A Song of Thanks for Every Day That Remains.

Today, I wait to watch the new sun that rises for me and finish writing out my Christmas cards. As I watch the breaking of the dawn, I see that everything speaks to us of passion, everything is alive, everything has spirit and it invites us all to simply -- cherish it.

Years ago, I read a marvelous poem, actually an elegy, written by Thomas Grey titled "Elegy in a Country Courtyard". The poet wrote this particular piece as he wandered through a graveyard back in 1750 at twilight -- very much how as a teenager, I would wander Mount Albion and contemplate on the meaning of life, the toil of those who had achieved and of those who did not. I would think, and still do, of the mockery of ambition, the struggle of both the rich and the impoverished to be happy, and the eventual realization that no matter what our circumstances in life, we all finally rest in some fashion "upon the sweet lap of earth". Gray felt that this was not much as simple joys are forever gone, destiny is obscured;

"For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn

Or busy housewife ply her evening care...

the paths of glory lead but to the grave."

However, in my walks through that cemetery, and recently among cemeteries here in Mesa, Apache Junction, Bryce Utah, and the Oak River Creek where I scattered my beloved Doug's ashes... I do not feel that sense of despair. I used to take rubbings of old tombstones (kind of want to do that again in my 60s now) and in some ways came to know and love the people long ago laid to rest beneath them. It was there that I often sat and wrote prose or poetry, singing a song of praise for every day that we have remaining... writing an elegy for every day that slipped through my life unnoticed and unappreciated. Thanking the Universe for giving me eyes that can truly see and a heart that can truly feel.

 How many of my readers are aware of their own poet/songwriter inside? Far too often in this surreal techno world we move through our days in a fog or a frenzy -- until we are startled into consciousness by an unforeseen threat to something we hold dear and have been taking for granted for far too long.

I call these opalescent moments "simple epiphanies" because they jar me into a profound awareness of how much we have, and how much we have escaped, and how much there is to be grateful for. My beautiful granddaughter, Jessica, asked me (close to our last wonderful weekend spent together for well over six years) why I did not seem to be bothered by things. I smiled and told her that it was not that I was not bothered, as I often was, but that I was able to know what was most important to me now... and that is love, and peace and following my own path. I call that GRACE.  Grace always brings me home and Grace brought my beloved granddaughter back to me this past August.

Through the mystical alchemy of Grace and daily gratitude, what might have become an elegy to my life is transformed into appreciation, joy, and exultation. My own recovery or that of a loved one who has been seriously ill, the reconciliation after a painful breach between mother and children, the realization of how very lucky we are if we are doing work we love or, in this current economic climate, if we are working at all, the rejoicing that surrounds us at a long awaited rite of passage, the enormous satisfaction that comes after completing an overwhelming task and, one of the most important to me today, is the serenity that awaits us after a struggle has been abandoned.

The loss of my beloved Doug, Cancer, the anger of children, the absence and now the return of a beloved grandchild, the loving support of friends are my epiphanies and they teach me to cherish everything. Everything speaks to our souls, with great passion, if we are still enough to listen and willing to hear.

Jane Seymour once wrote "You have to count on living every single day in a way you believe will make you feel good about your life so that if it were over tomorrow, you'd be content."

Amen Ms Seymour. Amen.

Although I do have regrets, I know, even more deeply today, that I have given all the very best I had and that I have lived my life in a way in which I am proud. Am I perfect? Hell no. Will I make mistakes in the time God still gives to me? You betcha...

 But I will write a song of thanksgiving for every day that remains....

LET GO OF THE FOLLY AND THE GLIMMER... NOW IS THE TIME TO REMEMBER.

At this time of year, our attentions are more often turned to those things which we do not have...rather than what we do. The season of want is upon us and by that I mean the season of non stop shopping. Thanksgiving is only just behind us but long before we were planning our dinners, setting our tables, and really giving thanks, stores, newspapers, and commercials were blasting Christmas and want all over the place. Now, it is black Friday and the four hurried, frenzied, chaotic, often angry filled weeks of shopping are ahead... but where is Christmas?

