Man-up! Woman-up!

Look, it's tough out there, but that doesn't mean men can't be men, and women can't be women.

These days, it's easy to become "soft" because of all the political correctness, and the threat to be labeled a hater.

So what?

Men, do what you have to do to exert your proper role in society, whether in the single or married state.  Be masculine, and all the good that entails; if married, then be a leader of the household; discipline your children with proper charity, but do discipline!  Love your wife, as St. Paul admonishes husbands to do.  This is only natural.

Women, exert your true femininity, if single, give a good example to your "sisters."  Don't go along to get along and sacrifice your moral standing, perhaps, because as a single, you may, from time to time, feel lonely.

Again, so what?

Seek direction; let providence be your guide; pray.

If married, be the heart of your home; the bulwark against all the evil that might attempt to infiltrate your home and influence your children.

The roles of real men and real women is complimentary -- and necessary!

Have righteous anger against that which is evil; admonish those who do evil, in some way, shape, or form, especially those in the family unit, but again, with charity.

Never give an inch; never compromise moral absolutes; never give up!

Man-up!  Woman-up!

What some Vietnam Vets went through when they came home.

From my book: Mutiny, the Battle of Dong Ha.  The scene: Randy Mires has just returned from Vietnam and meets his parents at the airport...

"Randy!"  His mom calls out.

As they embrace, there are more tears on the part of his parents, but Randy is all cried out.  The small family would stay overnight in one of DC's local hotels before starting the long drive back to their home near Wheeling, WV.

They dined at a mid-priced restaurant.  During the meal there was little conversation between son, father and mother.  The food was good, but Randy didn't seem to enjoy his dinner.  He stared at his food more than ate it; his mind was elsewhere.... They knew that there was now a different son sitting before them, not the son they knew just one short year ago.  This was the start of the change.  They would have to get used to it; there was no turning back the clock.

The night air was chilly, but not so cold as to keep Randy from stepping out on the balcony off his room.  He stared at the waxing moon, about a third full now.  What was he thinking about?  Was he thinking about the friends he would see back home, and how he would put on a façade of happiness to please his folks?  Maybe he was thinking of his former girlfriend that he broke up with shortly before he went to Vietnam?  Whatever became of her?  Who was she with now?  All he knew was that she wasn't there to greet him on his return from Nam.  This hurt him more than anything...

The long night was unsettling for Randy.  The sight of Biffi taking the hit, and Billingsly's distorted  death mask flashing through his mind, punctuated his attempt at sleep.  He tossed and turned.  He prayed.  He tried to cry.

The day began to break.  The sun's rays penetrated the thin curtains blocking the window of his room from any passing, prying eyes.  Waking to the alarm set for 6:00 am, he was not refreshed.  Pulling himself out of his bed, he forced himself over to the bathroom and threw cold water in his face.  "I deserve that!" he thought to himself.  He wiped his face with the towel, but did not replace the towel in the circular holder.  He pressed his powerful hands against the temples of his head, increasing the pressure almost to the point of creating excruciating pain.  He struggled for breath, and at the same time, tried like hell to cry, but couldn't.  He looked up and stared in the mirror for almost thirty seconds.  He asked himself: "What am I doing here in this hotel?  Where's my 16? [M-16 rifle]  Where's Biff?"  He thought he heard a voice: "Hey, Randy, are you starting to lose it?"  He shook his head indicating, "No!  I don't know."  Who was he responding to?  Was he beginning to lose it?

[That morning at breakfast...]

He stabbed at the eggs and toast, barely eating any of the not-so-tasty food.  At the end of breakfast, most of the food still lay on his plate...

[On the drive back to their home...]

She [Randy's mom..] told Randy about a couple of sweet, young things of twenty-one or so, friends of friends that she thought he might like to meet in the near future.

So now it starts.  Good-willed for sure, but not now!  Too damn soon!  This can't be real!  Leave me the hell alone!  I shouldn't even be here!  Randy did not dare to express this out loud, but he screamed these thoughts in his mind.

