gallantry during an insurgent ambush on a convoy in Iraq. Two men from her unit, the 617th Military Police Company of Richmond, Ky., also received the Silver Star for their roles in the same action.

(Hat tip to Norman Hooben, here )

Is What a Soldier Does Worth Anything?

            (Image from operationsandboxga.com)

This is "If I Die Before you Wake."  Just listen   3 minutes.

(Hat tip to Belmont Club,  here )

Saying Goodbye---

                           (Image from gerrycharlottephelps.com)

The "Greatest Generation" - those young men in the old photos - will soon be gone.  Now they are leaving us at the rate of 2000 a day.  We forget - they saved us and everything we hold dear.  We could be German-speaking Nazis now, without their heroic sacrifice!

So before they say goodbye, why not thank them in person?  Really soon?  At every opportunity?  They won't be around to hear "Thanks" much longer.  See this great, great video about them here

Here is the story that gave birth to the video:

The elderly parking lot attendant wasn't in a good mood! Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach , Fla. eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker and musician, was bone tired after appearing at an event.

He pulled up in his car, and the parking attendant began to speak. "I took two bullets for this country and look what I'm doing," he said bitterly.

At first, Bierstock didn't know what to say to the World War II veteran. But he rolled down his window and told the man, "Really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you."

Then the old soldier began to cry.

"That really got to me," Bierstock says.

Cut to today.

Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beach - a member of Bierstock's band, Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band - have written a song that was inspired by that old soldier in the airport parking lot. The mournful "Before You Go" does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank our nation's young warriors and our veterans before they die.

"If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot," says Bierstock, who plays harmonica. "The WW II soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them."

The song is striking a chord. Within four days of Bierstock placing it on the Web, the song and accompanying photo essay have bounced around nine countries, producing tears and heartfelt thanks from veterans, wives, sons, daughters and grandchildren.

"It made me cry," wrote one veteran's son. Another sent an e-mail saying that only after his father consumed several glasses of wine would he discuss "the unspeakable horrors" he and other soldiers had witnessed in places such as Anzio, Iwo Jima, Bataan and Omaha Beach. "I can never thank them enough," the son wrote. "Thank you for thinking about them."

Bierstock and Melnick thought about shipping it off to a professional singer, maybe a Lee Greenwood type, but because time was running out for so many veterans, they decided it was best to release it quickly, for free on the Web.! They've sent the song to Sen. John McCain and others in Washington. Already they have been invited to perform it in Houston for a Veterans Day tribute - this after just a few days on the Web. They hope every veteran in America gets a chance to hear it. We hope so too

(Hat Tip to Robert Martin)

Winning Hearts and Minds in Afganistan

                        (Image from amerisrael.typepad.com)

(With thanks to http://amerisrael.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/12/here-is-an-exce.html )

New Year's Wish for U.S. Troops

                         (Image from amerisrael.typepad.com)

(With many thanks to http://amerisrael.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/12/here-is-an-exce.html )

Gratitude - It's Easier Than You Think

_

                 (Image from usrak..army.mil)

_

Want to thank our soldiers?  Here is one excellent way, at http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

_

Forget about the politics of the war - that debate will go on forever.  We all know that our armed forces and their families sacrifice amy kind of "normal" life - and sometimes everything - for us.  We just want to thank them.

_

But how?  Some send packages.  Some give to help wounded vets and their families.  And some stop to thank them wherever they see them,  in airports or stores or on the street.  I have always found that they were touched by that.  Their response always touched me too.

_

Still, many of us feel awkward about doing that.  This video is for them, and all of us.

_

(Heartfelt thanks for the work of the Gratitude Campaign at www.gratitudecampaign.org , and a Hat Tip to Joan Archibald.) 

Christmas Teaches Skepticism Toward the World

                                     (Image from artprints.com)

Guest Blogger Rubel Shelly writes about What Christmas Teaches:

There is a wonderful line from the American scholar Stephen L. Carter that is appropriate to the Christmas season:  "Religion is, at its heart, a way of denying the rest of the world."  He is surely, astutely and gloriously correct

Faith's view of this world is strangely skeptical.  No, more than that.  It is a posture of unequivocal distrust leading to rejection!  When the world recites its mantras - you matter only if you are beautiful, the most important thing is money, winning is everything, Look Out for Number One - faith protests them all.  It adopts a posture of doubt and incredulity.  It lives in skepticism and disbelief.

I refuse to believe that selfishness is acceptable or that it is permissible to resent another's good fortune. I will not swallow the world's way of thinkng in order to justify prejudice, aggression, and hatred.  No believer can be anything but incredulous about the claim of this world that she is entitled to anything she can get her hands on or that he should feel no guilt about exploiting others.