How many of us believe that if we head out to the malls today that it will do our souls good? Time for a reality check? As we were all counting our blessings yesterday how many of us actually focused on them and were not simply giving a rudimentary form of lip service to the "season"? Money is going to have to buy a lot this season and as our economy worsens, this may be the "new norm", however, it can NEVER buy the gifts that count the most: good health, a loving supportive marriage/relationship, healthy children and grandchildren, the fulfillment of creative expressions, a general love of nature, good friends or inner peace. How often do we forget this? No, it is NOT because we are ungrateful but because we get distracted by the folly and glimmer of "life".

NOW is the time to remember. What if the Universe suddenly gave you a choice? You are guaranteed all of the afore mentioned gifts (blessings) but you cannot have that new house or 42 inch TV? Or you were granted those material things but literally throw the dice to determine life's blessings? What would you choose? For me, this option has been brought to me several times... and though I may not have the best of health etc... I am glad that I have been blessed and that a fancy home, material things, and status mean nothing to me.

So today, as I watch the beginning of a new dawn, I am meditating on the blessing of health. Heaven knows we cannot buy it but it can sure put us into a world of debt don't you agree? Sadly good health is NOT for sale. Health is a priceless gift from God that most of us take for granted until we become sick. So today, take a moment to ponder and realize that even if you have nothing else, if you have your health you are wealthy indeed. If you have a healthy heart, healthy mind, and reserves of energy and stamina as well as creative energy and the ability to see beauty in all things, the world is literally lying at your feet. Where there is life, there is hope.

As I continue to battle cancer and at the start of the New Year, face surgery that will either save my site or blind me immediately, I am reminded that health is NOT just the absence of sickness. To me, good health is vitality, vigor, high energy, emotional equilibrium, mental clarity, and physical endurance. These are the gifts I pray for.

So this morning, I will take my vitamins (lots of those now), thank God for the health I do enjoy and ask for more. If there is only one spiritual lesson I can give to you today, it is to ask. Then believe

Ask and you shall receive. Ask and be specific and if you don't get it well at least you tried and the Universe is holding that request for just the right time.

Blessed be.

I love this time of year... particularly Thanksgiving as, to me, it truly is a time to remember all that we have to be Thankful for. A 21 lb. turkey is thawing in the refrigerator... waiting for Thursday morning when I will smoke it over hickory wood after stuffing it with a cornbread, sage sausage and apple stuffing. Mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, baked beans, stuffed acorn squash, green bean casserole (of course), corn on the cob, ambrosia, blueberry and banana nut muffins, and home made bread along with three kinds of pies await my guests (neighbors and a few airmen from Luke's Air Force base.) Before they get to enjoy the repast, however, each will be required to tell me one thing they are Thankful for this year... for that is the true meaning of the day; remembering to give Thanks. At this time of year, our attentions are more often turned to those things which we do not have...rather than what we do. The season of want is upon us and by that I mean the season of non stop shopping. Thanksgiving will only be just behind us in 5 days, but long before this, while many of us were planning our dinners, setting our tables, and really giving thanks, stores, newspapers, and commercials were blasting Christmas and want ads all over the place. Now, this year black Friday is being held 7 days ahead of the norm and so there are now FIVE hurried, frenzied, chaotic, often angry filled weeks of shopping ahead... but where is Christmas? How many of us believe that if we head out to the malls today that it will do our souls good? Time for a reality check? As we were all counting our blessings yesterday how many of us actually focused on them and were not simply giving a rudimentary form of lip service to the "season"? Money is going to have to buy a lot this season and as our economy worsens, this may be the "new norm", however, it can NEVER buy the gifts that count the most: good health, a loving supportive marriage/relationship, healthy children and grandchildren, the fulfillment of creative expressions, a general love of nature, good friends or inner peace. How often do we forget this? No, it is NOT because we are ungrateful but because we get distracted by the folly and glimmer of "life". NOW is the time to remember. What if the Universe suddenly gave you a choice? You are guaranteed all of the afore mentioned gifts (blessings) but you cannot have that new house or 42 inch TV? Or you were granted those material things but literally throw the dice to determine life's blessings? What would you choose? For me, this option has been brought to me several times... and though I may not have the best of health etc... I am glad that I have been blessed and that a fancy home, material things, and status mean nothing to me. I wish I had been able to impart that feeling to my own children. Ah well. So today, as I watch the beginning of a new dawn, I am meditating on the blessing of health. Heaven knows we cannot buy it, but it can sure put us into a world of debt don't you agree? Sadly good health is NOT for sale. Health is a priceless gift from God that most of us take for granted until we become sick. So today, take a moment to ponder and realize that even if you have nothing else, if you have your health -- you are wealthy indeed. If you have a healthy heart, healthy mind, and reserves of energy and stamina as well as creative energy and the ability to see beauty in all things, the world is literally lying at your feet. Where there is life, there is hope. As I continue to battle cancer and other health issues, I am reminded that health is NOT just the absence of sickness. To me, good health is vitality, vigor, high energy, emotional equilibrium, mental clarity,and physical endurance. These are the gifts I pray for So this morning, I will take my vitamins (lots of those now), use my eye drops, take the thyroid medications and more... while thanking God for the health I do enjoy and ask for more. If there is only one spiritual lesson I can give to you today, it is to ask. Then believe Ask and you shall receive. Ask and be specific and if you don't get it well at least you tried and the Universe is holding that request for just the right time. Blessed be.

