What Reminds You Of Your Country

There is a video on You Tube that is getting a huge number of viewings. I've embedded it for you below, since he is asking a question. Those who would like to make a video response can, but I would love to hear from the people who visit here how they would answer the question. Here are some for me.

Thinking that anything 200 years old is really really old.

Being able to find every kind of climate possible all on the same day

Being able to find several kinds of ethnic food within a few blocks in almost every fairly large city.

Absolutely viscious criticism of the government without fearing any consequenses as long as you are just talking

A drive of 500 miles is a normal, comfortable trip in a day when on vacation.

Markets and stores with almost endless number of choices on virtually all products. There is rarely just one kind of anything.

YOUR TURN ADD SOME MORE THINGS.

History 101

If you have children or are in school yourself, here are some of the best sites on the internet for historical Research:


American Revolution The Complete History 1775-1783: The Complete History of The American Revolution

Eye Witness To History Your ringside seat to history - from the Ancient World to the present. History through the eyes of those who lived it, presented by Ibis Communications, Inc. a digital publisher of educational programming.

The U. S. Civil War. This has a fascinating history of the civil war in four minutes video. It also links to several sites with great detail on the aspects of this war.

Biography Channel This is the internet front for the Biography Channel. It changes daily for "This Day In History" events plus having a search function to look up people in history.

The History Channel's This Day in History This allows you enter dates to find events for specific dates such as your birthdate which can entertaining for younger children. I share a birthday with Dr. Seuss and have been pulling things out of my hat ever since.

Rootsweb. This is one of the best "starting places" for genealogical research. It is free. You will be enticed to get an Ancestry membership, but you can accomplish a great deal without spending money up front from the existing records and assistance from others researching the same surnames.

If there is a specific period or person in history that you would like assistance in finding, let me know.

Let's Go Hunting Volume 2

This one is short because it's August, we are going to Point Defiance to visit the trees, and I can't think of a darn thing that interests me more than being outdoors.

If you really like prowling around the web of new and interesting things and have not yet discovered Stumble Upon, go for a stopover. You can try it out, download it, train it for your likes and dislikes, and set yourself up for hours of fun as you go rocketing around the blogosphere never knowing where the somersaulting will take you.

As you roam around, you can find many things that you would like to keep permanently in favorites or just enjoy a few minutes mindless enjoyment.

Now if you want to stay young, you can always go visit the places your grandchildren send you. Both Theresa and Brandy love imaginative artists, so they often recommend their favorite artists and send pictures in email. I'm sure your children and grandchildren have found some surprising things if you ask.

Manic Monday Redux

As I made my rounds of the various postings on the subject of this week's theme of the word "faith", I noted particularly the number of people who had lost faith, who had trouble feeling faith, who had trouble believing in God without faith, who wished for the strength of faith in themselves even without faith in God, or who expressed a deep and abiding faith.

All of this followed the news that Mother Theresa regularly confessed to a lack of faith but acted as if she believed even when unable to feel anything. One of the repeated themes in literature is this "Dark Night of the Soul" sense of moving ahead without faith. Being a child of the 60s, I thought of a story song about moving ahead in faith: "The Reverend Mr. Black" with it's chorus of "You've got to walk that lonesome valley. You've got to walk it by yourself. Oh nobody else can walk it for you. You got to walk it by yourself."

In literature of course "The Valley of Despair" is a place in Pilgrim's Progress. In "Little Women" in the first chapter, the story speaks of Marmie's Christmas gifts to her daughters of the book by John Bunyan written while in jail for his religious beliefs. Marmie hopes that her daughters may learn to keep going even when confronted by temptation, terrified by evil, or abandoned in the Valley of Despair. Toward the end you have this quote when Beth is dying:

Beth could not reason upon or explain the faith that gave her courage and patience to give up life, and cheerfully wait for death. Like a confiding child, she asked no questions, but left everything to God and nature, Father and Mother of us all, feeling sure that they, and they only, could teach and strengthen heart and spirit for this life and the life to come.

Little Women, chapter 36

Whether you believe in God or not is not the same thing as faith. Faith is the act of moving forward even when you are frightened, miserable, lonely or just mystified as to what life is all about. It is only in looking back that you can see how just the act of moving ahead got you past the rough and often cruel parts of life and in that moving ahead you found the nature of faith.

Yes, Pilgrim's Progress was a protestant Christian allegory based in many ways on the old Catholic Mystery Plays, but the story written more than 400 years ago is about life and the difficulties that at one time or another we all face whatever our beliefs or lack of them. If you don't have a copy or can't find one at your library, you can download the book at The Guttenberg Project. So famous is the connection of John Bunyan with his character that someone viewing the figure with it's heavy burden on the tombstone knows where John Bunyan is buried.