Imprisonment

#491


February 22nd 1932 was the 200th anniversary of the birthday of George Washington, first president of the United States “father of our country”. On February 22nd 1777 Revolutionary soldiers had started celebrating his birthday. On February 22nd Paul von Hindenburg, new president of Germany, congratulated the United States of America on the birth of Washington. The very next day he appointed Adolph Hitler as chancellor of Germany. Justice David Davis of the Supreme Court said America would not always have such a remarkable man as George Washington but that eventually “evil men would take over”. At one time in our history, a portrait of George Washington hung in every classroom in America. It was Stuart's portrait of Washington which Dolly Madison saved when the British burned the White House. In 1971 President Nixon declared the third Monday in February as Presidents Day replacing the celebration of the birthday of Washington. Now, most school children know nothing of the heroism and honor of this first president.

The greatest attribute of Washington's presidency and his leadership of the Revolutionary Army was the esprit de corps felt by his troops. This rag tag militia, often hungry and shoeless, out fought their better shorn British cousins by the simple indescribable magnitude of belonging, sharing, having a deep seeded meaning of their mission and their life which some men have never known. The most powerful force in any Army involves the esprit de corps and closeness of it's fellows. It is an indescribable characteristic which you find between true friends, real families.

During Vietnam the prisoners at the Hanoi Hilton POW camp who survived, were those who had a deep love for one another and a willingness to forgive their captors to fill their heart of anger with God's love for them and their captors. Those who did not have this self discipline of forgiveness and love were so imprisoned by hatred that they just gave up and died.

Someone has said a friend is someone you can go to and ask for 20 dollars, they pull the money out and give it to you without asking a question. Most of us are fortunate if we have five friends...many acquaintances...but few friends. It was said that Washington was a friend to his troops and that they were willing to die for him. My WWII friends in the military told me that when General Patton rode up to the front lines, unlike most Generals, who did not want to be identified, Patton would always stand in his Jeep, his Jeep always identified with much chrome, smiling and waving every mile of the way to those foot soldiers he was leading in battle.

I could always tell my mother's real friends. There was a look in their eyes as they greeted one another. None of the unmistakeable hypocrisy with which “just” acquaintances greet us. I can tell when a relative or friend takes my hand, since I cannot see them if they are really happy to see me. Satan's greatest tool in his arsenal is the tool of discouragement. Fortunate is the person who has someone to encourage him or her. I can honestly say that in my long life of struggle with education, the military, blindness, I have never had one word of encouragement from anyone. It takes so little time, as Mark Twain has said, and it costs so little to say I appreciate you. With all the speaking I have done, all the writing over many years in many magazines, all the money I have given to various causes, one would be shocked at the small number of times I have been thanked. I said to a minister recently, “who received the two 2500 dollar awards which I give to two ministers each year?” One was a school teacher who is also a pastor. Now, 2500 dollars is probably not much money anymore, but one would think that it would have been worth a short note or call. Even the president of the University of North Carolina, which will get most of my estate, sent me a hand written letter that he would like to walk me around the University campus again. I gave many scholarships to Mt Olive college before I ever set foot on that campus, the first time simply because my family for many generations, had been a member of that denomination and I felt it my opportunity to support it. “If gold rusts, what do you expect iron to do?”

My father always sang an old hymn, “I'll take my vacation in heaven”. I'm willing to wait for recognition but how people cheat themselves by not bringing into their little group a sense of sharing, belonging and meaning effecting every life.

Eighty percent of the effectiveness of all healthcare is directly influenced by your rapport with your doctor. There are 4,000 medical and surgical procedures which every doctor studies. There are about 15,000 prescriptions that can be written for various sicknesses. It is so important to recognize a disease, a healthcare disability. You get a second opinion in case the first opinion is not correct. We have become socially engineered earth inhabitants. Life is very uncertain and the mortality rate is still 100%. It takes just a small speck of dust to disable a large machine. Just one disgruntled misplaced cell, not easily recognized by any medical instrument can start a series of problems baffling specialists of every degree. Recognizing the unpredictable failures of machines (vehicles, planes etc.) as well as horrible events which can happen to good people (earthquakes, tornadoes etc.) it behooves each of us to share ourselves with others who surround us and the one who created us. General Booth of the Salvation Army, when young, walked around London with a sandwich sign on his body which said, “I'm a fool for Jesus” and on the other side it said, “who's fool are you?”