So distrust the alleged certainties of sense that cancel the mysteries of faith.  Dispute the tendency of the masses to look forward only for the sake of declaring the impossibility of living with hope.  Deny altogether the inevitability of such greed, hatred and violence that we cannot prove the reality of love.

The Bible warns against being blinded by this world and speaks of the danger of the blind leading the blind.  That warning puts us on notice that things, people, and ways of thinking totally rooted in the finite world of time, space and matter will keep us from discovering, experiencing, and delighting in the greater realities of God, spirit and eternity that can only be known by faith.

Faith isn't self-deception.  It is neither wish-projection nor wishful thinknig.  It is our willingness to hear and stand with the things God has shown us through events and people as awe-inspiring as a trembling, smoking mountain in the desert and as modest as a baby's first cry in the village of Bethlehem.

So let Christmas deny the hold of this world on your heart.  Let it open your eyes to what the willfully blind will never see, your ears to things the incorrigibly deaf can never hear.  See Immanual - and know God is with us.  Hear the song of angels - and receive God's peace given to anxious hearts.  Hold the confusion, cynicism, and antagonisms of this troubled world suspect - and choose God's reign as your way of affirming the true realities. 

Merry Christmas to all!

(Rubel Shelly's free weekly newsletter can be requrested at www.rubelshelly.com or GBCIII@aol.com.)

Merry Christmas!

                     For unto you is born this day

                           in the city of David,.

                                    a savior,

                      which is Christ the Lord.

Holiday Greetings from the Troops

This very heartwarming video honors our troops at Christmastide.  1 minute.  It is already sweeping the blogosphere.

At the very end, the words "Fred Thompson" appear.  It is apparently his very low-key way of bringing this touching video to America.  Well done.

While I'm not yet backing any candidate, including Thompson, this is about as close to ideal as you can get in putting together a marvelous Christmas video about the troops without also shouting a campaign message at us. 

Thanks, Fred, for heart and a sure touch.

Christmas at Arlington

02:42

A huge, unexpected crowd showed up to place these wreaths, video here

                                  Rest easy, sleep well my brothers.
                           Know the line has held, your job is done.
                                          Rest easy, sleep well.
               Others have taken up where you fell, the line has held.
                                     Peace, peace, and farewell..

                 (U.S. Air Force photos by Master Sgt. Jim Varhegyi)

These wreaths -- some 5,000 -- are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine. The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He's done this since 1992. A wonderful guy. Also, most years, groups of Maine school kids combine an educational trip to DC with this event to help out. Making this even more remarkable is the fact that Harrington is in one the poorest parts of the state.

Hat Tip to Robert Martin

"Sleep Beside Him One Last Time"

                       2nd Lt. James Cathey, coming home to Reno

                                   (scroll down for 2nd photo)                      

(Prize-winning photo from Todd Heissler, The Rocky Mountain News)

Note the passengers watching from the windows above.  Stuart Margel, Washington D.C., was a passenger on such a plane.  He wrote:

Last week, while traveling to Chicago on business, I noticed a Marine sergeant traveling with a folded flag, but did not put two and two together. After we boarded our flight, I turned to the sergeant, who'd been invited to sit in First Class (across from me), and inquired if he was heading home.

No, he responded.

Heading out I asked?

No. I'm escorting a soldier home.

Going to pick him up?

No. He is with me right now. He was killed in Iraq . I'm taking him home to his family.

The realization of what he had been asked to do hit me like a punch to the gut. It was an honor for him. He told me that, although he didn't know the soldier, he had delivered the news of his passing to the soldier's family and felt as if he knew them after many conversations in so few days. I turned back to him, extended my hand, and said, Thank you. Thank you for doing what you do so my family and I can do what we do.

Upon landing in Chicago the pilot stopped short of the gate and made the following announcement over the intercom.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to note that we have had the honor of having Sergeant Steeley of the United States Marine Corps join us on this flight. He is escorting a fallen comrade back home to his family. I ask that you please remain in your seats when we open the forward door to allow Sergeant Steeley to deplane and receive his fellow soldier. We will then turn off the seat belt sign."

Without a sound, all went as requested. I noticed the sergeant saluting the casket as it was brought off the plane, and his action made me realize that I am proud to be an American.

So here's a public Thank You to our military Men and Women for what you do so we can live the way we do.

During the arrival of another Marine's casket last year at Denver International Airport , Major Steve Beck described the scene as so powerful:

"See the people in the windows? They sat right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what's going through their minds, knowing that they're on the plane that brought him home," he said. "They will remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives.. They're going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should."

                     "Sleep Beside Him One Last Time"

                 2nd Lt. James and Katherine Cathey

(Prize winning photo from Todd Heisler, The Rocky Mountain News)

The night before the burial of her husband's body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of 'Cat,' and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept.

"I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it," she said. "I think that's what he would have wanted."

Hat Tip to Robert Martin.  And special thanks to tomtomforums .

