Patriot Realm

I woke early this morning, around  4.30 am .   I  arose and headed to my TV room.   This is where,  if you remember reading about my Magic Chair that the family gave me for Christmas last year is  my  Massage chair.

I relaxed into the   soothing motion of the massage , looked out of the window , dawn and the sun rising  and everything looked lovely.    The Lord's Prayer popped into my mind.    So I began to say it.      You have to  remember I am old school...  we had a different upbringing to most of the kids today.   We  had morning prayers before classes began.    On Sunday morning we went to Sunday  school.   We recited and knew the different prayers.   My children followed the same routine, the biggest difference was the Queen and standing "for a Lady on a Horse"  before the movie  began.    Sunday school the same , the Lords' Prayer the same.

This year’s presidential election is the fourth since 2000 to be marred by either widespread allegations of voter fraud or of foreign interference. Politicians and pundits have long counted on elections to wave a magic wand of legitimacy over the reign of whoever is designated the winner. But Americans are increasingly wondering if the endlessly-trumped “consent of the governed” has become simply another sham to keep them paying and obeying. 

 Years ago, as a child, I was told a story about a man who changed the world. He had the crazy idea that if you treated people well, they would prosper. He talked with people at rallies and, as time went by, his gatherings grew and he became well known for his words, his deeds and his love of and for his fellow human being.

He didn't give a toss about whether someone was black or white; rich or poor; he didn't even care if someone was sick or diseased. All he cared about was making people better. In making individual people better, he believed that his world would become better, kinder, richer and more equality based.

What a situation we are in , both here and New Zealand where farmers who have done their bit   by producing food and fruit   are having no one to help pick and  collect it.   Result  ... being ploughed back into the ground or left in the case of fruit to rot under the trees or bushes.  

 I can understand no foreign backpackers or seasonal pickers arriving because of the  Virus  restrictions.   But surely we have enough unemployed younger  and fit people who can join  with others to help harvest the  food  the hard working farmers have worked so hard to produce.

On November 11th, 1918, at 11 o'clock in the morning, the end of the First World War was announced: Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces. After 4 long years of bloodshed, the final Armistice was signed...

In this time of turbulence and upheaval, we must not forget the battles fought for us and how the sacrifice of others has given us the freedom to protest, the freedom to speak out and the freedom to vote and have those freedoms protected.

As we move through this period of upheaval, please take time out to remember this. Were it not for those brave men and women, this debacle over who won or lost an election would not be on the table. In fact, the word " freedom " would have long ago been erased from our dictionaries.