The Broad Brush

My family and friends are always commenting on my bad memory. I fear I have inherited my Mother’s…which is terrible, and I am now quite sure she is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s at age 85. Sometimes there are bits and pieces of things that I hold on to and I end up trying to fill in the blanks with what seems plausible and that ends up being just plain wrong…which makes my credibility rating low.

But, of course, there are certain things that I have retained. There is no rhyme or reason for what they are but I love it when they dance through my mind and I find great satisfaction in knowing that I’m not completely brain dead.

However, we are not talking about a bad memory, although it does seem to influence my passion for writing “The Broad Brush”. Just recently I have been consumed with thoughts and ideas about our developing problems in this country. I have not an answer or solution but suggestions of how a senior citizen who has very little knowledge of real issues feels about our discontent. These ideas keep running around in my head, so knowing that at any time I may lose them, I decided to write them down. 

I was born in the south in 1946. We had so much history going on during my formidable years but like most kids I was totally oblivious to it all. I never protested or participated in a march or shared my dislike of policies. I think I was vaguely aware that many people were doing these things and I was always thinking how stupid it was. The question in my mind was always, “Why can’t people just be happy with what they have and be thankful they were born in America”. My family did not have much. We were probably poor in most people’s opinion but I never felt poor. We were never hungry or cold. I always had lots of hand-me-downs as we were part of a large family that included many brother and sisters in both my parent’s families so I had lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins and everyone seemed to get along. It was a nice life.

But always, in my little forgetful mind, was that one single thought “Be thankful, you were born in America”.

It has only been in the last 10 years or so that those words have started to sound a little hollow. There have been several significant occurrences in my life that have just simply shook me to the core. It was almost like I had been living in a vacuum and all of a sudden the real world came crashing in on me. I pulled my head out from where is was buried and took a long hard look at what was going on and I didn't like it. All of a sudden I started asking myself all these questions. What is worth so much that you would dedicate your life to reforming or changing? What would make a person give up so much to achieve one little goal? Why would a cause be so important that an American citizen would even give up their life to have it accomplished?

 As I was growing up I did attend church. The 10 commandments, as with most people, were taught to me when I was young. That is what I usually thought of as the words to live by…although I think I failed a couple of those. But the one verse in the bible that impressed me the most was  Matthew 7:12... (paraphrased) Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, commonly known as “The Golden Rule”. This is all I thought you needed to know. How easy to understand, how easy to follow. If everyone just did this what would we have to protest about? What wars had to be fought? What enemies were you making?

Alas, life, as I have discovered, is not that simple. In fact it has gotten so complicated that there seems to be very little that I can understand. So I started paying attention.

If you read on you will discover what I have discovered. This is truly an amateur's look at how we should view life and humans to make a more perfect nation.

When you think about citizens and their basic principals of human liberties we usually think about the "Bill of Rights" If you haven't read them lately, here they are...The original 10:

1. Congress cannot make a law that favors the establishment of one particular religion; that prohibits the free exercise of religion; or that restricts freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people to gather and engage in peaceful demonstrations and to petition the government for redress of their grievances.
2. Because a well-regulated militia is necessary to national security, the right of the people to keep and bear arms may not be infringed.
3. No soldier may be quartered in any house during a time of peace without the owner's consent, or in a time of war except as prescribed by law.
4. People have the right to be free, in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, from unreasonable searches and seizures, and no warrants may issue without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and specifically describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
5. No person may be tried for a capital or other "infamous crime" unless he or she has first been indicted by a grand jury, except in military cases. No person may be made to answer for the same offense twice (double jeopardy); be compelled to be a witness against himself or herself in a criminal case; or be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Nor may private property be taken for public use without fair compensation (eminent domain).
6. Whenever someone is on trial for committing a crime, he or she has the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the state and district where the crime was committed, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to confront the witnesses against him or her, to be able to compel the testimony of witnesses in his or her favor, and to the assistance of defense counsel.
7. Whenever the amount at issue in a lawsuit is over twenty dollars, the parties have the right to a jury trial, and no jury verdict may be overturned except according to the strict rules of the justice system.
8. There can be no excessive bail or fines, nor cruel and unusual punishment.
9. This list of rights should not be read to limit in any way any other rights of the people.
10. The powers not specifically granted to the federal government by the Constitution, nor prohibited by the Constitution to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Ok, so this is going to get boring to those of you who are expecting some great mind to break all these down for you, but no...tis a 60ish year old woman who only knows what's in her heart. There is not an ounce of fact or historic basic for any of my opinions. But, none the less, I'm about to give them.

#1 - lst part -Congress can not make a law favoring the establishment of one particular religion - Folks, now come on...I believe when you read these rights, which were written in 1789, you gotta know who the authors were. 

 John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington were considered to be the key founding fathers. However, there were 40 signatures in total, all white historically Christian men. But even they knew, over 200 years ago, that religion had to be a choice. But what are the prejudice's that exist, even more today, for groups of non-christian believers. If you are a Christian and you do believe in the Constitution and Bill of Rights and you do believe that only God can judge, than what are we doing. Everyone, no matter what their belief, should be treated equal. It should not happen...not in communities, not in politics, not in hiring practices, or with leaders of this country. It has become so blatant that it's almost an everyday occurrence. It is unfortunate that the people our children look up to are showing so much disrespect for their neighbors and only because we don't try and understand their differences. This is one of the reasons people protest. They speak up and let their voices be heard. Which takes us to the 2nd part of #1.

#1 - 2nd part - freedom of speech or the press - Now I have already said that I was never the kind of person to speak up about causes. It's because I am a semi-pacifist and a non-activist. I reject war as a solution unless we are fired upon and I tend to mind my own flock and let others worry about theirs. But I am always rooting for the peaceful assembly as long as it's something I believe. But therein lies the problem. We all have this tendency to cheer on the protesters that we see as defending something we believe to be worthy. But what about the things that we find offensive. What about the things we don't understand and therefore may fear. Not all protesting is in our best interest. Not all press, or television, or other social media are yelling about something we agree with and want to hear. But they have the freedom to say and speak out on their issues because our fore-fathers declared it. But that freedom works both ways. There are so many issues that been brought to the forefront that most of us would have never imagined years ago. A lot of these are human rights issues and about fairness in the way folks who don't fit into our little square box want to be treated. These protests are often met with opposition from others who fear what might happen if we just let anyone have the same rights as we conformist. But this is yet another reason I respect this freedom...another one my Daddy and many more fought to preserve. Any person who feels like their rights have been infringed upon, or any war that might be brewing for what we may think is the wrong reason, or any government or Supreme Court action that we have a grievance against, all of this and more...we have the right to speak out We should respect this freedom because it didn't come cheap. Teach your children about this precious right to voice their opinion and help them understand that in this great country we have this 1st amendment that protects our religious freedom and our right to speak or assemble peacefully without retribution... or at least that's the way it's suppose to work.

#2 - The right to bear arms - Today this amendment is becoming very controversial.