Category: Inspiration

Owen has withdrawn his cooperation for which I commend him. I am using my voice to inform others who remain on those platforms until, like did LinkedIn, I am silenced.

Tom: Re my previous post. Great lesson huh?

There are different types of wars. We are in one at present that does not involve guns but the suppression of human rights by censorship, lies and disinformation.

This one won’t be won by armed heroes in uniforms but by the people who face up to those who would deny us our human rights. Those who have the courage to share (despite the disparagement from the rude and ignorant) the truth and inspire others to take a stand.

Future generations may not know their names. There may not be a single “war memorial” erected to honour them. There may be no national holiday as a day of remembrance to honour their sacrifice. But future generations will be just as indebted to them!

I know too many to list each of you here and am reluctant to do so for fear of missing a worthy one. But you know who you are. You may wear with pride the mantle woven of confront, knowledge, courage, drive, perseverance, dedication and accomplishment.

Keep fighting to free your fellow many from the enslaving plans of the power elite and I look forward to raising an orange juice to you at our victory celebration!

In September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a History teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks in her classroom. When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks.

“Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?”

She replied, “You can’t have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.”

They thought, “Well, maybe it’s our grades.” “No,” she said.

“Maybe it’s our behavior.” She told them, “No, it’s not even your behavior.”

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom. Kids called their parents to tell them what was happening and by early afternoon television news crews had started gathering at the school to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the desk-less classroom. Martha Cothren said, “Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he or she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.”

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniform, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, “You didn’t earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. They went halfway around the world, giving up their education and interrupting their careers and families so you could have the freedom you have. Now, it’s up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.”

By the way, this is a true story. And this teacher was awarded the Veterans of Foreign Wars Teacher of the Year for the State of Arkansas in 2006. She is the daughter of a WWII POW.

Do you think this email is worth passing along so others won’t forget either, that the freedoms we have in this great country were earned by our U.S. Veterans?… I did.

Let us always remember the men and women of our military and the rights they have won for us.

(Tom: Applies in Australia equally.)

Dubai founder Sheikh Rashid was consulted about the future of his country, and he responded:

“My grandfather was a camel, my father was a camel. I’m in Mercedes, my son is from Land Rover, and my grandson is going to walk from Land Rover. But my great grandson is going to have to go back to camel…”

Why is that?

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create easy times. Easy times create weak men, weak men create tough times.”

“Many won’t understand but you have to raise warriors, not parasites…”