RBWords - Volume 27 - Number 9: September 2014
Something to Think About
RBWORDS - VOL. 27 - NO. 9 - SEPTEMBER 2014
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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT -
I am now old enough in Texas to qualify for a mail-in ballot. The various political interests send multiple applications to the electorate, so I sent in mine and duly received a mail-in ballot. It was huge - what we in Louisiana would call a "bedsheet ballot." I did the best I could with it and the elaborate envelope containing the ballot will be mailed as soon as possible. There were quite literally dozens of officials to vote for. The only races that I had any familiarity with are those that make the newspaper regularly here. It's a challenge to cast an intelligent vote. Since I am registered as an "independent," the partisanal nature of the races leaves me shaking my head.
In his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln appealed to "the better angels of our nature" to avoid the looming disaster of division by secession. Those angels did not prevail and our nation still suffers from "unfinished business" dating from that terrible civil war. The impassioned politics today that have led our nation's congress to a standstill [and to very low public opinion ratings] threaten our confidence in our ability to make our system "work!" Whether or not the November general election will lead to an improvement remains to be seen and to be prayed for! May the Holy Spirit send those "better angels of our nature" to guide us! IT'S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.
It Has Been Said
"We are not enemies but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
from The First Inaugural Address by Abraham LIncon