I am unapologetically a Christian, I regularly attend church, and I exercise faith through daily scripture reading, prayer, and other works synonymous with being a Christian. Being a Christian, I embrace freedom, especially freedom of religion; “Let [all people] worship how, where, or what they may.” I am not smart enough to tell anyone, convince anyone, or try to force anyone to believe anything. As a point of fact, my articles very specifically encourage you to find your answers, much as I have done, through study, learning, and faith.
Yes, this is a discussion! I do not understand Christmas in any way, shape, or form; while this also applies to all accepted holidays, Christmas is my focus. If you understand Christmas better or any holiday mentioned, feel free to teach me so that we both may learn more perfectly. Christmas, as a child, was only once a time of wonder. I remember that Christmas; I must have been 6 or 7 years. I do not remember what I got for Christmas, but I remember how I felt. I have not felt similarly since, and while I know why, I do not understand how to put the wonder back into Christmas.
Annually, Christmas, New Year, and the rest of the mid-winter holidays are a time for deep depression. I struggle to feel anything from Halloween to mid-February; think London Fog as a mental condition, and your close to understanding what is happening between my ears annually. As a child and teen, the holidays were always a time of stress, increased drama, and tons, and tons, of dishes. The holiday season brought increased torment as parents’ stress (especially) resulted in increased violence (physical and mental). Thus, I learned not to appreciate the holidays but loath the workload, violence, and abuse and view the holiday season as a time of greater pain and suffering.
Don’t even get me started on how to celebrate Mother’s and Father’s Day. There are holidays, and choosing to celebrate or not is just as important as how to celebrate and whom to celebrate. The biggest mistake society makes is trying to force everyone to celebrate the same holiday!
As an adult, mainly due to the depression, I avoid stores between Halloween and mid-February, like the plague! The music of “Christmas” does not lift, and I find it difficult to hear. To me, the people during Christmas are more challenging to be around. I do not understand their choices and changes in attitude, their happiness, nor share in their wonder and excitement. The pagan beliefs Catholicized into Christmas traditions blow my ever-loving mind! I do not see Christ in a decorated “Christmas” Tree or other Christmas pageantry. Simply put, every Christmas Tradition, generally accepted by Christendom, is stolen from mid-winter pagan holidays. As I have studied the origins and beliefs inherent in Christmas, Easter, Halloween, All Saints Day, etc., I see more and more of the historical imprint of early Catholic Church leaders, and I stand aghast that these beliefs have turned into traditions that bind and hold fast the human mind.
Yet, to not wish someone else, especially another Christian, “Merry Christmas” is to be judged less a Christian. I do not understand! I believe in Christ; I believe in and have a knowledge of his reality, birth, life, death, resurrection, and visitation to all the Twelve Tribes of Israel after his resurrection. I accept Christ as my Savior and advocate before the Father. But, I do not understand Christmas celebrations or why these celebrations “speak of Christ, rejoice in Christ,” or promote Christian beliefs! I understand the underpinnings of, and like the Jewish holiday Hanukkah. I see Christ in this celebration of lights and appreciate those who celebrate this simple holiday simply. But Hanukkah is not a holiday I can fully enjoy either, not for the lack of trying.
I have the same problem with Passover, not for the lack of trying, but I cannot celebrate this holiday, for I feel something is missing. Easter, will someone please explain to me the lines of logical congruence between a bunny rabbit laying eggs and the resurrection of Jesus Christ! None of the “traditions” of Easter make a lick of sense to me. While I feel different at Easter than I do with any other holiday, I do not celebrate this holiday either, even though I respect and honor, follow and try to emulate Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, advocate, and hopefully friend. While we’re on the topic of incongruent traditions, Santa Claus creeps me out! The fear of being judged without an advocate or appeals process is anti-Christian, but Santa Claus continues to play a fearful role in Christmas. Worse, the mysticism prevalent in a belief in Santa Claus fills my mind, not with Christ’s giving of himself, but of Halloween! Tim Burton’s movie, “Nightmare Before Christmas,” is closer to how I see Santa Claus, put him in Halloween, and leave him there!
Yet, here we are, another Christmas celebration is upon the world, and I do not understand! I like the lights of Christmas and enjoy them year-round, but they are not symbols of Christ lighting the world; they are just lights to me, with no particular holiday attachment. I am a foodie, but food is just that, food. No special holiday attachment; worse, as a diabetic, I have to watch how, when, where, and what I eat. There is no fun in that, no holiday significance, and frankly, no joy in Mudville.
