THE TRUE STORY of RUDOLPH the RED-NOSED REINDEER 

A man named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, 

stared out his drafty apartment window into 

the chilling December night.

His 4-year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bob's wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer Little Barbara couldn't understand why her mommy could never come home. Barbara looked up into her dad's eyes and asked, "Why isn't Mommy just like everybody else's Mommy?" Bob's jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob's life. Life always had to be different for Bob.

Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was often called names he'd rather not remember. From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college, married his loving wife and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with his little girl. But it was all short-lived. Evelyn's bout with cancer stripped them of all their savings and now Bob and his daughter were forced 

to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. 

Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938.

Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn't buy a gift, he was determined to make one - a storybook! Bob had created an animal character in his own mind and told the animal's story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story, embellishing it more with each telling. Who was the character? What was the story all about? The story Bob May created was his own autobiography in fable form. The character he created was a misfit outcast like he was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a big shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on Christmas Day. But the story doesn't end there.

The general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book. Wards went on to print,_ Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer_ and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph. That same year, a major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print 

an updated version of the book.

In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all rights back to Bob May. The book became a best seller. Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing family, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving daughter. 

But the story doesn't end there either.

Bob's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore , it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry.  "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was released in 1949 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of "White Christmas." 

Childhood memories now electronically preserved for Posterity

The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning back to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, 

that being different isn't so bad. 

In fact, being different can turn out be a blessing.     

(Reprise)

We Don’t Matter

Civilizations Come and Go

Empires Boom then Go Bust

Governments Rise and Fall

Currencies Come and Go 

Fashions are Ever Changing 

Yet, through it all 

THE PEOPLE 

go on and on and on

A while back one of our more querulous colleagues asked plaintively: 

"Do you think we COULD ever recover from this fiscal mess, even through tightening belts? And what DO we do with the very poor if we tighten?"

All I could think to say at the time was “For heaven's sake! Have a little faith. Cultivate more trust in Almighty God.”

These good folk must like singing Praise Choruses in church.

If we've been able to prevail in the Revolution of 1776, the War of 1812, explore, chart, and settle the western wilderness, get through the atrocity of Lincoln's War, adjust to massive waves of notably anomalous foreign immigration, the various elements of which neither liked, trusted, or had much inclination to cooperate with one another, survive WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, LBJ, the Sex Drugs & Rock 'n Roll of the Sick-sties, Vietnam, Watergate, Jimmy Carter, an assassination attempt on President Reagan, the spineless, colorless, passionless out-of-touch presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush, Monica Lewinsky servicing The Bent One under the desk in the Oral Office, the presidency of Dubya, the intellectually-challenged, closet-liberal, we can certainly survive our current woes, which are –– if we look at it with any sense of perspective at all –– a mere walk in the park compared to most things just listed.

The only thing wrong with us Americans is that we indulge in far too much whining and wringing of hands.

Most of us are too fat, and too overindulged anyway. A period of serious austerity is probably just what we need in order to get revitalized.

Less WHINING and far less DINING would have undoubtedly have a tonic effect.

As for the poor, the women would then have to get up off their dead asses, get off drugs and alcohol, stop producing fatherless babies, stop watching crap on those gigantic 54" color TV's in their Section 8 housing, and start cleaning windows, sweeping floors, polishing brass, copper and silver, washing and ironing clothes, and cooking meals at competitive wages for those who can afford to hire them.

The men would have to dig ditches, weed, hoe, trim, and mow lawns and gardens, clean streets, pick up trash, lay bricks, hammer shingles, harvest crops, transport products from here to there, and do maintenance work in large public buildings for low pay –– just like they used to have to do in the days before Eleanor Roosevelt and LBJ chained them up, castrated them, and put them on Welfare –– and before Illegal Immigrants started filling the void in droves eager to perform the necessary tasks pre-Union, pre-Welfare-State Americans used to do gladly for modest wages.

Believe me, if left once again to their own devices,  “THE POOR” would survive.