Friday Mornings at the Pentagon

       (Image from army.mil/images)

This will stir you.  It will also make you think what you might be able to do. (Courtesy of Fred and Gene Hannah)

Friday Mornings at the Pentagon

By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY McClatchy Newspapers, here. 

Over the last 12 months, 1,042 soldiers, Marines, sailors and Air Force personnel have given their lives in the terrible duty that is war. Thousands more have come home on stretchers, horribly wounded and facing months or years in military hospitals.

This week, I'm turning my space over to a good friend and former roommate, Army Lt. Col. Robert Bateman , who recently completed a yearlong tour of duty in Iraq and is now back at the Pentagon.

Here's Lt. Col. Bateman's account of a little-known ceremony that fills the halls of the Army corridor of the Pentagon with cheers, applause and many tears every Friday morning. It first appeared on May 17 on the Weblog of media critic and pundit Eric Alterman at the Media Matters for America Web site.

"It is 110 yards from the "E" ring to the "A" ring of the Pentagon. This section of the Pentagon is newly renovated; the floors shine, the hallway is broad, and the lighting is bright. At this instant the entire length of the corridor is packed with officers, a few sergeants and some civilians, all crammed tightly three and four deep against the walls. There are thousands here.

"This hallway, more than any other, is the `Army' hallway. The G3 offices line one side, G2 the other, G8 is around the corner. All Army. Moderate conversations flow in a low buzz. Friends who may not have seen each other for a few weeks, or a few years, spot each other, cross the way and renew. Everyone shifts to ensure an open path remains down the center. The air conditioning system was not designed for this press of bodies in this area. The temperature is rising already. Nobody cares.

"10:36 hours: The clapping starts at the E-Ring. That is the outermost of the five rings of the Pentagon and it is closest to the entrance to the building. This clapping is low, sustained, hearty. It is applause with a deep emotion behind it as it moves forward in a wave down the length of the hallway.

"A steady rolling wave of sound it is, moving at the pace of the soldier in the wheelchair who marks the forward edge with his presence. He is the first. He is missing the greater part of one leg, and some of his wounds are still suppurating. By his age I expect that he is a private, or perhaps a private first class.

"Captains, majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels meet his gaze and nod as they applaud, soldier to soldier. Three years ago when I described one of these events, those lining the hallways were somewhat different. The applause a little wilder, perhaps in private guilt for not having shared in the burden ... yet.

"Now almost everyone lining the hallway is, like the man in the wheelchair, also a combat veteran. This steadies the applause, but I think deepens the sentiment. We have all been there now. The soldier's chair is pushed by, I believe, a full colonel.

"Behind him, and stretching the length from Rings E to A, come more of his peers, each private, corporal, or sergeant assisted as need be by a field grade officer.

"11:00 hours: Twenty-four minutes of steady applause. My hands hurt, and I laugh to myself at how stupid that sounds in my own head. `My hands hurt.' Christ. Shut up and clap. For twenty-four minutes, soldier after soldier has come down this hallway - 20, 25, 30. Fifty-three legs come with them, and perhaps only 52 hands or arms, but down this hall came 30 solid hearts.

"They pass down this corridor of officers and applause, and then meet for a private lunch, at which they are the guests of honor, hosted by the generals. Some are wheeled along. Some insist upon getting out of their chairs, to march as best they can with their chin held up, down this hallway, through this most unique audience. Some are catching handshakes and smiling like a politician at a Fourth of July parade. More than a couple of them seem amazed and are smiling shyly.

"There are families with them as well: the 18-year-old war-bride pushing her 19-year-old husband's wheelchair and not quite understanding why her husband is so affected by this, the boy she grew up with, now a man, who had never shed a tear is crying; the older immigrant Latino parents who have, perhaps more than their wounded mid-20s son, an appreciation for the emotion given on their son's behalf. No man in that hallway, walking or clapping, is ashamed by the silent tears on more than a few cheeks. An Airborne Ranger wipes his eyes only to better see. A couple of the officers in this crowd have themselves been a part of this parade in the past.

"These are our men, broken in body they may be, but they are our brothers, and we welcome them home. This parade has gone on, every single Friday, all year long, for more than four years." Did you know that? The media hasn't told the story.

How can we do something like this in our communities?  Many of us can think of something, and bring it about.

We Have More Influence Than We Know - IV

       Trenton, Tennessee

(Image from images.medhunter.com)

This is from the free newsletter of Mac Anderson, head of Simple Truths.  He wrote this:

I grew up in Trenton, a west Tennessee town of five thousand people.  I have wonderful memories of those first 18 years, and many people in Trenton influenced my life in very positive ways.  My football coach, Walter Kitzer, taught me the importance of hard work, discipline and believing in myself.  My history teacher, Fred Culp, is still the funniest person I've ever met.  He taught me that a sense of humor, and especially laughing at yourself, can be one of life's greatest blessings.