A friend declared, Christmas is about love. What is love? I know from significant study what love is not. Love is not sex! Love is not punishment, abuse, torment, and throwing all the dishes out of the cupboard and forcing a young child to wash every dish in the house repeatedly until that dish somehow passes an arbitrary level of cleanliness, with frequent beatings for failure to meet that level of cleanliness! Love is not inflicting pain, causing tears, and being violent. It has been easy to identify what love is not. But defining what love is, what it feels like, and how to share love, I have no clue!
Often, I am referred to as a “Cold-Hearted, mean, bastard,” many times, other adjectives are thrown in to describe me. I wear a “bar-sinister” proudly; I am a bastard! I fight this nature of myself every single day; sometimes I win, more often I lose. Sometimes I have thought, maybe this aspect of my character is why I cannot fathom the meaning of holidays, find wonder, or experience joy as readily as others. Sometimes I think the method of how I was raised is inherent in being that bastard I despise. Yet, I am a survivor because of the ways and manners of my childhood upbringing, and I have gratitude for being a survivor. Meaning somewhere in there is gratitude for how I was raised and being a bastard. I fully appreciate how paradoxical that thinking is. Remember, a paradox is where two points that appear contradictory at first glance but in deeper understanding are closer than they are apart.
What does being a bastard have to do with Christmas and celebrating the birth and life of Jesus Christ; thankfully, I can answer that question. Only in and through Jesus Christ can my nature change. That single hope is precious to me, remains an impetus in motivating me to change, and powers my striving. Without the birth of Christ, there could not be a death and resurrection. Without the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ, man could not change his nature, understand and possess freedom, or comprehend the higher laws of giving of self, choosing a different method of living, and rising above the natural man and comprehending why man has to rise above his natural beliefs into a higher understanding.
Yes, I celebrate Jesus Christ! Make no mistake; I am grateful for my Savior; but, I do not understand Christmas! I cannot fathom a celebration of Easter as currently celebrated and understood in Christendom. I long for further light and knowledge to more appropriately commemorate the birth, life, reality, resurrection, and example that is Jesus Christ! I know that only through the merits, mercy, and justice of Christ can I eventually gain the further light and knowledge I seek. Please don’t think I do not celebrate when I wish you the happiest of holidays; it is an honest expression of a heartfelt desire for you to celebrate and worship how, where, when, and what you may. Please understand, though, I am not participating, not because I do not believe, but because I do not understand.
A well-intentioned person told me to “Fake it until you make it.” I have tried following this advice, and while it worked in other aspects of life, I learned more, and faking it stopped working. Where holidays are concerned, I cannot “Fake it, hoping to somehow, make it.” Faking it requires a method of belief with a hope. I have hope and knowledge; thus, I do not have a belief, or reason to believe. In possessing knowledge, my belief can take wing with confidence, and in that understanding, I can no longer “fake it.” As a respecter of religious belief, and as a seeker of light and knowledge, there have been times I have thought how easy it could be to be an atheist; but, in possessing knowledge, I understand I cannot live without the belief and knowledge of a Savior, a Heavenly Father who had the sense to hand man laws, cover his mind with a veil of his past life, and tell man to live by faith. The atheist cannot understand the value in living by faith, for they choose not to believe, even when presented with evidence.
C. S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors, speakers, and characters from history. He understood the chasm between choice and the consequences of choosing not to believe and live according to beliefs. Mark Twain is another character, author, and speaker who I deeply admire and appreciate, for many of the same qualities exhibited by C. S. Lewis, are found in Mark Twain. Thus, we find both an exemplar of the principles discussed and another issue with the holidays. Knowing what I know regarding the origins of the holidays, the traditions adopted and Christianized, and the chains which bind from traditions, I struggle with celebrating holidays.
As a child, I asked why do we decorate a Christmas Tree? After removing all the religiosity, the answer was because their parents did it that way. Why did we feast; remove the religiosity, and we find it’s because everyone else celebrates holidays (peer pressure and traditions) with feasting. In the movie and play “Fiddler on the Roof,” the primary character sings, discusses, and lives under the iron fist of tyrannical tradition, and I am left with one question, “Why?” Why do something just because it is tradition? Jesus Christ brought freedom of conscience; believe how, when, where, and what you may, act and live according to your beliefs, and you are exercising freedom and liberty. Where does tradition fit into belief and living according to choice, freedom, and agency?
