G'day from Australia folks! :o)
My name is Christine, and this is my very first time at attempting the blogging world. I figured it was time to join in, as there always seems to be so much going on in my brain these days and maybe having a web blog is a good way to express myself.
Before I go on, I'd like to thank both
Vicki Ecker and
Don Ecker (of UFO Magazine, USA -
www.ufomag.com/blogs.html) who have been a truly great inspiration to me for creating my own personal Blog Spot, through reading theirs... especially Vicki's.
Thank You both! :o)
I'd also like to thank
Dwight Schultz as well, whose passion and conviction when expressing his feelings and opinions on any given subject is so great, so awe-inspiring and so wonderfully inspirational!
Thank you, Dwight! :o)
I've called this first set of 3 postings "
Dark Days, Dark News, Dark Matters" for very valid reasons, which will reveal themselves as you read my post. I've had to split it into three parts as it turned out longer than I thought it would. Below here is Part 1, just for now, and I'll try to do Part 2 tomorrow and Part 3 as soon as I can get it finalised.
DARK DAYS
The Light shines in the darkness
And the darkness has never put it out!
John 1 : 5 (The Good News Bible - The New Testament, Gospel of John)
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN
It's been a sad week in world affairs, especially with the death and burial of former
President Ronald Reagan last week. I've been thinking a lot about him this past week, and about my life during the years he was in office.
In 1981, when Ronald Reagan first stepped into the office of President, I was only 14 years old, or thereabouts, and an Australian born resident and citizen, so the Reagan years sort of passed me on by, really. I knew of him, of course I did. I remember back then feeling curious and intrigued that a Hollywood actor had become the President of the USA. Impressed also. I didn't really think about his politics much at all, it never really occurred to me to do so.
Australians, especially the media, are not usually all that tolerant of politicians in general, and American or British ones in particular. The press here has often had scathing things, or satirical things, to say about US Presidents and British Prime Ministers, as well as our own Prime Ministers over the years. President Reagan was no exception to that trend during his years in office. I grew up during the Reagan years surrounded by that sort of press propaganda, although a lot of it went over my head most of the time.
Then, last week, I spent a bit of time reading about President Reagan, and his time in office, and listening to some of his old archived speeches, and learning about those years. I also listened a lot during the week to the positive and respectful things people had to say about him on various US based radio programs.
Of special note to me were the wonderfully respectful and thoughtful things the following radio talk show hosts expressed about President Reagan, and I want to thank them for their inspiring and educational insights:
Dennis Prager and
Michael Medved on their respective radio shows on
KRLA870, and also to Dwight Schultz & Don Ecker on their fabulous radio show,
Dark Matters on
Reality Radio Network on the internet. What all these men had to say was enlightening and educational, and it all made me not only think deeply about things, but to feel terribly sad as well. Sad, because there are so many things I never knew, and so much still to learn, and also to re-learn, about this great man and former President.
Some of President Reagan's speeches can be found
HERE on the C-Span web site, and others can be found in
THIS article on the CNN web site.
NANCY REAGAN
I want to say here that my heart goes out to Nancy Reagan. She's an amazing woman, who quite obviously loved and cared about her husband very deeply. Her grief at the interment ceremony in California was so vivid and so heartbreaking, I just cried. In fact, I can't help having tears in my eyes as I write this, and see the image in my head of her children holding her and comforting her at that moment of parting with her husband for the final time. I've not yet in my life had to feel the deep loss and grief of losing a husband, but I have felt the deep loss and grief of losing those I love, and my heart and my soul simply aches for her at this time.
When I think of what Nancy Reagan did for Ronald Reagan, of how she stood by him, and nursed him and cared for and loved him to the end of his days, my soul aches for the pain she's going through now, and for the days she has ahead of her as she strives to deal with her grief and her loss. I extend to her my deepest, deepest condolences, my thoughts and my prayers.
THE PRESIDENTIAL FUNERAL CEREMONY
The funeral ceremony in Washington DC for President Ronald Reagan was just magnificent. It was the most beautiful, most amazing, quite incredible service I've seen in a long time. It was extremely moving, and by the end I was moved to tears by the touching respect and glorious music throughout the service. It was a fitting and appropriate send off for a well loved and truly great man.
I haven't yet watched the interment ceremony in California (it wasn't aired on Australian TV, sadly) beyond seeing the various clips featured on our news programs down here. They showed a lot the clip of Nancy and her children by the coffin; a snapshot which makes my heart deeply ache. I plan and hope to catch up to the entire service on C-Span on the internet during the week, and will come back with some thoughts, probably.
A PERSONAL RETROSPECTIVE
My grandmother, on my mother's side, suffered from progressive dementia and cancer of the bladder. She ultimately died of cancer in December 1996.
I'd lived with my grandmother for almost eleven years, and in the final years of her life helped to nurse her, until the day she died. I don't like thinking too much about the night grandma died (at home). It was terribly confusing and traumatic. She died in my arms, to my absolute horror at the time. The anger I felt afterwards was so strong... too strong in many ways... and then the grief that followed... I can't even express...
To see someone you love, especially with all of your heart, suffering and in pain. To watch them dying by slow degrees day after day. To feel that helplessness of knowing that there is little or nothing you can do to prevent their slide down to the end. To feel anger at God for stealing away the last precious years of a wonderful life, from a wonderful person. To learn to forgive not only yourself, but God also. To learn to finally let go, and let God take care of your shattered heart and soul... all of that journey can be soul destroying.
Having said all that, I'm a better person for the experience, and if I had the chance to go back to that point where I made the decision to stay on with my grandmother, I'd still make the same choice. I might do some things a little differently to what I did, but I'd still stay with grandma. She needed me, and I wasn't going to abandon her in her time of greatest need. I loved her too much for that. I learned many valuable things about myself during those years, and they changed me in many ways. It was a getting of wisdom. A re-birthing of the soul.
Let me leave this blog here, just for now, with the following verses from the bible:
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self seeking.
It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13 : 4 - 8 (The Bible, the New Testament - New International Version)
(*
Note:
1 Corinthians Chapter 13 in its entirety is actually the full scripture. The above verses are just a part of it, but really the entire chapter is relevant to my blog here).
God Bless you and keep you always, Mrs. Reagan!!!
More to come soon in: "
Dark Days, Dark News, Dark Matters - Part 2"
