Independence Day Perspective

It was July 4, 1988.  A couple of days earlier I'd had some kind of medical episode and I was waiting for medical test results delayed by the holiday,  prolonging the angst of what I was sure would be news that my  21-year old life was about to be cut short.

As my family gathered and got ready for the 4th of July parade and other festivities, I remember hugging everyone tighter, a fake smile in all the pictures being taken (to cover the heartbreak), all the while convinced it would be my last Independence Day.

That afternoon, I was invited by Danny & Marcy, my closest friends of that era, to do something amazing... watch the fireworks that night from above Kansas City in  a small airplane. I thought it would be a fitting way to spend my last Fourth of July on this planet.

Danny's mother, Betty, had something different going on that evening.  She would be hosting a dozen or more severely mentally handicapped individuals for cake and ice cream, etc.  She could really use a few extra hands, she told me.  I let my friends know that I wouldn't be watching the fireworks from the sky.

At 6 p.m. or so a van arrived, and  out came the group of visitors, many of whom had the kinds of severe physical and mental challenges that a lot of people rarely come in contact with. They made themselves comfortable in Betty's lovely, decorated back yard.  A few of us ran about serving cake and ice cream and chatting with them, sometimes feeding them. Their smiles were filled with more joy and happiness than I'd ever encountered.  "These men are the happiest people I've ever seen!" I thought.  They were thrilled and delighted at everything that was going on, and their love for Betty was obvious.  They knew her well, as she had done many such things for them before.

And for a few hours, I completely forgot that I was "dying."  All the day's tragedy had vanished, forgotten.  I was in awe of Betty for doing kind things such as this, bringing these people so much happiness. And I was in awe of the visitors who were able to find joy in the  midst of so much challenge and pain.

I'd known Betty all my life.  She was always doing things to help people. She'd helped me out before, and that night she helped me understand what a "higher purpose" looks like when it's in action.

As I watched the fireworks gratefully from the ground, I "bargained" with God that if I should live, I would be more like Betty and I would devote my life to helping people.  Needless to say, I survived the medical crisis that wasn't.  But I've fallen very short of "being like Betty."  I did not keep my end of the bargain.  Maybe there's still time.

Rest in Peace, Betty.  She inspired me, and I loved her.

March Against Monsanto KC 2015

We're getting close to the Third Annual March Against Monsanto, happening worldwide, and right here in Kansas City at the JC Nichols Memorial Fountain.  From www.KCMarch.com:


If you're not in the Kansas City area, there is sure to be a march near you.

A lot of scientists will tell you that genetically modified foods are perfectly safe.
But ask them about how safe it is to eat Roundup® Herbicide, because that's what's dumped all over your "safe" GMO corn, soybeans, and any other "Roundup® Ready" GMO seeds that end up on your dinner plate.  They led us to believe that Monsanto's GMO corn seeds would be naturally resistant to weeds.  What they meant was that Monsanto's GMO seeds would be able to survive being drenched with large amounts of Monsanto's Roundup® Herbicide, which kills everything else all around it (but not your food).

It was not a big surprise to many when weeds started to become resistant to the Roundup® they were dumping all over the crops.  So farmers had to use more Roundup®.  And more Roundup®, and more Roundup®. Monsanto's profits soared as farmers couldn't get enough of their plant poison to keep the superweeds at bay.

And because so many of the GMO grains that get soaked with Roundup are used to feed our livestock, humans are ingesting Roundup not only in the GMO foods that we eat, but from the meats we eat as well.

 When the World Health Organization recently proclaimed that Glyphosate, the chemical that makes Roundup® toxic to everything but GMO crops, probably caused cancer, Monsanto went on the defensive. Here's a GMO advocate telling us that you can drink it from a glass and it wouldn't hurt you. Watch the way he backtracks when he's offered a glass of glyphosate to drink, himself.


Naturally I prefer foods that didn't grow up being constantly sprayed with poison, but that's only one of many reasons I'll be Marching Against Monsanto again this year.  Soon we'll talk about the bee population, and the dwindling thereof.

 Over the coming weeks we're going to need lots of help getting the rally together and putting the word out!  Please visit www.KCMarch.com and find out how you can get involved, but most of all tell your friends and try to be at a march near you!  If there's not an event scheduled in your area, there's still time to organize one, so don't be afraid to step up to the plate!