...He was different.  His sense of humor was gone.  His faith was nearly shattered.  He had a new and darker outlook on life, one that was quickly becoming apparent to his folks.  His friends thought that this would pass, but it would not, not for Randy...

E. DeLalla

Does killing a cat carry more legal consequences than killing a pre-born baby?

Sometime back, there was a letter written to the local newspaper here in southwest New Hampshire decrying animal cruelty and the lack of serious sentencing for the perpetrators.

I agree that animal cruelty should be taken seriously and punished accordingly.  No question about it.

Some lunatic apparently killed two cats. 

The letter writer reports the idot was charged with two Class B felonies, reduced to two Class A misdemeanors.  He was subsequently sentenced to two one-year terms in the Cheshire County jail, all but 180 days of that sentence were suspended.

I have a question: when a little baby girl or boy – developing in their mother’s womb – is killed by some heinous procedure during the course of an abortion, what should the penalty be? 

A Class B felony?  A Class A misdemeanor?  With all but 180 days suspended?   

Should killing a cat carry more weight and punishment than killing that little baby girl or boy in their mother’s womb? 

Just curious.

And by the way, isn’t that the real “war on women”?

E. DeLalla

Is peace breaking out?

Is it possible that peace is beginning to break out in at least one corner of the world -- the Korean peninsula?

Perhaps, but unless and until we, as a country, disengage from the numerous "little" wars that we have, for many years now, been embroiled in, and pull our troops out of sovereign nations-states, I'm afraid not much will change in the overall scheme of things.

One obvious place to start would be South Korea, where we have nearly 30,000 troops that have been used as a buffer against any perceived North Korean invasion of the prosperous South.  If that were to happen, I know a good place to re-deploy those forces: the southern border of our own country to help stem the tsunami of illegal aliens onto our sovereign soil.

After a successful de-nuclearization of North Korea -- if that actually happens -- a list of the beleaguered countries that we have invaded and occupied for over a decade should be put on the table; withdraw our troops, and leave the destiny of those peoples to their own devices.  Iraq and Afghanistan come to mind, but that list will be a long one, including the African continent.

Let's face the undeniable fact, that, unfortunately, our military actions across the world has left a trail of death, mayhem and despair.  And for what?  Regime change; to spread our form of "democracy"?

Or, can it be that the wars and rumors of wars have all been part of the agenda of the military industrial complex (as President Eisenhower warned us about) that would provide a steady diet of opportunities for the arms and munitions manufactures to enjoy almost endless profits amounting to trillions of dollars over the years, not to mention the almost inconceivable human misery perpetrated, mostly, on the innocent.

Will President Trump be able to buck the establishment war mongers and fulfill his promise to pull our troops out of, at least, Iraq and Afghanistan?  

Bottom line: we cannot put all our expectations and hopes in one man or one political party to counter the culture of death (and that includes the killing of the pre-born!).

You know as well as I, that our hopes and dreams for a lasting peace can only be put on the shoulders of Christ and His most Blessed Mother (listen to Her message at Fatima!).  All other efforts will be futile...

E. DeLalla

Inalienable rights...

Inalienable rights...

We hear this term used, but what are inalienable rights?

Here is the dictionary definition: Not capable of being given up or transferred.

In a previous post, I wrote that our inalienable rights are NOT given to us by government, but are given to us by God, and that it is the duty, the job, of government to guarantee those rights.

But let us look at that dictionary definition once again: Not capable of being given up or transferred.

This simple definition is just that, simple, but complex in its meaning, as only human beings have inalienable rights that cannot be given up -- or taken away! -- nor can they be transferred (as the globalists would like to see AI robots have those very same human rights).

The idea of robots having human rights, of course, is pure nonsense.  But what is not nonsense, is that the elite -- and, yes, there is an elite that would very much like to take our inalienable rights away -- want non-humans, including some species of animals, to have human rights also.

So what does all this lead to?