It's only the Welfare State Mentality that has weakened huge numbers to the point where we're turning into a nation of slobbering, snivelling, babbling, blubbering JELLYFISH. 

Civilizations come and go. Empires boom and go bust. Governments rise and fall. Currencies come and go. Fashions are ever changing and rarely for the better. Yet, through it all The People go on and on and on. Life persists and persists no matter what we do to try to alter, curtail or abolish it. 

Fear not! This too shall pass.

LIFE is stronger than governments, stronger than people. LIFE is GOD, and you may be sure that HE isn't going anywhere.

When we emerged from the ooze and slime, as evolutionists insist we did –– though no one's proved it yet beyond a reasonable doubt –– there were no governments, no nations, no boundaries, no rules, other than The Law of the Jungle –– Survival of the Fittest and Most Ruthless –– Dog Eat Dog and all that. And life was, as has oft been said, “Nasty, Brutish and Short.”

Yet, somehow, despite our species' extreme frailty in comparison to so many others,  we not only survived –– we grew, –– developed Language, Art, Poetry, Literature, discovered the laws of Mathematics, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, developed Architecture, Philosophy, Religion and Politics. In short we went from a feral state –– mere animal existence –– to the mixed blessing of highly complex, stratified forms of Civilization.

With each successive failure after every period of decline, degeneracy and eventual extinction "someone" “somewhere" has always managed to preserve what was best from the ruined past, and used it to enhance the future.

To our eyes right now the whole world appears to be falling apart. We naturally feel confused, frightened, threatened, but it is just possible we are going through a necessary shifting of the moral, religious, ideological, cultural "tectonic plates" that may eventually settle into a firmer foundation than ever before and bring us to great heights as yet undreamed of.

Is it likely that you and I will be here to see it? No, but it doesn’t matter. Harsh and absurd as it may sound WE DON’T MATTER. Our only legitimate purposes here is to serve Life (God) as lovingly and gratefully as possible as long as it pleases God to allow us to do it.

So, don’t worry. Weeping, wailing, hand-wringing, bitter denunciation, blaming the villains, etc. won’t improve our prospects one iota. All it is sure to do is spoil whatever time we may have left.

The opening lines of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio put it magnificently:

“Christians, be joyful 

and praise your Salvation, 

haste with Thanksgiving 

to greet this glad morn.”

Like the mythical Phoenix Bird, our species seems to have an infinite capacity for rising from the ashes of our funeral pyres to begin life all over again.

Bank on that. Don’t invest energy in fear of disaster, and above all don’t fear death.

The mind of the dreamer 

_____ is a secret storehouse 

__________ wherein may dwell 

__________ all youthful fond illusion ––

 The embryo of each utterance of hope ––

_____ each word of comfort ––

__________ and each song of joy.

The mind of the cynic 

_____ is a well-known asylum 

__________ wherein lies disenchantment –– 

_______________ destruction and despair ––

The insidious, lisping voice of the serpent. 

O, foolish Man! Why choose strife, 

_____ when only what you choose to know 

_____ has life?

~ FreeThinke (1962)

Eternal, Never New

The years are naught but Man's invention,

As is Time, itself.

'Tis been, since Eve, Man's mad intention

To manage Life, himself.

In Truth what is has always been,

And will last evermore. ––

A perspective few have ever seen ––

A sea without a shore!

We drift quite helplessly upon 

The surface of the waves

Charting courses, till we've gone,

Instead, on to our graves.

Though we may seem to disappear

From our loved ones' view,

There isn't anything to fear;

We shall return anew.

This never-ending cycle

Upon the shoreless sea

No matter what we’d like will

Recur eternally.

~ FreeThinke (January 1, 2014)

LIBERAL HYPOCRISY on DISPLAY

In what ways might Marxian-Fabian-Liberal-Progressive-Socialist-Statists legitimately defend 

their schizoid position against this simple, 

clear statement of fact? 

How could they justify their bizarre dichotomy?

What other considerations might have been in play that caused ultra-left Columbia University 

to make such an egregious gaffe?

In what way other than the out-and-out denial in which they habitually indulge could they explain this?