A Day of Magic and Miracles

Since my layoff from Qwest Communications back in 2008, and after being un employed for 9 months, selling off my stocks, closing out my 401K and using every last bit of savings before even taking the meager unemployment that Arizona laughingly offers people (240.00 a week which will not even pay a person's rent let alone utilities, food, car, gas, etc) I finally landed a job through a temp agency... and I have been working temp jobs ever since. I have managed to keep myself gainfully employed over these last almost 7 years despite the serious economic restraints of our deteriorating government and my own health issues. However, I also have had to deal with the gut wrenching fear of NOT being employed again when each contract job has ended, not having any paid sick leave or vacation time. Yesterday, all of that finally came to an end. My current contract with Alcoa was coming to a close. Their general policy is NOT to retain their contract workers (no direct hire) after one year... so the panic was already setting in. Initially they denied any extension my Manager Jeff was requesting. Then he came up with a wonderful brainstorming idea... and I was informed late yesterday afternoon that I am to remain with HIM for as long as I want. Some duties will change (more will be added) and my office location will not longer be in his building (even though I will be still working directly for him) but the Plant Manager (who already sought me out to edit and publish the weekly news letter and to assit him with the monthly business report) wants me up in the main office section to be the "face of the business" This will take me some getting used to as I don't like being out in front of people but, I will adapt. Jeff worked magic and miracles over the course of this past week to ensure that not only does he get to keep me (I have made a great deal of successful strides in my year at the plant, including getting the plant upt to 100 percent trained over the last 7 months -- a feet that has never happened) but he has insured that I will now have paid medical time off and paid holidays and vacation time. All of this JUST in time for the major surgery I face in January. When he came into my office yesterday he said.. "Bonnie Pike would you please stand up." In all honesty, I was certain I was being terminated that day and walked out. However, Jeff said... I am a hugger so deal with it and gave me a big bear hug as he said... you are not going anywhere.. I get to keep you on my payroll indefinitely. For the first time since I left Pensacola... and my job with Centre Group Properties... I finally feel valued as an employee and as a person. I was taught to work hard by depression era parents and not to expect warm fuzzies, but I was also raised in an era where companies and employees had loyalty to one another. That era has rapidly diminished but in this young Manager and my Plant Manager (who is the same age as my oldest son Douglas) I have found those solid beliefs, work ethics and apprecatiation. I have found a home. Financial woes will not go away as I stil fight to regain my footing after those very bad 9 months of unemployment, cancer which will not stop rearing its ugly head, and the wonderful government taxation system hell bent on keeping most us as the working class poor. But I have a job I love, a great team I work with.... and I have been acknowledged for my hard work and loyalty. Something that has not happened in a very long long time. I saw my one eye specialist again yesterday as they do bi weekly test on the tumor growing in my good eye. The tumor has not grown any larger... whew. So my time line is still safe. I will see her again in two weeks to have it reviewed again. January 8 is still the set date for this frightening procedure which will either save my sight or destroy it immediately. I also heard from my brother Joshua. They are expecting another baby... another girl! How is that for a day willed with Magic and Miracles. God is good... and today is another wonder-filled day. Now off to clean the house, play with my shephards, and then head out to celebrate with friends. So much stress is still ahead of me... but so much weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.