Bringing the conversation back to principles of freedom, choice and showcasing how decisions determine destiny. Again, I am not casting aspersions, nor trying to convince anyone to do something they are not comfortable with, nor am I denigrating or deriding anyone’s beliefs, traditions, or methods of worship or celebration. My intent is not to cause a crisis of faith but to understand for myself. Please, embrace your freedom to choose to worship, and celebrate, how, where, when, and what you may. In possessing this freedom, allow others to worship and celebrate how, when, where, and what they may. Enjoy your holiday traditions and celebrations. But, please do not judge me as less because I do not understand, believe differently, and live according to my beliefs.
Santa Claus coming to town fills me with dread and despair, not hope, wonder, or joy. A white Christmas is not a dream for me but a symbol of more snow to shovel, even though I LOVE watching the snow fall and playing in the snow. Christmas trees do not thrill me but represent a ton of work to put up, more work to maintain, and more work to take down. Food is not a celebration but represents more work, time, effort, and sacrifice, for momentary pleasure. While I enjoy food, eat food, and talk about recipes to make food, I do not worship at the altar of food or see any connection between food and traditional celebrations.
I totally get it; the Children of Israel fled Egypt the Passover is a sacred remembrance and should be celebrated; but, Christ showed a better way, and through that better way, the bitterness of fleeing is swallowed up in joy. Why eat bitter herbs and unleavened bread as part of the tradition and celebration? Joy is knowledge with aspects of painful experience encapsulated in achievement. Thus, to me, the flight of Israel shows how faith, painful experience, and achievement are possible, and I want to shout and sing for joy. I have always thought of Passover as a time for glorious celebration. Strike up a band, sing, shout, and make merry, for we survived the Passover, escaped Egyptian slavery and harsh bondage, and now are free! The same goes for Hanukkah, the resurrection of Christ, the birth of Christ, and every other holiday. The holiday, to my understanding, represents, or signifies, a reason to make merry because those who came before achieved something through enormous difficulty, suffered dreadful pains, and achieved a better place. They have joy, and we share in that joy.
Bringing up the final aspect of the holidays, sharing joy. How do we share in the joy those who suffered experienced? This is the crux of holiday celebrations. How we answer this question determines the traditions we embrace; the decisions and consequences produce a destiny. Consequences are neither good nor bad, simply natural actions formed from a choice an agent made. How we choose to place a value on those consequences immediately determines how often we will make the same choice again, leading to determined destiny over time and repetition. Using this understanding of choices and consequences, we revisit the question, “How do we choose to share joy?”
I do not know how to answer this question! Worse, I feel this single question forms the crux of all holiday celebrations, and I am flummoxed! Some have suggested I perform more service to share joy. Others suggest giving gifts. Others have offered well-meaning opinions, ideas, and suggestions that I cannot fathom as connected to a holiday—leading to a need to understand why. Why act differently leading up to a holiday when you act in an opposing manner the rest of the year? Why not act the same year-round?
Again, there is no judging, no aspersions cast, no denigration of actions and choices here. I am not your judge! But, these questions are the questions I struggle with living, understanding, and connecting to holiday celebrations. If you have answers, please share them with me, help me understand how you share joy, celebrate, and feel.
© Copyright 2021 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.
Most societies fail because leaders have violated the core fundamental principles those societies were built upon. The people have lost the way to hold the leaders accountable to the fundamental principles that originally built the society. In modern societies, these principles are codified laws from founding national documents, and holding the leaders accountable would involve lawyers and judges, as well as time and other leaders committed to holding together the system to ensure those who broke the system are held liable and accountable before the law, and not a mob.
What do you want most? What government is most important to you? Is your government system sufficiently powerful enough a motivator to propel you to action to save it and pass it along to the next generation? America has had leaders who have been quoted as saying something to the effect of, “The blood of current generations must renew the tree of liberty to remain free.” What will you sacrifice for liberty today, for your children to experience freedom tomorrow?
Act with haste, prepare with confidence, and move with speed. Get loud! Stand like a rock! I was told standing is not an activity. The person proclaiming that has never stood still and faced down an enemy, or they would know just how arduous standing can be! Seek learning through study, discussion, questions, and faith. Seeking learning through faith means that you will actively believe until you can prove otherwise, even if it means waiting patiently for a while to learn more.
