There are things that are more important than peace; this has been so from the beginning of time and it is still so today. As Christians Christ taught us the order of our lives should be our God, our religion, our families, our freedom, and our peace. Peace coming last makes it no less of an important concern in our lives, but it comes after our duty to God and our religion, and our love and duty to our families. Our God given freedom of choice in how we live, raise our families, worship our God can not be denied nor given up in the name of peace.
When anyone, Islam or even our own country, tries to threaten our freedom to worship our God, the safety or freedom of our wives and children or wishes to enforce their will upon us as free sons and daughters of God, then peace is not called for nor should it be sought until that threat is removed.
We were in Afghanistan in the 80's, we have helped arm the Muslims in their jihad against the Russians, I will tell you if you like what fighting for freedom means. Now, sadly because our own government tossed away the hard fought for freedom of these Afghan-men many of them have turned their anger toward us. Whatever their reason, they have brought war and violence to us and our families. It is not a holy war, but a war of revenge and anger, but anyone that would trade the freedom of their children to protect themselves by calling for peace at all cost is a coward as I see it.
The Pope may not be politically correct, but one can read in the Koran, yes even the English translations, and find passage after passage about Mohamed sending men to kill everyone that would not convert. To be fair, the Catholic church did the same thing and not just to Muslims, to Frenchmen, and Jews to name but two; but there is no Christian faith that I am aware of that forces conversion anymore. It is still common practice today in Islam.
Islam is a religion of hate and fear. It is a religion of terrorism and death. Personally I would not force them to change, and if they want to live that way in their own nations more power to them, but this is my country. This is my home and I will fight and yes kill to protect this land and my family.
The difference is not if killing is wrong but why it is done. Peace at all cost just cost too much. In the end, and I hate to go hear, it all come down to what Rodney King said, "Can't we all just get along?" I would not bring war to anyone for their faith, but I will fight always to defend my own. Peace takes two parties; peace any other way is surrender.
Sorry this was so long, but it boggles my mind that so many people are so willing to sit back and watch as their freedoms are taken away. For those of you that have served in the armed forces, remember your oath to protect the constitution against all enemies "foreign and domestic". Our God, our religion, our family, our freedom, and our peace means just that; if the treat to any of the above comes from the middle east or Washington DC it makes no difference, it is our oath to fight that threat and protect the freedom of ourselves and our children.
I doubt the Popes words will matter to anyone, nor bring about one minutes peace, but it's nice to know he is doing what he can.
20 March 2009
09 March 2009
Heraldry
The art and science of heraldry is not just pretty pictures on old paper, nor is it nearly as mysterious and cryptic as most seem to think. In fact, while there is the more tedious genealogical side to it (the science part), there is also the art of creating a pictorial representation of the life, loves, and achievements of an individual. This individuality of each achievement is what makes every coat of arms so wonderfully unique and special.
Heraldry is not the sort of thing one wakes up one morning and decides to get into; in fact if it were not for my father I would have gladly gone my whole life without ever looking at anyone else's arms let alone creating my own. As things turned out however, when I was Knighted my father told me after the investiture that he had always wanted his own arms. I had worn my grand-father's ring with his arms during the ceremony, and that ring meant and still means more to me than any other possession I have and never leaves my finger, but the arms on it were my grand-fathers not ours.
The arms of a paternal ancestor are inheritable, and currently I have assumed these, but dad got me thinking about what I would want on my own and more so what he would want. I spent many hours at the local library and online learning as much as I could about how arms are put together and the rules of who can bear arms. As it turned out, I am a pretty good artist so I put pencil to paper and started designing for my dad.
I am on the 8th and I think final set and am so excited about this. It is my intention to actually paint the full coat of arms on velum for him for framing but I also have plans to have a ring made as well. There is a local jeweler that will let me come in and cast the ring I have (my grand-father's) to make a wax mold. I will then cut out the center part with his arms engraved on it as well as the two supporters along the shank. Then we will cast dad's supporters (two bears) and I will have all of that then cast in gold. The next step will be me cutting a piece of gold to fit in the whole left where the arms were removed. I will send off that piece of gold along with digitized artwork of the achievement to have the engraving done on it (I cant do that part myself). Finally I will solder the whole thing together and finish the ring.
I was worried about the cost of all the gold, but I have several large gold rings which I do not wear anymore and I plan to melt them down for the gold. The cool part is the color of the gold will be a one off as I am using three shades of gold so I should end up with a darker and more antique look to the final ring.
The sad part is I am almost done with this project that I have worked on for around eight years. I have come to love the challenge and the thrill of creating art that actually means something to others as well as to myself. For this reason I have decided that I will eventually offer my services to others. Maybe I will be able to help someone else feel the pride of having something that symbolically shows to the world just who they are; or at least who they aspire to be.
Heraldry is not the sort of thing one wakes up one morning and decides to get into; in fact if it were not for my father I would have gladly gone my whole life without ever looking at anyone else's arms let alone creating my own. As things turned out however, when I was Knighted my father told me after the investiture that he had always wanted his own arms. I had worn my grand-father's ring with his arms during the ceremony, and that ring meant and still means more to me than any other possession I have and never leaves my finger, but the arms on it were my grand-fathers not ours.
The arms of a paternal ancestor are inheritable, and currently I have assumed these, but dad got me thinking about what I would want on my own and more so what he would want. I spent many hours at the local library and online learning as much as I could about how arms are put together and the rules of who can bear arms. As it turned out, I am a pretty good artist so I put pencil to paper and started designing for my dad.
I am on the 8th and I think final set and am so excited about this. It is my intention to actually paint the full coat of arms on velum for him for framing but I also have plans to have a ring made as well. There is a local jeweler that will let me come in and cast the ring I have (my grand-father's) to make a wax mold. I will then cut out the center part with his arms engraved on it as well as the two supporters along the shank. Then we will cast dad's supporters (two bears) and I will have all of that then cast in gold. The next step will be me cutting a piece of gold to fit in the whole left where the arms were removed. I will send off that piece of gold along with digitized artwork of the achievement to have the engraving done on it (I cant do that part myself). Finally I will solder the whole thing together and finish the ring.
I was worried about the cost of all the gold, but I have several large gold rings which I do not wear anymore and I plan to melt them down for the gold. The cool part is the color of the gold will be a one off as I am using three shades of gold so I should end up with a darker and more antique look to the final ring.
The sad part is I am almost done with this project that I have worked on for around eight years. I have come to love the challenge and the thrill of creating art that actually means something to others as well as to myself. For this reason I have decided that I will eventually offer my services to others. Maybe I will be able to help someone else feel the pride of having something that symbolically shows to the world just who they are; or at least who they aspire to be.
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