I contend that it leads to the loss of sanctity and value of human life, especially the pre-born, the most vulnerable of all humans.

Taking this terrible trend further, we can easily see that if the life of a pre-born baby girl developing in her mother's womb is considered to be just a blob of cells, why should anyone care about protecting the "fetus" (the unborn young of a mammal -- according to the dictionary) from destruction?

Sadly, in our own country, and many nations as well, the taking of the life of the pre-born is "legal," and used as a form of birth control, and declared to be a "right" of a woman to end her pregnancy.

We destroy the most defenseless of our own in the most heinous ways, without fear of man's law, but most importantly, without fear of God's judgment; His justice.

And that is the key: lack of fear of the Lord.  Without this fear, we do what we want, when we want, without fearing the ultimate price that will someday be paid.

God will not be mocked.

E. DeLalla

All have sinned. Really?

St. Paul tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

If St. Paul's words are inspired, and they are, then his statement must mean that our Lord and His most Blessed Mother are sinners just as we are, right?

And if St. Paul is wrong, then the Scripture is contradictory or wrong.

But there are no contradictions, and the Scripture is not wrong.

First, St. Paul was well educated, a Roman citizen, and, most importantly, a persecutor of the nascent Christians,  In fact, he was present at the stoning of St. Stephen, the protomartyr.  But after his miraculous and stunning conversion on the road to Damascus, became Christ's messenger, His ambassador to the Gentiles. 

There is no doubt that even the new Paul was a sinner -- as we all are.

On a human level, does anyone really think that the new St. Paul would have considered his Savior a sinner?   Or that His Mother was not immaculately conceived, also a sinner -- the woman that was to bring the Redeemer into the world?

I think not.

In his humility, St. Paul is referring to our human natures, not the human/Divine nature of our Lord, or His Blessed Mother (Hail, full of grace!  As the angel announced.).

As the cousin of Mary, Elizabeth, proclaimed: what is this that the Mother of my Lord should come to me!?

The Mother of our Lord!  The Mother of the Son of God!

No, she was not just a "vessel" to be used by God to bring His Son into the world, then discarded, if you will, to hold no special place in salvation history.

The most perfect of all God's creations!  The Mother of us all!

The "all have sinned" verse is another misinterpreted, and misunderstood verse that the unlearned quote to their own destruction (St. Peter).

E. DeLalla

 

Battle scene from my book: Mutiny! The Battle of Dong Ha

Chapter Nineteen: Time to Grieve?

…"Biffi; now Billingsly.  Why?"  He didn't vocalize this question to anyone standing nearby or working to recover the body of his friend, but asked this in the silence of his  heart.

Mires, standing near the collapsed bunker, limply holding the carry-handle of his M-16, turned around to make a quick survey and assessment of the damage done to the air field...

...The small MASH unit was rendered almost useless with the sandbagged roof having collapsed on the beds and stretchers...

...The north perimeter was almost non-existent, the west perimeter faired little better with entire sections of concertina wire blown away...

...The still, warm, humid air was filled with lingering smoke from the fires, gunpowder from spent shells and cartridges, making it difficult to get a breath of fresh air.  The battle was won, but the stench of death lingered...

...Just then, a slight breeze picked up and started to push some of the choking smells away from the compound.  A light misty rain began to fall, not the heavy and unpredictable monsoons so common at this time of year...

...As Mires continued his survey of the battle scene, his peripheral vision noticed something moving just up and over his right shoulder.  He slowly turned his head and, coming into his field of view now, he looked up at the movement that caught his attention.  It was the bullet-riddled, tattered American Flag dangling atop the shot-up flagpole.  It began to flap gently in the light breeze, catching the attention of several more cops and support personnel.  Almost as if an order was given, heads began to turn and stare at the symbol of their country.  No one uttered a word.  But the sight began to overwhelm those seeing Old Glory still flying over the nearly destroyed air field compound.  The tears that Mires shed earlier began anew... He thought to himself: "We are here for them, not for us." 

E. DeLalla