Thanks for signing up to OUR LAND with Michael Jackson. It is my hope that in these writings, you will find a voice for the feelings and thoughts you have right now as you and I witness the insanity of the world around us.
At this early stage of development of the OUR LAND movement, I know many of you that have already subscribed personally, and I can report that we are already a group of people that span the entire range of adulthood, from young singles to senior citizens. This in itself should let you know that you are not alone. There are a multitude of people that think like we do. That have hopes for the future of our country, our towns, our homes. Funny thing is, we are not all republicans or democrats or independents. We are simply men and women who believe the world around us has gotten out of hand, and that it’s time to do something about it. Perhaps this will be a good place to start.
This is my grandfather, Osher Blackwood. A WWII Veteran. Perhaps the kindest man I have ever known. A hard worker. Generous without fault. He loved life and people and spent most of his time enjoying both. He and my grandmother Evelyn took my brother Rick and I in to raise after our mother died at 23. In later years, I learned that he was not my biological grandfather, but I would fight you to the death if you ever tried to tell me he was not my real grandfather. I know of no other man that commands my respect as does he.
You never had to wonder if Osher Blackwood was on your side. And he didn’t have to tell you if he had your back or not. His actions spoke much louder than any words could have. I never heard him talk much about his military service, and I could tell it still troubled him to think about it well into his 90’s. But I heard enough to know that he suffered during that period of his life in ways that most of us will never experience or understand. And I knew him well enough to know that he did it without complaining or questioning. He was on a mission with the rest of the country at that time, and the days he crawled on his belly through cabbage fields under enemy fire to deliver messages to front lines of battlefields were a part of the overall plan to defend freedom on this planet, and he was proud to be a part of the effort. He carried the scars of battle in his loss of hearing and his frostbitten toes. He fought in that war for me and you. And he tended to those scars, as well as carrying emotional ones, for the rest of his life after the war. He did this for you and I.
We owe the people like my grandfather and the men and women in your families that fought in wars around the globe for the cause of freedom a huge debt. It’s a debt that can never be repaid completely, but needs to be forever acknowledged as the rightful salvation of democracy around the world, as without the willingness of these men and women to defend the concept of freedom, we would all be living a much less gratifying lifestyle. Beyond the grand Memorial Day parades and the national anthems at ball games, we need more than anything else to teach the young people of America why they have the freedoms they have today and who to thank for them. I fear we are raising up generations of children who may believe it is a right to have a Starbucks cappuccino on the way to school in a fashionable late model car, rather than a privilege that was set up for them by the people who came before them, crawling through cabbage fields in foreign countries with bullets flying over their heads.
Given the ridiculousness of current day politics and the frivolous nature of the American public in general, how could anyone ever fight again to defend the right to live amid such insanity? The answer is easy. Freedom was and will always be something worth defending. Even now. Especially now.
More than ever, the American concept of freedom you and I enjoy, and perhaps take for granted, is despised in other parts of the world, and is in more danger of being attacked than ever before. The mass numbers of people who live somewhere else but are trying to get into this country is all you need to know to realize the current political arguments that America is bad and needs to change is bologna. The real threat to freedom in America is suddenly within our borders. The rest of the world is aware that when it comes right down to it, America will defend freedom even if we have to defend it from across the waters. The real challenge we face as a nation today is how to defend American rights and values from those who are seeking to diminish them in their personal pursuits of power and prestige as they swim laps in the cesspool of American ruling classes. It is worth noting the reason the people who came to this land to begin with were of the same mindset that people should be free to come and go and believe as they see fit, so long as it doesn’t harm those around them.
Why are these writings called OUR LAND? Because America is made up of people and ideas of all kinds, but with a singular purpose. To create and maintain a safe place for us all to live and prosper and enjoy the life that God gave us, and to be able to give Him thanks for it all at the end of the day without worry of retribution for our thoughts.
We are still free. But freedom has to be defended, as is all too evident today. Perhaps it is time to question those who believe America needs to change. We are running out of ‘other cheeks’ to turn. Maybe it’s time to stand our ground on why we believe America is good and great and worth fighting for. The way it is.
My grandfather fought and stood his ground. And it’s comforting to know that he always had my back. I want my kids and grandkids to know I will fight for their future, too. I think we can all agree that we want our families to enjoy the freedom that America so wonderfully gave to us. But if we sit idly by and simply watch, you can be certain that those freedoms will be sacrificed on the altar of progressive thought, which knows no limit and is never satisfied with where it is at any given time.
We are for the moment the land of the free. It is time to be the home of the brave.
Very well said