Millenials.... the culture that may destroy America

Youth culture has become the dominant popular culture upon which most of Western society fixates. Technology has created virtual public spaces thus increasing popular culture’s perceived ubiquity. Any object or totem that can successfully package itself as "novel" acts as a metallic fishing lure.  Often within hours the object is existentially justified as "popular" because it appears to be "popular", creating a feedback-loop. 
Our accelerating obsession with youth culture is symptomatic of a secularized society unequipped to cope with mortality. The regeneration of every ephemeral pursuit promises a new distraction. In addition to entertainment, we embrace the social signals that we believe that object will confer onto our public identity or “personal brand”; a thin sticker to peel and place on our chest for others to see.  Millenials are a generation who have taken a Madison Avenue maxim and turned it into a creed; “Perception is Everything”.
The proverbial cultural landfill is brimming with exercise videos, political slogans, actors, electronics, game consoles, makeup, car parts, t-shirts, gourmet-fads, and compact discs; the ego’s excrement. And so this week, certain politicians find themselves in a pile of collective detritus half covered by an NBA poster and a ‘War on Women’ bumper sticker. A proverbial dump truck backs in to drop two tons of Gaga, old iPods and reality-shows on top of it. [beep, beep, beep]
 In the absence of higher cultural values, rudderless citizens have a tendency to conflate their own self-worth with surface-level choices such as sports teams, health trends, pop-music, and platitudes of every stripe. A secularized society has vested so much of themselves into low-hanging cultural signposts that to critically evaluate culture is increasingly "a hate crime". Our prejudice against prejudice has matured into oppression.
Millennials have a galaxy of information at their fingertips and yet it turns out, as a mathematical reality, more options means more difficulty in prioritizing the valuable ones. An idling computer alone represents access to billions of pieces of data but the scarcity of time has not changed. Furthermore, the more valuable a cultural choice, the less it appeals to immediate sensory stimulation or ego patronage.  Our predecessors tacitly understood that this “transcendence” was what separated us from the animal world. Even though the physical world could not be transcended in this life, no matter how high we elevate our culture, the act of "ever-trying" was piety itself. Millenials are not merely satisfied with allowing room for relaxing visceral entertainment, they require that we view those choices as "equal"; an act of ego protection no doubt. 
Economists will recognize this as the ratio of “risk” and “reward”. You defer the immediate sensory gratification of flipping through pictures of “cats in costumes” and instead invest in studying Tocqueville or Bach. Millenials wish to view all choices as options sitting in a vending machine. Our choice is based off of what the packaging purports to do for us “here” and “now”. Press B6 for Socrates or C10 for Gangnam Style. Millenials’ attitudes are the result of general prosperity and low birth rates; infantilized adults believing they are "intellectuals" by 18 yet have not earned nothing. It's intoxicating to believe that using a touch-pad while sitting on your couch precludes you from the same fate as your predecessors. How anesthetizing to disconnect one's ego from the responsibilities and achievements of history! To cast the Founders as "Otherness", as if we won't end up in the same single-sentence byline 2000 years from now.
 As an avid hiker I have developed a saying:
“Of those strangers I meet on a mountain’s summit, I do not know much, other than they did not get there by accident.”
This is why I eschew the “I voted” stickers and Facebook badges that make their rounds on Election Day. If you were so apathetic or distracted that a sticker was the impetus for you to make far-reaching decision, then you probably don’t share my values. Hmmm… the “I voted” sticker… what an opportune example of what we’ve been articulating thus far; a distracting social signpost that essentially communicates nothing other than to confer cheap altruism on its wearer.   
The situation is cyclical. The millions who invest their fleeting lives into surface level distractions also have a vested interest in protecting their own ego. Thus the only true sin under the “dictatorship of relativism” is to recognize that The King Has No Clothes.
To millenials Obama is merely sticker whose surface is no longer distracting. Sitting in the dumping grounds of good intentions is a smelly balled-up diaper that reads "Hope & Change 2008" on the rear. [beep, beep, beep].

"Hey,Joe what do you want me to do with all this Hope & Change?"