I imagne most of them will just say, "It's a lie conjured up by the vast right wing conspiracy," but I persist in hoping for more.

BOILERPLATE SPAM WILL BE REMOVED

(Reprise)

Loving is an Art not a Feeling

“It’s easy to say ‘I love you,’ but putting love into action is the work of a lifetime.”

Kurt Silverfiddle once wrote a fine piece on that theme in reference to his marriage and family life. Truer sentiments have never been said, and Kurt expressed them persuasively in his characteristically modest style.  Unfortunately (I thought) concern for the devastating fires then raging in and around Colorado quickly took over the thread, and thoughts of love were soon abandoned in favor of concern for possible disaster.

We need continually to be reminded of what's truly important, because we allow –– even encourage –– ourselves to get too preoccupied with all that seems wrong, threatening, annoying or unattractive, and let it mar the moment, cloud our vision for the future, or spoil our sleep.  Even worse we let myriad forms of negativity keep us from getting in touch with our better angels, our deepest capacities –– our true selves.

What most us need is to make a determined effort each day to express approval, appreciation and affection by giving the kind of gifts and performing little services we know would delight, amuse, enrich and reassure our family and friends. In other words we need to give of ourselves –– an old expression that regrettably seems to have gone out of favor.

There’s even more we must do, of course, if we are to become truly loving:

Always give everyone the benefit of the doubt, at least until there is no possibility of doubt left, and even then try to forgive those who offend or annoy.

If Our Master, Jesus Christ, could forgive his torturers and murderers from the Cross, surely we ought to find enough Charity in our hearts to forgive those who irritate us, fail to appreciate us, wrongfully accuse us, and "despitefully use" us. 

Thinking less and less of our own sorrows, pet peeves, aggravations and unfulfilled needs, and more and more of the needs and feelings of others is not only the most loving thing we could do, it is also the best gift we could ever give ourselves. 

Our own burdens become much lighter, and we see our lives in better perspective when we give what we can to alleviate the suffering and allay the doubts and fears of others.

Again the poet says it so much better than I possibly could:

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Emily Dickinson (restored photo)

We fulfill our own needs best by serving others with no expectation of special rewards for ourselves.

Also, making a habit of always looking for and expressing RECOGNITION and APPRECIATION of whatever virtues, talents, and attempts “to make a difference” others make, however vain, is an oft-neglected way of giving love. 

Walt Whitman said:

“Be curious, not judgmental.”

“Whoever walks a furlong without sympathy 

walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud.” 

There’s so much nurturing wisdom and truth in poetry –– and so many probing, penetrating issues raised. How unstintingly it could enrich our lives, if only we had enough curiosity to make us set aside our petty concerns, and explore the Cosmos in depth!

To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour ...

William Blake (1757-1827) engraving

William Blake! Unique poet, artist, mystic, visionary, sage, whose life spanned the late eighteenth and early nineteenth-centuries, knew as well or better than anyone I’ve ever encountered that words mean nothing unless they are brought to life with understanding gained in an honest, never-ending search for wisdom, and that all true wisdom is rooted in the Love, which is God, Himself.

ANOTHER KIND of WAR CRIME

Alan Turing (1912-1954) sketch in sepia

The Story of Mathematical Genius 

ALAN TURING

Brilliantly and touchingly portrayed 

by Derek Jacobi

Alan Turing, who is credited with being instrumental in cracking the German's supposedly impenetrable Enigma Code, was largely responsible for saving many thousands of British and Allied Forces lives during World War Two.  

He is also widely recognized as the Father 

of Modern Computer Science.

THE TOO-LITTLE-TOO-LATE AWARD of the CENTURY

Alan Turing, Code-Breaker Castrated for Homosexuality, Receives Royal Pardon

Alan Turing, instrumental in breaking Germany's Enigma Code

By Jethro Mullen, CNN

December 24, 2013

Source: ITN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS:

Alan Turing's code-breaking is credited 

with helping to end World War II.

He killed himself in 1954 after being 

chemically castrated for homosexual activity.

