TO THE MOTHERS OF THE WORLD: Two years ago on May 8, 2015, I sent out a message to have posted on FaceBook. My publisher read and liked it so much that she decided to post it as a blog for me. This is what I wrote:
“Happy Mother’s Day to all you wonderful women out there who gave your blood and suffered unbearable amounts of pain to give life to the children you brought forth into this thing we call life. Not to mention all you gave of yourself to raise your children the best way you could by giving them what you had been given. May those close to you show the same amount of love on your special day.”
To all you Mother’s out there who do or do not follow my blogs, I resubmit to you the same feelings wrapped in words. Each of you deserve praise for the sacrifices you make for your offspring and loved ones. I decided to repost it when a friend of mine let me know he planned to plagiarize it last week, after having read a collection of my blogs.
In “Women Rule the World” (March 27, 2017), I used a bear to illustrate that women are the stronger and more intelligent of the human species. We owe our lives to our mothers, whether she was the best or the worst, she chose not to “abort” the mission of bringing us into this world. For those who did not read it, I will share a version of my favorite parts that caused the audience to erupt into laughter when I presented it at a special to celebrate Women’s History Month.
“I am Wayne T. Dowdy, a son, father, grandfather, brother, and an uncle, all the products of a woman, my Mother.
“The strength I saw in her and many other women has convinced me that the biggest deception in life began when an intelligent woman convinced man that he was the strongest.
“Yeah, right! She says, go fight that bear to protect me, honey. Bring me his meat and we will eat. The man risks his life to please and feed her. …..
[Men do insane things to please women, some rob banks, write bad checks or worse to win them over.]
“The birth process is evidence of a woman’s strength. Most men would not dare to suffer so much pain to give life, if given the option. No, he is too weak for that kind of pain.
“Our species would not have survived if man carried the burden of birth. He may go fight a bear to please her and to feed their children, but he dare not to endure such pain for nine months.
[Of course, there are those “males” who would love to get pregnant and become rich, but most men I know would mandate prophylactics (rubbers), not because of the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, but because of the risk of pregnancy.]
“Additional evidence lies in the fact that in long-term marriages, if the woman dies first, the man is soon to follow. If the man dies first, the woman keeps on going to nurture her offspring for generations.
“My mother outlived and buried three husbands. …..
“Yes, maybe most men are physically stronger than most women are; however, the facts show women rule the world. Evidence also suggests that she is more intelligent. If she wasn’t, she’d be the one to go fight that darn bear to feed her family while the man stayed home with their children.”
It made me happy to be able to help others have a pleasant day. A Psychologist who was present thanked me as I was leaving. She said, “You had us laughing so hard we had to hold our sides.” 🙂
MOTHERS & GOD GIVE LIFE: Both parents may have enjoyed the process of putting us children into our mother’s belly, but it was she who suffered the pain of childbirth that allowed us to grow into the person we became in life. The formation of our life was under her and God’s control.
HIT & RUN: Some fathers hit and run and left the mothers to bear the pain all alone. Single parent mothers made even more personal sacrifices to get us the life we now have.
If you know any single parents (male or female), who has children at home, give them a hug and offer to help care for their children long enough for them to go out and get some time alone or time with friends. Everyone needs a break, sometimes!
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REMEMBERING REBELS: Confederate Memorial Day is April 25, 1866, that is, depending on who you chose to believe. Various dates and places exists as to where Memorial Day originated. The same is true about which group of people began the day of remembrance for the soldiers who died during America’s most gruesome war. Civil War history is convoluted.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy kept memories alive of the Civil War, by raising funds to have monuments constructed to honor soldiers who died during a period of American history that America’s government wishes to forget.
No government likes rebels. Those darn rebels had the nerve to create their own government, and even worse, to make their own money. How dare those darn Rebels! Disgusting Rebels!
ERASING HISTORY: In New Orleans, Louisiana, local government is in the process of trying to remove memories of the Civil War by removing various Civil War monuments.
On April 24, 2017, “Workers dismantled an obelisk, which was erected in 1891 to honor members of the Crescent City White League who in 1874 fought in the Reconstruction-era Battle of Liberty Place against the racially integrated New Orleans police and state militia, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a statement.” The New York Times, “New Orleans Begins Removing Confederate Monuments, Under Police Guard” by Christopher Mele (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/24/us/new-orleans-confederate-statute.html?_r=0).
Plans exist to remove other statutes/monuments. The list includes a bronze statute of General Robert E. Lee, an equestrian statute of P.G.T. Beauregard, a Confederate General, and a statute of Jefferson Davis, who was the president of the Confederacy. Even the monument of President Andrew Jackson is at risk.
