ClydeStyle

Tag: remembrance

  • Is the resurrection still relevant?

    Every year, Christians around the world will celebrate everything associated with Easter. Many will go to church, kill the fattest calf, and lay out an Easter dinner fit for a king – all in memory of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

    Although it is not a holy holiday (none of them are), the tradition of Easter has been blended with Spring traditions, and this is where the Association of Easter eggs comes from. It is said to have been started in Germany where the symbol of eggs carry the thought of new life which happens in the Spring.

    Biblically, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the focal point. But the question today is how relevant is the resurrection?

    Does it matter that Christ died for the sins of the world? How is that shown to matter in your life? What of all the power that accompanied his resurrection which we have access to today — does that matter.

    What of the idea that eternal life is now available to all who believe and are obedient to his calling? To be called a Christian society, we do a horrible job of showing the power of the resurrection in our lives. There are just too many things we don’t care about! Some could care less about abortions. Others care less about school or mass shootings. Still, others never say anything about police brutality or the killing of unarmed back men.

    We don’t care about those with views different from ours. It’s a big “so what” that there are people falsely imprisoned. And of course, not many seem to be too concerned with homelessness, veterans’ rights, and those struggling with mental health issues.

    If the resurrection matters, then we need to use it to resurrect a few of the societal problems we face and solve them for those who suffer. Christ suffered on a cross so we wouldn’t have to. We need to return the favor to those less fortunate.

  • Great time to create family rituals

    One of the greatest days in a child’s life is today — the eve of Christmas. This day for me growing up was always filled with great anticipation and food preparation.

    There were 5 children living at home and my parents not only made Christmas happen for us each year, but fed our family and extended family with an incredible feast with all the standards: Turkey and dressing with ham and Swedish meatballs. Mac n cheese, yams, collard greens, broccoli casserole and 7-layer salad.

    Desserts were in abundance as well with sweet potato pies, yellow cake with dark chocolate frosting and a carrot cake. We all had Christmas baskets with various trinkets, fruits and nuts.

    If we were poor (and according to my parents we were) we could not tell. If there was another way to live, we didn’t want it. Our house was surrounded by love.

    When I grew up and had my own family, both my wife and I shared similar traditions which we continued with our family. Our kids were completely spoiled having more toys than they could handle and tons of food. Christmas songs played all the time throughout our house starting on Thanksgiving and ending on New Year’s Day.

    It was important to us to build these type of memories within the mind of our children. In a world full of trouble and problems, this was the time of year where thongs were supposed to work right!

    Be mindful of what your children digest from the environment you placed the in. Go all out and give them something wonderful to remember and pass down to the next generation. This is the best time to create family rituals!

  • With liberty and justice for all?

    There are 2.1 million people in prison in America. We have more people incarcerated than any other country in the world. I wonder how the rest of the world interprets that?

    America is definitely a land of many things and our freedoms allow for a person to migrate here and have an unlimited earning potential. But for a place so plentiful, how can we not protect our justice system? Nevermind that we know there are thousands of innocent people there because the system has flaws. African Americans make up 13 percent of the US population but 38 percent of the prison population. There are 4200 people in federal prison right now that are serving life sentences for nonviolent crimes. Think about that.

    Furthermore, the number one reason for incarceration is drugs. This is interesting because when a drug user steals to keep up with a drug habit, they should not be sent to jail but rehabilitation. The war on drugs is responsible for mass incarceration. And it is interesting that none of the drug dealers had boats, planes or any other means of transporting drugs to America.

    Once a person becomes a  felon in America their freedom is pretty much over even if they make it out of jail.  You see, our Christian nations provides no way to be reconciled so you suffer for life. Even when you are out of prison we still have a way to keep you on the crooked path.

    What’s worse is that neither political party has made strides to correct our justice system and since the prisons have been privatized, it would be extremely difficult to fix because that would mean we would be greatly effecting someone’s bottom line.

    It seems that this would be low-hanging fruit for a political candidate but apparently the bribe to keep things the same must be pretty good. I believe the solution is simple: Have 6 months of amnesty with each prosecutor or solicitor because I believe they already know many of the people who are falsely imprisoned or have been sentenced way to long. They would have 6 months to release these people. After six months, a special task force would be deputized to go over the prosecutors work and if they found anyone still falsely imprisoned, the prosecutor would have to replace the prisoner in jail.

    The special task force would be made up of law school graduating classes at various universities. The law department could oversee this venture while the students did the research.

    No one should be in prison for having a drug addiction. They should immediately be taken to rehabilitation. Everyone who has not committed a violent crime and has been incarcerated for at least 5 years should be released.

    All prison sentencing should only carry a maximum sentence of 10 years no matter what you do and anyone who has served 10 years should be released. Being a felon should be a thing of the past and prisons should get their charters to operate based on the percentage of prisoners who are actually rehabilitated.

    If we did these things in 20 years we may not have a need for prisons… or maybe I’m just dreaming!

  • Which Memorials Do You Remember?

    Okay, so this is the week we honor those who died in service to our nation.

    This tradition was started after the Civil War. Legend says that an organized women’s group began decorating graves towards the end of the Civil War.

    Memorial Day (in 1860 it was first called Decoration Day) was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

    Years later (1966), President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the birthplace of Memorial Day to be Waterloo, NY.  It was after WWI that Memorial Day changed from honoring just Civil War soldiers to anyone who died in any war.

    But I wonder about those who died in service to our country? Whether they died in war or were victims of what I call “American Circumstances.”

    American circumstances are situations that are unique to Americans and serve as a catalyst for positive change. Any event that led to the death of someone that eventually moved our country forward in a positive way would fit this category.

    Have we forgotten these fallen heroes?

    I’m thinking of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., which is different from the assassination of John F., and Robert Kennedy.

    The difference?

    King’s murder single handedly heightened the awareness of the struggle and pricked the consciousness of our nation. It brought Blacks and Whites together and changed our civil liberties to include all people. The death of the Kennedys simply made our nation lose trust in its government.  Conspiracy theorists had a field day with the inconsistent information distributed through the media by our government.

    Also consider the shooting deaths of the people at Kent State and the shooting deaths at the Columbine school. Although both were extremely tragic, Kent State’s shooting raised the social consciousness of our nation and set us for the defense of the freedoms we love. Death to protesters was something that wasn’t supposed to happen in our country. These deaths were not in vain. The Columbine deaths sent America into serious panic mode. New rules were resurrected and penalties were put in place in a very weak attempt to deter this violence. Of course it didn’t work. Several other shootings followed and all for the same reason – bullying. Whether on a college campus or on a military base, American suffered at the hands of these shooters our society created.

    Finally, let’s compare other plane crashes from the events of September 11. We tend to learn from every plane crash in history. Past plane crashes have contributed to many safety advances from the development of better engines to each plane having its own radar. September 11th gave us new rules, regulations and fear. We now jump through hoops to get on a plane and still to this day, terrorists are getting on planes with items other than Christmas presents.

    The point here is this: It’s important for us to remember those often forgotten heroes whose deaths moved us forward. These deaths – whether accidental or purposed – contributed just as much in the development of our country as any war did. If wars gave America physical stamina, then these above-mentioned deaths gave us mental toughness. We wouldn’t be where we are as a country without them. So please remember all who have served and/or died for the betterment of all our lives.