Nets

Dubrovnik, in the former Yugoslavia, is probably the world's most beautiful city. One morning, I left the hotel early (I still had a shadow of vision at that time) and walked near the Mediterranean Sea where the fishing boats came in. There were men mending their fishing nets and I thought about about Zebedee's sons, James and John, who were called into the ministry by our blessed Lord on such an occasion. Suddenly, I noticed a young man was following me. I was accustomed to being followed in a Communist country by political police, but this seemed different and I turned and spoke to him. So many, in a foreign country just like to practice their English. But this young man wanted to talk.

I am convinced that most people in the world want to be free; whether it is political ideology, religious indoctrination, or secular strangulation. I think, after he felt safe in talking with an almost blind man, knowing that I was an American, he went to talking with me about politics, government, etc. Amid the flurry of communist brainwashing, in the Yugoslavian schools, and Tito was in charge at that time, he had one teacher who had studied in England who had a library of English books to which this young man had been exposed. He had no way of knowing that I was a book collector, a student of the Bible, or even my education background. He wanted the freedom to talk about government, authors, and even Christianity in which he had some knowledge; enough to know that there is a God of the Universe who has made us free. (John 8:32) He had read “David Copperfield”, talked about some of the famous illustrations that Dickens has in the first edition; “A Tale of Two Cities” and other well-known books such as “Moby Dick”. We talked about the personality of the whale compared to the hunter of the whale. His big question then, and I am sure it would be so now, “Why would any people give up their freedom for a political ideology?”

He discussed his father's political thoughts which had landed him in a communist prison, a dungeon like place where he died of neglect and exposure. Simply because he was a free man and was discussing some things that the Communist Political Machine did not like. He told me about his mother who had worked so hard trying to keep the family together, cooking and scrubbing in a restaurant there in the city. He told me about his younger sister who had been lured into a life of prostitution and now worked as such at one of the local casinos. Of course, he had been regimented in school and even though he desired more education, the communist officials had brandished him to a life of working on a fishing boat. He was smart enough not to let the commissars know about his cache of English books from which he thrived in mind, if not in matter; or the fact that he was bilingual. The teacher who had introduced him to English, to the world of good (classic) literature, to the word of God, had given all the books to him and against his mother's wishes, he kept the books well hidden in their home.

During the last political campaign, I heard Democrats talk incessantly about the fact that America was no longer popular in the world. I have traveled through most of the countries in the world, every continent several times, I have been on expeditions to both the North and South Pole, visiting with anyone who could speak English, of every economic strata, and I have not found this to be true. Most world citizens so admire and envy the citizens of the United States; they beg you, to help them get here. At the university in Beijing, China, university students begged me to send American books. They wanted to read Hemingway, Dickens, Mark Twain, William Faulkner. It is only those Americans, and I'm sorry to say many of them in places of political influence, who disparage this country, who want this country turned into a socialist dictatorship. Only those who have never seen communism in the raw, who have no love for the Savior, who was the guiding light of the founders, will not support and honor the Constitution of this great nation.

In my lifetime, I have seen the checks and balances, which should give some protection to our democratic republic, replaced by corruption of greed. Principles have been replaced by the desire for power. The John Dewey mantra, “The end justifies the means” is the same 'hogwash' he preached at both Columbia University and Teachers College (Columbia University) which lead him to Russia as an advisor on their education system and likely to his 1928 book, “Impressions of Russia.” In my youth, in a university situation, the American John Meyer, tried to convince me that the liberalism of socialism and subsequent communism, would be better for this country as he rejoiced in the take over of China by Mao and the communist party. Meyer had never traveled to these communist countries, had never seen what it does to the human psyche. He could not rejoice in the freedom of Christianity or the opportunities afforded by free enterprise. His patriotism was not to a country, his country, but to a sociology of deceit.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Every answer is in the answer book, God's word. 136,000 of our finest lie buried in foreign military cemeteries because they felt our heritage was worth defending. If you ask a patient, coming out of a health care facility, “What type of country do you want?” the patient would say, “I want good, reliable health care where I choose.” If you ask a parent, in an American home, “What type of country do you want?” They would answer, “I want a country which gives opportunity and freedom of expression to my children.” If you were to ask an elderly citizen in a nursing home, “What type of country do you want?” the answer would be, “I want a country that will let me live and pass on protected by divine providence and a grateful nation that has allowed me to 'pick flowers I did not plant'.”

We all have our dreams for our nation. Look in the mirror, you are as far behind the glass as you are in front of it. For your children and grandchildren, you are in front as they follow behind.