Everyone is now in the same boat; the chains of command cannot be trusted. We must each think and act for ourselves for the betterment and security of our country, families, homes, freedoms, and the next generation. We must each choose to throw off the shackles of the past, learn the lessons of history not taught in school, and then act to save the best in our societies before the wolves of terrorism steal everything. We each must become the 
If you are dead set on living a life devoted to the philosophy of, “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die,” there is nothing I can do to help you. Feel free to stop reading now. If you are suffering from the consequences of overeating, a hangover, and are feeling nauseous from being too merry on the merry-go-round of life, keep reading, we might have something for you to consider. If you are not one of the people described, you might want to consider continuing to read for some moral support.
Years later, when I heard the comment, “Decisions Do Determine Destiny,” I knew exactly what the speaker was talking about, for I had experienced this phenomenon. This is the first principle in need of understanding. If we live in the here and now, every behavior has an excuse, and depravity, abuse, murder, everything abhorrent can be excused for tomorrow we die—what a terrible way to live. When our choices do not have consequences, and those consequences do not have long-term effects, we, as vapid human beings, lose an eternal spark of goodness, a willingness to strive, and a desire for achievement.
An email in my inbox started me thinking of Johari Windows first thing this morning, and in the process of proving myself wrong, I learned some interesting things and figured I would share my journey of discovery. I am always fascinated when I prove myself wrong; I like it; mainly because it proves I am still human with a lot to learn!
As a kid, I was told to role model John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Colonel Sherman Potter, and even Father Mulcahy. I was told to despise those who weaseled on deals, liars, thieves, cheats, lawyers, and politicians. These people were necessary evils, but I never believed in a necessary evil. If you were evil, then you were not worth my time or support. I maintain that position to this day, and it disgusts me to no end when I have been hoodwinked by politicians I thought had integrity who turned out to be wolves in sheep’s clothing. Senator McCain, I am talking about you specifically, and I do not care that you are dead!
I guess it has been a couple of years now, I thought it had only been several weeks, but I had a conversation on the power of religion to improve integrity. I have found just as many atheists as religionists with integrity and just as many religionists as atheists without integrity; thus, I can only conclude that religion is a tool for improving integrity, but individual choice trumps religious flavor and fervor. Yet, religion does play a role in providing a moral background for building a solid foundation under a person with integrity. Seeing as atheism is a religion, I have no problems calling on religionists of the world to unite to provide a moral background to improve integrity where they currently live, work, and reside.
President Biden is utterly bereft of integrity, his children are also utterly bereft of integrity, and Hunter is the worst of the bunch. I do not wish to see how deplorable the grandchildren will be as they will be a millstone around America’s neck for a long time! Vice President Kamala Harris and her spouse are two people utterly bereft of anything approaching integrity, moral uprightness, or even common decency. They are joined by the Obama’s (including the children), the entire Clinton Machine, and the black hole of integrity has many others currently occupying seats in Washington DC for company.
Since we have so many examples of poor integrity, there must be examples of people with integrity. Thankfully the answer is yes, and they are easy to spot. Below are common ways to spot integrity, and I challenge you to look for and vocally support integrity where you find it. One of the best ways to show integrity is to appreciate integrity in others. Catch people doing good and vocally thank them. Send thank you cards. Send thank you emails. Remember them after the incident.
Let me be clear, upfront, and personal; I am not here to tell you what to think, how to think when to think, or where to think. I will not force my opinions and ideas upon you as the global corporate media does. I will offer ideas and suggestions and how you proceed is your affair. Your choices will determine your destiny. I aim to aid you in understanding and viewing the world a little differently to improve your destination.
Macro-aggression is the complete opposite and are “obvious, intentional, above-board insults, where there is no chance of a mistake on the part of the transgressor to be provoking, insulting, or otherwise discourteous.” But, again, the definition does not include the fact that the person claiming another person’s activities are macro-aggressive is a personal choice, a judgment, and a socially powered decision.
Micro- and macro-aggression are often claimed to be “triggered” by specific words, colors, foods, waters, fruits, and a host of other items. Essentially using fear and envy to demand people act differently or the consequences are toddler-like fits and fussing, picketing, rioting, looting, e.g., acting like a terrorist. Thus, micro- and macro- aggression is nothing but the toddler throwing a temper tantrum because they are not getting what they want at that moment. While claiming their aggression is on behalf of someone else, and their acts of terrorism are excusable because the aggression was triggered by someone or something else. This is like the eight-year-old older brother or sister throwing a fit that the toddler was punished and claiming they are behaving irrationally in support of the toddler’s tantrum. How many parents will buy this logic; I do not!
