| Letters
to the editor from this week's Chronicle Redneck Review! No. 348 - 12/26/21 My, how time flies! Christmas with all its celebrations is now part of the past! Looming in the future is the New Year, full of mystery and wonder! Just what will be in store for us! These related events cause old duffers like myself to ponder what has happened during our 80+ years! Most shocking is how much our nation and our lives have changed! With this in mind, some thoughts that won't go away start crowding my mind. Up front and very prominent is the thought that I personally LOVE THIS COUNTRY. I cannot help but say it again! Folks my age for the most part would agree, I think! We have been part of the group that should consider ourselves the most fortunate group that has ever lived on the face of this earth! At any time in the past and maybe even in the future! And the reasons that our lives have been so great does trace back to our earliest beginnings! Sometimes, it is necessary to look back and ask, how did this wonderful life we have lived get its start! Well, history tells us! Early settlers who came here were seeking FREEDOM among other things! Freedom to worship, freedom to live their lives, freedom of opportunity! In this very brief recall of those early events, some things stand out! The "starving time," happening in Jamestown, VA, founded in 1607, and led a bit later by Captain John Smith. In the years that followed, that "starving time" was endured! Much blame was put on the "Common Store House" system, practiced by the Christians at the time, which simply asked that every person put into the store house what they produced, then drew out when needed. Historical accounts testify that some realized they could "draw out" without "putting in" and the results were tragic. Only later when the system was changed did history record that "Even housewives and children went out to work" in the new system which allowed all to use and sell their extra. A good lesson that has perhaps been lost over the decades! And what about the battle for freedom against overwhelming odds, the new country faced with the most powerful military on earth at the time? Fiery Sam Adams comes to mind, as does the inflamed speech of Patrick Henry, "Give me liberty or give me death!" Can enough be said about George Washington who kept his starving and frozen army together during the winter at Valley Forge, many the men there without shoes. Or his unsuspected victory over German Hessian soldiers, Christmas night, as Washington and his men crossed the turbulent and frozen Delaware River to suprise the celebrating Hessians, winning without firing a shot! Good thing, because history records that one of his soldiers had said after the crossing, "Sir, our weapons are frozen, and will not fire!" To which Washington's response was, "Then, use your bayonets!" History records dozens of similar stories, but the bottom line is, our country, born a Christian nation, inspired by Thomas Jefferson's famous line in our Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths.... all men are created equal, and endowed by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable rights...." This amazing history tels us how our beloved country got its beginning and gave us the remarkable life we have been so fortunate to live these past many decades! But, we have to ask! Have events of the past few decades and especially those we encounter today threaten to undo all that our founders put together? Are we not pushing God aside today, and trusting men themselves to supply the answer to all problems? Are we repeating the tragic error at Jamestown by believing that a system can survive with significant numbers of people simply sitting back and drawing on the excess produced by the industrious. Is our current offer of all the FREE, FREE, FREE stuff we are promised not endangering our survival spirit? Yes, many folks our age love our country, and fear for its future! And really wonder if something can still be done to preserve what we hold dear! (More on this next week!) Jake Wren |
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