Nearly 60 years later, he receives 

a posthumous royal pardon.

Britain says the pardon is 

"a fitting tribute to an exceptional man."

(CNN) –– Alan Turing, a British code-breaker during World War II who was later subjected to chemical castration for homosexual activity, has received a royal pardon nearly 60 years after he committed suicide.

Turing was best known for developing the Bombe, a code-breaking machine that deciphered messages encoded by German machines. His work is considered by many to have saved thousands of lives and helped change the course of the war.

"Dr. Turing deserves to be remembered and recognized for his fantastic contribution to the war effort and his legacy to science," British Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said in a statement Tuesday. "A pardon from the Queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man."

Turing's castration in 1952 -- after he was convicted of homosexual activity, which was illegal at the time -- is "a sentence we would now consider unjust and discriminatory and which has now been repealed,"

 Grayling said.

Two years after the castration, which Turing chose to avoid a custodial sentence, he ended his life at the age of 41 by eating an apple laced with cyanide.

Supporters have long campaigned for Turing to receive greater recognition for his work and official acknowledgment that his punishment was wrong.

An online petition in 2009 that drew tens of thousands of signatures succeeded in getting an apology from then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown for Turing's treatment by the justice system in the 1950s. Brown described the Turing sentence as "appalling."

The German messages that Turing cracked at the British government's code-breaking headquarters in Bletchley Park provided the Allies with crucial information. The German messages were encoded by Enigma machines, which Adolf Hitler's military believed made its communications impenetrable.

Turing was considered a mathematical genius.

In 1937 he published a paper introducing an idea that came to be known as the Turing machine, which is considered to have formed the basis of modern computing. This was a hypothetical device that could come up with a solution to any problem that is computable.

"Alan Turing was a remarkable man who played a key role in saving this country in World War II by cracking the German enigma code," British Prime Minister David Cameron said. "His action saved countless lives. He also left a remarkable national legacy through his substantial scientific achievements, often being referred to as the 'father of modern computing.'"

The prestigious A.M. Turing Award –– sometimes called the "Nobel Prize" of Computing ––- was named after Turing.

The pardon, under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, comes into effect Tuesday, the British Ministry of Justice said.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/24/world/europe/alan-turing-royal-pardon/

MY UTMOST for HIS HIGHEST

Daily Meditations 

by Oswald Chambers

Oswald Chambers 1905

You shall not go out with haste, . . . for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard —Isaiah 52:12

Security from Yesterday. “. . . God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.

Security for Tomorrow. “. . . the Lord will go before you . . . .” This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.

Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste . . . .” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.

Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.

http://utmost.org

WORDS of GREAT BEAUTY  and TIMELESS SIGNIFICANCE   The Wisdom of ALICE HERZ SOMMER,  the world's oldest living Holocaust Survivor now age 110, should humble and encourage us all

Alice Herz Sommer, filmed here at age 108, is still very much alive today at 110 and still giving interviews. The oldest living survivor of The Holocaust, Alice Herz Sommer is regarded with affection and admiration by hundreds of thousands who see her as both a sage and a saint. 

Alice Herz Sommer was a highly accomplished concert pianist with a husband, a son, and a rewarding career when she and her family were seized by the Nazis and thrown into the notorious death camp known as Theresienstadt. Her parents and her husband died there, but Alice and her little son survived.

At age 110 she still practices the piano for at least two hours every day, and still plays Schubert with great character, color and powerful expression. One can easily see from the way she uses her now-ancient hands how gifted and well-trained she must have been from the start.

Her wisdom is evident in almost everything she says. Her saintliness is seen in her nearly unique tolerance, compassion and determined optimism. She has the rare gift of true forgiveness. Her approach to life may be summed up in this one statement:

"Life is beautiful, Love is beautiful, Nature and Music are beautiful. Everything is a present." 

~ Alice Herz Sommer

http://www.allegrofilms.com/film/Alic... 

Here is a link to another interview with Alice Herz Sommer. There are several, all well worth pursuing, and easy to find on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGR2T_NrUqc

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Alice Herz Summer in youth