Crosby Kemper's Library Woes

   Crosby Kemper III took 100 teenagers to Jefferson City to protest $6 million in cuts to Missouri's public library systems, and he was shocked and surprised when he and the kids were booted out of Governor Jay Nixon's office.  On Facebook he blamed it on the "the notion that we were slightly critical and not whispering was too much."

   It's too bad he and his 100 "non-whispering" teenagers weren't in Jefferson City raising a ruckus when Republicans in the legislature slashed taxes for wealthy Missourians to the tune of $621 million last year, a budget that Jay Nixon vetoed but Republicans over-rode. 

   In fact, Crosby Kemper III and his buddy, Tax Cut King Rex Sinquefield, head up the "Show Me Institute,"  a supposedly non-partisan (though pretty much wholly Republican) "grass-roots" organization that fights hard for lower taxes and "free market solutions," and lobbies hard for the kinds of tax cuts that are now costing Kemper's library at least $100,000 of its funding.

  Perhaps Mr. Kemper can find a free market solution to his library problem... or maybe he could quit supporting the Republicans that bring us these heinous budgets that benefit only wealthy folk like himself and his tax cut king friends.  But it makes better press to take 100 teenagers into a government office and then be "shocked" when they're asked to take a hike because they are disrupting an office not equipped to handle 100 non-whispering teenagers, being tasked as they are with balancing a budget that's $621 million thinner, thanks to the tax cuts that Crosby Kemper himself personally fought for.  I wonder how many of the 100 "non whispering teenagers" were aware of that fact.

His 21st Birthday

It was this day, March 7, back in 1967.  It was his 21st birthday and he asked his buddy to take this picture of him cleaning his M-14  combat rifle.  He was in or near a place spelled Huế and pronounced "Way."   Because he would spell the name Way in letters home, his mother became frustrated about being unable to find it on a map.  It had once been the capital of Vietnam. The next year the place would be the site of the Battle of Huế and the Tet Offensive.
   He'd been in Vietnam for ten months, which gave him enough tenure to make life a little easier for a Marine.  A person knew more than anyone who had been there a shorter length of time, even a day, in a situation where every day the motto was "learn or die."  He tells me that in reality survival was "90% luck."
   The weather was beautiful that day, between 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit.  The letter in his pocket had to have been outgoing... an incoming letter would show much more wear.
   Of the two Marines pictured here, only my friend made it back home alive.
   Three months later Prof. Ulichne was Stateside, the War in Vietnam behind him but always a part of him, even today, on his birthday, 48 years later. 

Wisdom is a Woman

If you believe in the Bible, especially if you take every word literally, there is an important fact that you may have missed out on over the years.  Just like most Christians will tell you that Jesus Christ was around before our universe was formed (John 1:1-3), there was someone else out there with the Heavenly Father long before the Creation.

This is all from the Book of Proverbs, using the King James version, for those who won't accept any other.  Before the Beginning, there was somebody very close to the Creator, a female called "Wisdom."

Proverbs 7:4 advises, "Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman."

This isn't her first mention, but it establishes wisdom's female identity with certainty.   

Her origins can be learned in Proberbs 7:22...31, in her own words:

"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.  ... When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men."

In all Chapter 8, it's shown how she dwells on this planet, amongst the sons of men, trying to make contact, a frustrating prospect when one is Wisdom and most men are foolish, as she point out early, in Proverbs 1:22.  So very often these same words, in sermons given at churches by preachers, are spoken as if God said them, but it wasn't God who said them. It was the female Wisdom speaking. From Proverbs 8:2-7:

"She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips."

From the beginning of the Proverbs the importance of this female entity is made clear:

"Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee."

And she's just waiting for people to take notice, ready to give them treasures more valuable than rubies, more valuable than anything:

"Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.  Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. " Proverbs 9:1-6

Just like this picture you always see of Jesus knocking on the door of your heart trying to get in, Wisdom is out there, and she's calling out to people who know they don't know everything.  All you have to do is accept her, the same way you accept the Messiah.  She will give you understanding that you won't find otherwise, no matter how hard you search, and she'll tell you EXACTLY what you need to know in order to be wise.  It can pretty much be summed up in two very simple things, but you'll need to read the Proverbs to find out what they are (just keep clicking the arrow pointing right when you get to the bottom of the page).

This, my friends, is straight from the Bible.