Love them or hate them, comedians have changed since I was a kid sneaking peaks of comic relief on cable while washing dishes late into the night. Comedians now carefully pick their materials based upon their perceptions of the audience. Thus, we have classes of comedians, including “Shock Comedians,” who try to be as offensive as possible and still get laughs. We have political comedians; some come down equally on both sides of the political aisle, others are as cemented to a political agenda as they can be and use their “comedy” as a tool to influence their audiences towards that political agenda. We have a host of comedians dedicated to helping people laugh and others who see themselves as able to influence, regardless of consequences.
In reading the news today, under the heading of “equity,” we find masturbation taught to first graders, hardcore porn taught to high schoolers, and San Francisco, CA., sliding into lawlessness and chaos. Honestly, I felt my mind trying to explode; yet, life must go on. In several previous posts, I have described how 
For those interested, “unrighteous dominion” is considered to be oppression, pride, vain ambitions, and a host of other contention-increasing actions designed to stay in “power” where the exercise of authority can be abused. For example, the district attorney and staff in San Francisco were informed by those who elected the DA to power that the crime and the lawlessness in the city were hurting them. 
Believe it or not, sex is NEVER free; there will always be consequences. The 1960s sexual revolution has done more harm globally than any other revolution or clash of arms in history, bringing us back to the topic rather forcefully; morality is the only vaccine to envy. But, who decides the morality of a nation, a state, a country, or a city? The electorate as a collective voice selects the morality of that area. The electorate decides the laws through the ballot box in a representative government. In a non-representative government, the king, monarch, dictator, etc., dictate the morality of the population, which is one reason why old countries have histories where immorality was rampant as the people followed the examples of the leaders, not the leader’s words. Want a history lesson in morality and how people copy a leader’s morality, look no further than King Henry VIII of England.
Circling back again to how morality is the vaccine for envy, provided the morals involved in supporting morality are selected carefully and exemplified by leaders. In the discussion on morality, philosophers question if there are absolutes? Absolute right and absolute wrong, or are morals a gray area where time and social pressure keep everything gray? Depending upon your appetite and your ability to control your appetites tends to set your moral convictions.
For example, Playboy and Hustler have made billions of dollars selling sexually explicit content to the masses. Some participate in pornography; others refuse pornography. Those who choose to imbibe in pornography live a fantasy life where no woman will ever be good enough to meet the pictures witnessed and the lurid content from the magazines selling appetite suppression. Both sides of the morality issue will complain they deserve attention and should be free to express their rights. Both are using the same tool, envy, to make their moral stand become a legal standard.
As a kid, I remember the fierce debates over convenience stores being allowed to sell adult content, video stores carrying adult movies, and the continued fight over how much is too much in an R-rated, PG-13 rated, and G-rated movies. Why were these fights and debates occurring; the lude and loose morality of the 1960s perverted sex into being “free,” and morality took a back seat to legal freedoms without accountability and responsibility. Consider the gargantuan awards against cigarette manufacturers; why were these awards so high, poor moral choices, envy, and a refusal to accept that the daily choice of smoking 5-45 cigarettes is going to cost you your health as a consequence.
In Proverbs, Old Testament, we find an oft-quoted aphorism, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.” If we first accept this aphorism as truth, then the following from James Allen, from “As a Man Thinketh (1903)” can also be presumed truthful. “A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. As the plants springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them.” Bringing into sharp reflection the connection between how a person thinks and their character.
I once met a professional soccer player; we shared a bus trip from Salt Lake City to Vernal, Utah, as he traveled to catch a plane in Denver, Colorado. While I do not envy him, his travel scheduler, we had a very interesting conversation on how thinking builds character. Professional sports players have similar mental walk-throughs as a regular part of their daily exercises. Here I had always been under the impression this was for non-professional sports players and was pleasantly surprised to hear his experiences.
The tools of education became the chains of bondage and weapons that left him without passion. His thoughts had turned his desires in his chosen field into a trap, where he thought his only way out was doing something radical and “out of character.” Except for those who knew him, his character was always bent towards being a soldier, but he had not thought thru this character aspect himself. His thoughts had already revealed his character, but he had not become cognizant of this aspect of himself. How many times has this happened to you?