But my father was my hero.  He taught me many things, but at the top of the list, he taught me to treat people with respect...to live the Golden Rule.  I remember one particular instance of his teaching this "life lesson" as if it were yesterday.  Dad owned a furniture store and I used to dust the furniture every Wednesday after school to earn my allowance.  One day I observed my Dad as he talked to all the customers as they came in...the hardward store owner, the banker, a farmer, a doctor.  At the end of the day, just as Dad was closing, the garbage collector came in.

I was ready to go home and I thought surely Dad wouldn't spend too much time with him.  But I was wrong.  Dad greeted him at the door with a big hug and talked with him about his wife and son who had been in a car accident the month before.  He empathized, he asked questions, he listened, and he listened some more.  I kept looking at the clock, and when the man finally left I asked, "Dad, why did you spend so much time with him?  He's just the garbage collector."  Dad then looked at me, locked the front door and said, "Son, let's talk."

He said, "I'm your father, and I tell you lots of things, as all fathers should, but if you remember nothing else I ever tell you, remember this...treat every human being just the way you want to be treated."  He said, "I know this is not the first time you've heard it, but I want to make sure this is the first time you truly understand it, because if you had understood, you never would have said what you did."  We sat there and talked another hour about the meaning of the Golden Rule.  Dad said, "If you live the Golden Rule everything else in life will usually work itself out, but if you don't, your life will probably be very unhappy and without meaning."

I recently heard someone say, "If you teach your child the Golden Rule, you will have left them an estate of inestimable value."  Truer words were never spoken.

We Have More Influence Than We Know - III

                         (Image from beachmauiweddings.com)

We have more influence than we know, or may ever know.  How?

There is almost always someone watching.  They may imitate what they see us doing, or learn something from it, good or bad.

Rubel Shelly's story, in the post below, made me think of something I saw at a wedding reception years ago.  My then-16-year-old cousin, Warren Yowell, was at a wedding reception.  He was there representing his entire family, who were out of town and could not come. 

Warren was behaving with the kind of dignity and grace that would have been impressive in a much older and more sophisticated man.  He visited with all the older people present as well as those near his own age.  Sometimes he just stood quietly to the side.  He was warm, pleasant, gracious and considerate.  All in all, it was quite impressive.

As the reception was winding down, I went to Warren and told him how I marveled at his behavior.  "How did you ever learn to do that?" I asked.

Warren said, "I didn't.  I just tried to think what my Dad would have done, and do that."

We Have More Influence Than We Know - II

                        (Image from newfreedownloads.com)

We have more influence than we know, or may ever know.  How?

There is almost always someone watching us.  They may imitate what they see us doing, or learn something from it, good or bad.  Just like in this true story from Rubel Shelly's "The Fax of Life," August 13, 2007.*

"Just Like My Dad"

Matty Lovo is only nine years old, but the story of his level-headed daring deserves to be told.  In the telling of his story, there is a line from the hero himself that should make all of us who are parents and grandparents take notice.

Matty's father drives one of those huge big-rig trucks that are part of American commerce.  Last week his semi was pulling two trailers loaded with lumber through St. Helens, Oregon.  Matty was riding in the cab with him.  He was enjoying the high-sitting ride and view.  He liked the powerful sounds of the motor.  He took pride in being with his Dad.  Then the unexpected happened. 

Matthew Lovo Sr. had a seizure of some sort.  Doctors are still trying to figure it out.  He lost consciousness at the wheel of his truck, and it veered into oncoming traffic and struck a utility pole.  Matthew Lovo Jr. didn't panic.

When he saw his father had collapsed, Matty called his name.  When there was no answer, he smacked him to try to wake him up.  Then he did what he had to do.  He climbed across his Dad and into the driver's seat.  He steered the big truck back into its lanes and had the presence of mind to get on the truck's C.B. radio to ask what he should do.  Somebody heard his plea for help and told him to turn off the ignition key.  He did that.  The rig began to slow down.

At just that moment, the semi passed Christopher Howard.  Driving the opposite direction on the highway, he saw that a child was at the wheel of the slow-moving vehicle.  He stopped his car, jumped out and chased down the truck on foot.  He jumped aboard, climbed into the cab with Matty, and applied the brakes that a nine-year-old boy's legs could not reach while steering. 

The St. Helen's Police Department didn't ticket Matty.  To the contrary, it made a public statement of support for his "cool demeanor" in an incident that could have ended tragically. 

"I just did the stuff," said an humble Matty.  "I thought, I should just do what my Dad does."  He did.  And he is a young hero for it.

Some of us Dads and Moms should think about this father-son story very deeply.  Our children watch.  They absorb.  They take their clues about how to react to crises and joys, f