"I dunno, go park it by the incinerator, let's go grab a sandwich"

Obama is a 20-watt bulb who uncorked the tired swill of collectivist-utopia for a generation that lacked the perspective and maturity to contextualize it… but that is not why he’s become unpopular with Millenials.
Instead Millenials have turned away from Obama because his kitsch has grown tired; he no longer distracts us and that's intolerable. We have spent the pittance of visceral sentimentality and embracing the Obama badge no longer projects cheap altruism onto our “personal brand”. We are left with an empty totem that is neither "novel" nor "nostalgic" (comes from the Greek word for Homesickness).  The Obama brand was projected and received as a piece of art whose legacy can be summed up in 3 meaningless words "He was black".
Dissenting voices should not take Obama's abandonment as a sign that Millenials have embraced the higher values of industriousness, self-determination, tradition, responsibility, and the American Enlightenment. On the contrary, in true Millennial fashion most stayed home, disillusioned with politics they are seeking out other distractions. In the meantime utopianism will need to find a novel coat of paint in order to represent itself to Generation Z. It's ironic that a culture obsessed with newness leverages the tastes of youth who are in the weakest position to define what is "new" or "progressive" since they have the shallowest wells upon which to draw.
Millenials are an infantilized generation. Our commercials are set to toddler-like xylophone/guitar melodies. Our applications are dressed in sophomoric imagery "smiley suns" and "frowning rain clouds". Even our signage is soft bubbly and maternal; banal niceties that in decades-past would have been more befitting of a nursery. The lower-case ‘f’ on Facebook is “cute” and the soft-blue Twitter bird is iconography out of a potty-training book. Perhaps language itself will be deemed too "disruptive" and "counter-current" to our pleasures in which case we can communicate with sentimental shapes and tears. 
My younger brother asked me why Drudge Report and American Thinker appear so atavistic compared to other contemporary sites. I replied, "Its because the value is in the ideas". Isn't there something refreshing about the understated design of American Thinker? Like its peers, it fails to pander to novel sentimentality. It only bequeaths its rewards to those willing to think!   
Sometimes I feel as though I am slamming on the doors of the preschool saying "let me out" and in unison the collective says "that's not very nice." Perhaps it is already “The Brave New World” wrought with “warm fuzzies” and Soma drug (pot?) to anesthetize a generation fixated on its own reflection.
Millenials are adult children lying in a crib looking upward with etch-a-sketch minds as a digital mobile slowly revolves for our sensory pleasure. If it doesn’t make us feel good “here” and “now” we’ll throw it out of our crib.

In the Natural Order of Life, Most of Us Will Live to See Our Mother's Die...

In the natural order of life, women (and men) live to see their mothers die.  As inevitable as that event may be, it is still an especially traumatic and complex loss for a woman. Whether her relationship with her mother was close and loving, distant or distressed, death stirs deep emotional responses which may be difficult to manage or resolve.

My mother, Mary Carr Breuilly, left this world one year ago today, November 9, 2013…  The news of her passing came not from my sister but from friends who had ensured that I was kept up to date on her health and happiness despite the distance that kept me so far away.  Sadly I learned that her happiness was lost when she was placed into a nursing home… a fate she had dreaded all her life.  I learned this from so many of her old friends and neighbors… I wish my sister had called.  I would have brought her to be with me.

I live with that knowledge now, daily, and grieve even more the loss of her and the loss to so many.

How I wish I had been with you

Whispering words that would soothe,
To guide you gently to that door.
So I could give you the confidence
Of the relief I know you now find there,
The solace and comfort of your next adventure,
The shedding of your once beautiful shell,
Delicate now in all the years and gravity,

How precious you will always be to me,
And how life will embrace you again,
Glorious journey of curiosity and glimmering,
Shining hope of another journey.

The heart of a now broken family

My beautiful mother,

My once-upon-a-time,
Savior of my perseverance.
Today, though far away,

Let me quietly sing to you of
What I know you have now found

The  Light,
The gateway to the Next.

I love you Mom. Be at Peace

We will all be together again

One day, soon.

One day, soon.

The impact of a mother’s death ripples through several circles of an individual’s life.

The loss can be felt in a number of ways, from practical to emotional to spiritual. If the relationship was close, the loss of emotional intimacy is profound. If the relationship was ambivalent or troubled, researchers say, unresolved feelings of anger or frustration may become stronger and more disturbing after the mother’s death.

 Typically, a woman/man must deal not only with her/his own reactions to a mother’s death, but also those of the family. Women and men often are expected to be a source of strength for all in the grieving process. He/she has lost a mother. If he/she has children, they have lost a grandmother. The quality of these and other relationships may have varied dramatically, and the survivors’ needs may be quite different.

