If there were an emoticon for rolling my eyes, that would be my title.

Someone recently commented on Facebook that they wish President Obama loved this country as much as the Israeli Prime Minister loves his. This really caused me to stop and reflect. My first thought was, "Wow, how presumptuous of you to make statements about someone else's feelings or insinuate that he doesn't love this country as much." Then I wondered on what grounds or with what criteria their love of their respective nations is being compared. First of all, we all express and show love differently, so it seems illogical to base our judgement of love on body language, passion and intensity of speech, etc. Actions do speak louder than words, so perhaps that's what this person is basing their opinion on . . . but which of Obama's actions denote that his love of country is less than Netanyahu's?

Many have criticized the president because "he likes to apologize for America." Interesting, I always thought of apologizing as an act of humility, something that shows greatness of character, but apparently it is not regarded as such universally. There's a quote in a movie that I've come to love which states, "It takes great courage to see the world in all its tainted glory and love it still, and even greater courage to see it in the one you love." We are an imperfect nation made up of imperfect people. The fact that I recognize flaws in the system and mistakes we've made as a nation does not (at least to me) signify that I love my country less than anyone else. In fact, it could be argued that to love something as it actually is indicates a greater love than the love that is too fragile to admit and recognize the imperfect reality.

Perhaps, then, it's President Obama's political views that denote a lesser love of nation. Yes, that must be it, he doesn't love his country because he doesn't agree with you on what's the best way to run it. A true lover of country would do what YOU think is best, is that it? Differences of opinion are just that, differences of OPINION! Just because you believe something, doesn't make you right. So, if you want to convince me to "come over to the light," you better come at me with something more substantial than fallacies and demagoguery.

I have yet to observe anything in the president's words, actions or demeanor that would indicate that he does not love his country or that he is not doing what he thinks is best for our nation.

Political Warfare

It's discouraging to see all of the negativity in politics and frustrating to realize that no one has the truth. All information available to us can be slanted in any number of ways in order to "support" or "prove" any and all points of view on a given topic. It all comes down to who and what you choose to believe, not what's true or false. Therefore, I think it's rather pompous of anyone to act as though they have more than just their own opinions to aid them in their quest to "enlighten" others. In my opinion, there's far too many demagogic e-mails being forwarded, getting the masses all riled up over nothing more than opinions guised as facts. Let's not be progenitors of such ranting speech; instead let's make positive and productive contributions to both the morale and the welfare of our great nation by voting in accordance with our personal beliefs, also by getting involved in city councils and other public forums where changes in our laws and society can be made. Criticism, gossip, slander and negativism change nothing but your own character.

"You get what you qualify for."

So, this last week while I was on vacation we drove up to Gettysburg. It's interesting that it opened my eyes to the complexity of the issue. In the past, I had oversimplified it to good vs. bad, but there was a lot at stake for both sides, and a lot of loss. I now realize that it would have been very difficult for the people of the South, whether they were slaveholders or not. The war was not fought over the issue of slavery as much as whether the Southern states had a right to secede from the Union. It was a very interesting experience and I'm glad to have a greater understanding of the conflict and greater empathy towards all who were involved in the war.

"If it can be done, you can do it. It's a matter of choice."

"We cannot know what faith is if we have never had it, and we cannot obtain it as long as we deny it. Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time for one will dispel the other."

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."

~ Thomas S. Monson

"Whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with grateful hand, nor postpone your joys from year to year, so that in whatever place you have been, you may say that you have lived happily."

~ Horace

"Shall I receive good at the hand of God, and shall I not receive evil?"

~ Job 2:10

"I would seek unto God, and unto God I would commit my cause."

~ Job 5:8

"Happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty."

~ Job 5:17

"It is possible to believe in something and still not live up to it."

"I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."

~ Anna Quindlen

"The church that weds itself to the culture of the day will 'be a widow within each succeeding age.'"

~ Neal A. Maxwell

"I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."

~ Albert Einstein

"Men want to be tried to see what they are made of."

~ Col. Joseph Stockton

"There is a point beyond which human endurance and courage cannot go."

~ "Capt. James Johnson

"We do not know until tried what we are capable of."

~ Sarah Broadhead, Gettysburg, July 7, 1863

"Ye advocates of war, come here and look, and answer what compensation is there for this carnival of death."

Quotes

Okay, so, now that a ridiculous amount of time has passed since my last blog, it's only right that I should post another.  Unfortunately, it won't be as cathartic for me as I am too tired to write any creative or original thoughts (though I honestly doubt there even exists such a thing as creative or original thought) and will be merely recording favorite quotes so I can erase them from my phone.  :)

"Facts are stubborn things."

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift.  That is why it is called the present."

"One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it."

"The purpose of life is to discover your gift.  The meaning of life is to give your gift away." ~David Viscott

"It never occurred to me that when we eat something, like an animal, we eat its DNA.  That is disgusting.  I don't want to eat DNA." ~Kelsey

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." ~Albert Einstein

"The heart is the place where one can meet God.  He who follows his heart, follows God." ~Ole Martin Hoystad

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"The heart has its reason of which reason knows nothing." ~Blaise Pascal

"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." ~Confucius

"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions." ~14th Dalai Lama

"Your body is the harp of your soul.  And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds." ~Khalil Gibran

"We were not sent into this world to do anything into which we cannot put our hearts." ~John Ruskin

"The heart can do anything." ~Jean Baptiste Moliere

"All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is exclusively my own." ~Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe

"Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking." ~Khalil Gibran