How did I finally kick the cigarette habit, so the mental addiction could no longer tempt me to smoke; I change my thinking. Instead of allowing myself to find second-hand smoke delightful, I began seeing it as something to avoid. As I changed my thinking, my body stopped reacting in a manner to claim a need for the cigarettes. It was not easy, but I had physically quit smoking 10-years before my mental processes, and mental addictions were finally conquered. The power to correct my body’s behavior towards cigarettes was always mine to claim and apply, but first, I had to change how I think about cigarettes, then my mental needs changed, and then I was free of the mental addiction. Changing thoughts and time, experience, was required, and slowly my body obeyed.
The New Testament records, “He that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” To which James Allen has added, “… for only by patience, practice, and ceaseless importunity can a man enter the Door of the Temple of Knowledge.” I remember reading about a famous diamond mine in Africa, the largest diamond mine in the world, and how even with technology, the mining process continues to be one of patiently gathering, carefully digging, and unending repetition to haul diamonds from the dirt. In L. Ron Hubbard’s book, “Battlefield Earth,” one finds the same pattern in digging for gold. Patience, careful gathering, unending repetition, and still the results are teaspoons of gold for the tons of rock and dirt shifted.
Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write and is the competence of knowledge in a specific area. The links between literacy and freedom continue to be hotly debated among scholars, especially those scholars who choose to be revisionist historians. One of the essential distinctions in scholars is those centered around revisionists. No matter the flavor of a scholar, revisionist scholars always support a policy of revision or modification, or worse, advocate for the same. Revisionist scholars are always looking to revise a topic’s history to fit a political bend for personal gain and political profit.
The most egregious example of this is found in the revisionist historians who derive from journals or other documents the sexuality of a historical figure, based upon the scholar’s agenda, political flavor, and the understanding of today’s culture. During the summer of 2020, America saw many revisionists trying to rewrite history where statues and historical reasoning for erecting those statues were concerned was blatantly attacked by ignorant savages! By changing history, the culture shifts ever so slightly, and it is only a few degrees of separation across time that can eradicate truth and leave myths instead of fact.
The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints reveres “The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ” as scripture. In that book, there are two accounts of people who did not have records to teach reading and writing in their respective populations, which, when taught reading and writing, gained economically, financially, and developed new thinking and acting methods. One of the first points in “The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ” the point is made that without written records, people’s memories cannot be passed down, historical lessons are lost, and art, culture, craft, industry, and so much more stem from the ability to read and write and records are critical to human understanding and growth. While I am not here to debate religion, the historical underpinnings of needing to read and write as social customs with power are well established. Consider the Old Testament and the Jewish culture and society, and the same pattern is discovered, when the people know how to read and write, they are different from those who do not know how to read and write.
Mark Twain is also quoted as, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” These quotes point to the specific problem facing America. In every society globally, literacy has been purposefully designed to be worth less to people by conspiring leaders who want and need drones instead of people. The world is poised on the knife blade’s edge of history, pushed there by those conspirators, and every person is now faced with a choice, stand and learn, or remain ignorant and fall. If we fall, we will fall an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle, and our graves will be cursed by those who come after us.
Let the scholars argue about how to measure literacy in a person and a population, but for us, let us measure literacy by how often we read a full book, paper, or eBook and write. Not just emails for work, but journals, blogs, our histories, and family histories. The aim is not to get readers as much as it is to exercise the power of writing.
Jim Croce wrote a song asking a simple question, “Which way are you going?” I know my direction; I am headed to a library, a bookstore, and then a computer to record my thoughts, for I desire more literacy. Join me and let us make a “Liberty FIRST Culture” where literacy is cherished as the source of our collective mental batteries!
© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
Jim Croce is responsible for the title of this article; he sings 
We have a fraudulent president, a congress that refuses to listen to the American people; we have legislatures, governors, mayors, and so much more working against the citizenry for political power and personal gain. Well, America, which way are you going? Will we step up and resist, or will we sit and lose?
Do you understand the complex truth hidden in this stanza?
Hold one; why not shift the paradigm and change the questions?
I am done with both the Republicans and the Democrats; neither party is aware nor even listening to the citizens. The extreme elements in the Democratic Party, the environmentalists, the LGBTQ+ community, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, etc., all have made their choices and must live with the consequences. However, this does not mean the rest of the country has to take the same path to death and destruction.
DNC-Consulting 