 If the mother was an integral part of her daughter’s/son’s family life—cooking, caring for children or helping family members get along with each other—then the loss may be crippling for the family as a whole. The child care crisis may threaten the family’s financial stability. Rifts among family members may worsen without the matriarchal “glue” that once smoothed them over.

 A person may find their closest relationships unsettled by the loss, as well. For instance, a common response for some (this included me) is greater involvement in work and other external interests.

Another person may more often turn inward. He/she may struggle through a range of emotions and may, for periods, lose interest in routine or outside interest.

Grief has no prescribed timetable; normal mourning moved through endless forms.

Regardless of the nature of the loss, it presents and often demands an opportunity for emotional growth and self-knowledge. And, I know that my mother is with her beloved husband Ed Breuilly, her sisters and friends…

I hope my journey to meet them is not too long…  I miss her… all of them… so very much.

Heaven has another sweet angel… I miss you mom.

As I journey toward life's sunset
Mourning her who went before
Faith assures me, I'll be with her
When I reach the other shore.

The Next Two Years will be Dangerous Ones for Our Country and Her Citizens

President Obama and his "regime" took yet another, and more serious shallacking yesterday in the midterm elections. The Republicans won landslide victories throughout the country!  Congratulations to each and every one of them!

Voters clearly and forcefully rejected the party, politics and policies of President Obama. They slapped his socialist agenda back into the days of Soviet gulags, where it belongs.

His grand visions of mighty government ruling unchecked over desperate ghettos have been snuffed out.

Gone, too, were the so-called “low-information voters” who have been coaxed to the polls since 2008 on lies and false promises that the federal government would solve all their problems.

They are used up and wrung out.

Even the onslaught of threats and desperate accusations in endless emails to their Obamaphones couldn’t motivate those people to the polls one more time.

Voters rejected the craven, crass and Mafioso tactics of Senate Leader Harry Reid.

Voters stripped him of his baldly partisan use of the United States Senate as a graveyard for all House legislation in order to protect his Democrats from tough votes and insulate the President from reality.

The little man with giant fists got staggered by a nasty uppercut from voters even though Reid saw it coming for weeks. Now, the ex-boxer stumbles on the canvas all tangled in the ropes, waiting for the bell.

And voters also rejected the loony-toon delusions of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. Honestly, the woman should be running a hat and wig shop in Haight-Ashbury, selling weed and prescription pills on the side. How it is that Democrats in Congress have taken her so seriously for so long will baffle historians for decades.

The silver lining for Democrats today is now they now have the perfect excuse to bounce both of them out of leadership forever.

And this is where things get very, very dangerous for America. President Obama still has two more years left in his final term.

Already, he has demonstrated again and again that he has no regard for the constitution or the legitimacy of laws when they do not suit his agenda. He flaunts his disregard for the constitutional process, dismisses laws he doesn’t like and rewrites others.

He mocks the powers of Congress. The Supreme Court has slapped him down more than any president in recent times. All of this as he tells us he is an expert on constitutional law.

He is now making VERY explicit threats to pass more illegal and unconstitutional presidential edicts to grant amnesty to illegal aliens already in the United States. This, in turn, will issue invitations for millions more illegals to come streaming across the border.

It will not end at immigration. Unchecked power is addictive.

Disowned by Democrats and made to feel irrelevant in this election, President Obama’s enormous and unjustified ego is deeply wounded. He is frustrated and feels caged, cornered. This is when people like him are most dangerous.

Buoyant Republicans will make an effort to engage him.

But President Obama is not a listener. He is not a negotiator. He is not a learner. He will just take what he wants. It is easier that way.

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s court-packing scheme during the Great Depression was nothing like the strains this president has put on Constitution. Indeed, not since the Civil War has America faced such a dire threat to her existence as a lawful, constitutional republic.

The difference in leadership between then and now could not be more striking.

To bind the union, Abraham Lincoln took an economic and political war and elevated it into something higher. He made it about emancipating slaves and won. And saved the Republic.

This president does the opposite. He got elected promising to elevate politics but instead finds unity and sows discord, often inciting racial divisions.

America’s only hope today is that President Obama finally turns to the bust of Lincoln he keeps in the Oval Office and listens.