Potpourri

 Do you recognize this ancient Egyptian god?  It is the Ibis headed Thoth (or Hermes if you were a Greek)    -  He is the god who was supposed to have brought writing to mankind.  The following is a quote I found from him  "....rise above all time and become eternal; then you will apprehend God. Think that for you too nothing is impossible; deem that you too are immortal, and that you are able to grasp all things in your thought, to know every craft and science; find your home in the haunts of every living creature; make yourself higher than all heights and lower than all depths; bring together in yourself all opposites of quality, heat and cold, dryness and fluidity; think that you are everywhere at once, on land, at sea, in heaven; think that you are not yet begotten, that you are in the womb, that you are young, that you are old, that you have died, that you are in the world beyond the grave; grasp in your thought all of this at once, all times and places, all substances and qualities and magnitudes together; then you can apprehend God.

But if you shut up your soul in your body, and abase yourself, and say “I know nothing, I can do nothing; I am afraid of earth and sea, I cannot mount to heaven; I know not what I was, nor what I shall be,” then what have you to do with God?” 

Pretty heavy stuff. You can read more about him by using the excellent tool called Google.

The following is a palate cleanser because the preceeding was rather heavy.

This is for my engineer friends - You know who you are.

Social commentary..I think the Governor's name should be spelled Failin'  What an asshat. And then there is Wallmart.  I signed the petition telling them I would not be shopping there on Black Friday.  Actually I never shop there.  For two reasons 1) they mistreat their workers (no matter what their TV ads say) and 2) the quality of their merchandise sucks. I was taught to buy quality and Wal-mart forces manufacturers to cut corners so they can sell things cheaply which fall apart and don't last. 

 This week-end we have all been reminded of where we were 50 years ago. It doesn't seem like 50 years ago. For those of us who lived through it the feelings and emotions are still there carried with us for all those years.  I was in college at what is now the University of Northern Iowa.  I was living in Linda Rulon's boarding house and had a private room at the head of the stairs.  Across the hall from me was a student known to us as "Billy" Dean  (after Billy Graham) because he was a born again "Christian" who started a conversation with each of us with the question "Are you a Christian?"  Needless to say after that conversation most of us heathens avoided a conversation with him.  I mention it here because it will come up later.

We heard the word in various ways.  I was walking down to College Hill for some reason when some guy pulled his car beside me and yelled out that the "President had been shot." and that he "hoped it wasn't the Commies!" Back then we had just had the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Communist threat was on every one's mind.

I made it back to the house and it was true and I heard the announcement that the President had been shot and was indeed dead.  The TV for the house was in a smallish parlor room just as you came down the steps.  There were only about 8 of us who lived in the house and most of us were glued to the TV for the entire week-end.  We saw and listened to the national coverage and mourned with the nation.  We were in shock.  We saw the pictures as the President's body was taken from the airplane back in Washington.

We watched Mrs. Kennedy as she performed her duties and held the nation together with her grace and presence.  We watched the laying in state and the funeral cortege. It was where I first saw a riderless horse with the boots turned backward in the stirrups and watched as 3 year old John-John saluted his father's casket as it went by the White House.  (I learned tonight -11/25 - that it was the first time he had been able to do it correctly as he was left handed and that his father had been practicing with him to make the salute with his right hand.)  That little salute on the news tonight had the power to bring a tear (or two) to my eyes.

As we watched the funeral and listened to the words "Billy" Dean came down the stairs.  He stopped halfway down and disparaged us for wasting time watching the funeral of somebody who was just a politician.

Kennedy was more than "just a politician" - yes he was flawed, but who isn't?  His flaws are between him and his God. It is his charisma and leadership and vision that make him great.  Read the words from the undelivered speech he was on his way to give in Dallas that day - They could have been written for today.

There will always be dissident voices heard in the land, expressing opposition without alternative, finding fault but never favor, perceiving gloom on every side and seeking influence without responsibility. Those voices are inevitable.

But today other voices are heard in the land — voices preaching doctrines wholly unrelated to reality, wholly unsuited to the sixties, doctrines which apparently assume that words will suffice without weapons, that vituperation is as good as victory and that peace is a sign of weakness. At a time when the national debt is steadily being reduced in terms of its burden on our economy, they [view] that debt as the single greatest threat to our security. At a time when we are steadily reducing the number of Federal employees serving every thousand citizens, they fear those supposed hordes of civil servants far more than the actual hordes of opposing armies.We cannot expect that everyone, to use the phrase of a decade ago, will “talk sense to the American people.” But we can hope that fewer people will listen to nonsense. And the notion that this Nation is headed for defeat through deficit, or that strength is but a matter of slogans, is nothing but just plain nonsense.

...

... a nation can be no stronger abroad than she is at home. Only an America which practices what it preaches about equal rights and social justice will be respected by those whose choice affects our future. Only an America which has fully educated its citizens is fully capable of tackling the complex problems and perceiving the hidden dangers of the world in which we live. And only an America which is growing and prospering economically can sustain the worldwide defenses of freedom, while demonstrating to all concerned the opportunities of our system and society.

...

We, in this country, in this generation, are — by destiny rather than by choice — the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of “peace on earth, good will toward men.” That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: “except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen waketh but in vain.”

This week-end I have been thinking of President Kennedy, his wife and children.  Carolyn is the only one left and she is a talented beautiful, graceful woman who is serving her country as ambassador to Japan.  Continuing the tradition of service. I am grateful on this Thanksgiving week that I can remember them and be grateful that they were here to serve our nation and the world.