I missed Saturday’s events in Washington (and on t.v.) because my husband and I were helping to serve the monthly Windber Area Community Kitchen (W.A.C.K.) meal in a neighboring county, but I’ve caught some of the highlights and sound bytes on t.v. the last few days, and I’m very encouraged!
Glenn Beck organized a very successful and non-violent rally on the idea of “Restoring Honor” to our great nation. There was very little (if any) politics mentioned, and the message was clear and concise: It’s time we restore our faith and honor (patriotism). I was very impressed to see many faiths represented on Saturday, and the message presented by Glenn Beck and other keynote speakers was truly “universal.”
As usual, Rev. Al Sharpton has tried to put a spin on this event and turn it into a negative — citing that Glenn Beck and other organizers of this event somehow stepped on Martin Luther King’s day and infamous speech, but I think the American people are truly smarter than that. Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally did, in fact, give credit to where credit was due and Glenn Beck was verbally gracious to Martin Luther King’s memory and speech (several times). Al Sharpton is losing his pull within the African-American community; the days of rehashing the past and the events leading up to the Civil Rights Movement are over! I chuckled when I heard him on FOXNews’ O’Reilly Factor last night. Al Sharpton really sounded ridiculous in his claims and I think Bill O’Reilly clearly made that evident. Although there will always be some challenges with racism, voices like Al Sharpton’s will just continue to unnecessarily flare things up between African-Americans, Whites, and Hispanics and will ultimately, prevent us from moving forward in a positive and productive way. How sad indeed! Martin Luther King was a man of God, too, and he aspired to the ideas shared on Saturday, as well (as stated by Martin Luther King’s neice, Dr. Alveda King — also a keynote speaker on Saturday).
Regardless of how you might feel about Glenn Beck and faith in America, I hope that you carefully consider Saturday’s event and the countless other Americans who traveled to Washington to share a general and very thoughtful concern for our country. While Obama may have won the presidential election on his motto of change, many Americans are noticing a real unwanted void in our “changed” American culture — a void of faith, honor, integrity, and the American Dream. This void has been years in the making, of course, but we are at a crucial time as our very foundations of freedom and the American Dream are quickly diminishing in this “change-happy” Obama administration (and a culture which regularly disenfranchises those of faith — *Please note that although I think it’s a constitutional “right” for a Muslim mosque to be erected near Ground Zero, in this particular instance, it’s about sensitivity and common sense. It’s truly not appropriate for that mosque to be built near the Ground Zero area at this time. Just because YOU CAN do something doesn’t mean you should.). Although I think we all can agree we have some very important challenges we have to address to improve the quality of life and opportunities available for everyone, throwing out our founding principles IS NOT THE ANSWER.
Kudos to Glenn Beck for taking a stand on the issues which really matter to him, and I hope WE ALL are encouraged to do the same! While I missed Saturday’s event due to another obligation, I’m proud to say that we were “living out” or implementing Glenn Beck’s message. It’s about restoring faith, honor, kindness, integrity, and responsibility all across America. We ALL have a small part; What’s yours?!
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