Removing the obelisk is more understandable than removing the other monuments; especially, statutes of real men whose family linage and heritage is rooted; e.g., Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, P.G.T. Beauregard, and President Andrew Jackson.
More of those darn rebels protested when workers and officials attempted the removal of Jefferson Davis’ monument on May 1, 2017. Five people were arrested; the removal process put on hold.
MEMORIAL DAY: The celebrated federal Memorial Day is the last Monday of each May. Supposedly, Memorial Day got its start when a group of women put flowers on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers. Regardless of whether they fought for the North or the South, those Civil War soldiers gave their lives fighting for their country, as has all other soldiers before and after the Civil War.
It is a disgrace for those in power to attempt to eradicate a part of history.
IMPORTANT DATES: A misconception pumped into today’s society is that the primary “cause” of the American Civil War was to free the slaves. Don’t mistake what I write. I do not like what happened in America during the days of slavery. No human being deserved to be mistreated the way some slaves were, not even terrorists.
I write that to stress my point: I do not like Terrorist cowards or predators who kill or injure innocent people because of their ideological belief. Terrorist deserve to experience extreme amounts of pain for repayment of their acts. But to treat them the way they deserve to be treated, would make us no better than them. In my opinion, it would be more humane to execute them rather than torture them to death, as they deserve.
PROOF OF HISTORICAL DECEPTION: “On July 20, 1862, John Hay, Lincoln’s private secretary, predicted in a letter that the president ‘will not conserve slavery much longer.’ Two days later, Lincoln, wearing his familiar dark frock coat and speaking in measured tones, convened his cabinet in his cramped White House office, upstairs in the East Wing. He had said, ‘dwelt much and long on the subject’ of slavery. Lincoln then read aloud a 325-word first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, intended to free slaves in Confederate areas not under United States authority.” Louis P. Masur, “Forever Free.”
After writing the draft, President Lincoln was faced with another problem: “One of the weightiest questions was whether significant numbers of Union soldiers would refuse to fight in a war whose purpose was not only to preserve the Union but also to end slavery. ‘How Will the Army Like the Proclamation?’ trumpeted a headline in the New York Tribune.'” Smithsonian magazine, January 2013, “Forever Free” by Louis P. Masur.
If the Civil War was about freeing the slaves, President Lincoln would not have had that concern and the article would not have appeared in the New York Tribune.
Lincoln later “[o]pened the ranks of the Army to blacks, who until then had served only in the Navy.” He had to do that to get slaves to help the Union fight the Confederate rebels who were kicking their ass on the battle field.
Lincoln did not write the draft of the Emancipation Proclamation until 464-days after the Civil War began on April 12, 1861. That proves that the American Civil War was not fought to free the slaves. At least, it did not begin with freeing the slaves on the agenda, only later was it added.
Slave labor allowed the Southern plantation owners to undercut the Northerners in the Cotton market, the same argument presented today by politicians about the Federal Prison Industries, Inc. using inmate labor to produce goods and services, which raises a question of whether the practice violates the Federal Fair Trade and Practice Act (?). (I will write a blog to cover that issue in the future.)
The Emancipation Proclamation was not signed until January 1, 1863; 165-days after Lincoln wrote the draft on July 20, 1862, which gave freedom to slaves across America, including those in the North. In other words, wealthy Northerners still had slaves when the war began in the South.
The most liked blog of mine is “Southern Pride-Waving a Confederate Flag” (July 6, 2015). As stated, “If the Civil War was fought over slavery, wouldn’t President Lincoln have signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free all slaves before the war began on April 12, 1861, instead of on January 1, 1863? Weren’t the slaves used by the president to fight off Confederate forces who had proved to be a more formidable force than expected by slaughtering his troops in numerous battles? Yes, is the most logical answer based upon the facts and history of the rich using the poor to fight their battles.”
What would the Mothers of Civil War soldiers think if they could see what is going on today about the war that claimed the lives of their sons? We should, as a society, honor those who gave their lives to defend our country, even if their lives were lost fighting a war within the United States of America.
Feel free to share this post. For more on the Civil War, and excerpts from THE LAST CONFEDERATE COIN by S.G. Garwood and Dr. Jonathan Jackson, visit thelastcharlestonconfederate.weebly.com.
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Wayne T. Dowdy writes at StraightFromthePen.com. Post comments on this site or email them to waynedowdy@straightfromthepen.com or wtdowdy57@gmail.com
