The Legacy of Lincoln: Equality

Vindicate the Thirteenth Amendment
that prohibited from among the Many States
the institution of slavery
and win for thy Nation its intended victory,
in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln
and all who stand with him,
and in thy constant Remembrance, Citizen,
abolish the sin of inequality
in thy own heart.

The legacy of Lincoln is not perfect and was left to thy memory in need of some vital work, America. For the easy and idealized version of it conceals the hard truths...

The debt of remembrance owed to those dark and bitter times is without refute. 'Tis a labor of thy own heart, America, better perceived when it is claimed together with the memory of all those 600,000 souls who from thy 16th President's time intimately gave to each of thee, thy Nation's re-birth in freedom.

After the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, at the conclusion of the most bloodiest war ever fought within thy own Soul, the sin that sheltered and fed the many evils of slavery was left neither uncovered in the public forums of thy Republic nor defeated in the spirit of the Truth; it's overt symptom from within thy own Nationhood being merely and expeditiously prohibited by law.

For inequality was yet a living aberration in the heart of thy Nationhood; the victory intended by Lincoln was not won, and it's time never came to be.

In another hundred years, the incompleteness of this particular remembrance in thy Nation shall stir another generation to dare to ask the same question of Equality (the truth of which was already bravely fought for by Lincoln and company with visionary zeal and love of common humanity - at such an expense - during their own times and places - in spite of the greater adversarial nature of the times unto which they all belonged - for thy own good behalf).

For the Eternal Ideal of Equality, inked forever in the spirit of the Declaration that decisively conceived in time, through the great Providence of God, thy one Nationhood, was not consummated in the Truth after 1865, it was tried and tested then, America, then tried and tested again in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s own time, even as it is now being tried and tested still - in these sundry times, in these latter days...

For a question will ask until it ceases to be a question... what makes wealthy all Men, America? And what wealth makes any Nation great?

What was saved by Lincoln and all those who fought and bled with him on thy good behalf was a seed. How it shall prosper for all those for whom the seed was saved - at such great a cost to the life and promise of thy Nation is left - lovingly - to the life and labor of thy generations - today and all that is yet come - until the one spirit of Humanity - in the great and noble House of America - feels itself at Peace, and it's Truth - welcome, one and complete in the many as well as in the one.

Lest we forget, lest we forget...
---<--@

For the sin of inequality is a transgression against common humanity. Material is its form and has no quality to present to the spirit - only confusion - for it is neither a value that elevates, nor a virtue that ennobles, but a social sin with social consequences, foul and unwholesome to any human community.

Far from blessing, it curses. Far from healing, it prolongs death. Far from enriching, it impoverishes.

Annelies

by Citizen Cat



Dawning forever, a flower for you...
innocence an everlasting embrace.
Inspire me, beloved, to be as true...
goodwill reflecting Divine Grace.
Darling, your sorrows become mine.
I know God takes care of His own,
Wisdom is the will of the Divine,
hatred will eat what hatred has sown.
Beyond death, Annelies, you to me...
Beyond differences, I will for us...
Cat, my angel, smile Eternal smile.
Your anguish no longer binds you!
Forget me not, beloved, I love you.
---<--@

(original produced circa. 2001-02)

Personal Reflection

20131026 Saturday - The only thing that was able to cut through the deadly slumber of ignorance that blanketed my soul and set my spirit free was not a thing...

My Miyang turned my upside down world right side up and now, not only do I believe in happy endings, I work (in my own little way) to actively bring them about in our world.

For there is no limit to the possibilities
in which the all-wise and all-good God
may choose to invisibly sow in our lives
the seeds of precious new beginnings...



I realize my journey of self-discovery was not a journey I started on my own, it was only begun when someone decided to take it with me... and it filled the sky of my soul with stars.

A Perfect Democracy?

No Perfection Without God



A perfect democracy can not exist in this world, as it is.

All we can hope for is
to achieve an optimal tension.
One that ensures within our society
- under the eternal vigilance of Almighty God -
that the responsible side of our freedom
- those authentic human freedoms -
are always - ALWAYS - well on their way
to winning the conflict - against their false and evil side:
That the truth is ever over untruth, light is ever over darkness,
good is ever over evil, spirit over matter, and Peace over War...

Thus, preserving the Creative Ideal - in every generation 

for All our generations to the very last generation.

For -

Freedom is to know freedom.
Democracy is to love it.
Liberty is to be guided by it
and Happiness is to be able to live it
- alone or with others -
under the eternal vigilance of God,
imperfectly in this world
and perfectly in the Next.
---<--@

Our slavery is a bond.
But our freedom too is a bond.
The former, of death and oppression.
The latter, of life and liberation.
One is a betrayal.
The other, a vindication of the betrayed.

Philippines!

Kahapon. Ngayon. Magpakailanman.



P is for Peaceful
H is for Human
I is for Inspired
L is for Lively
I is for Industrious
P is for Progressive
P is for Prosperous
I is for Interdependent
N is for Nature-blessed
E is for Enduring
S is for Strong
---<--@

We are Juan People under God,
Juan Nation on a Journey of Completion
as Juan Republic forever!

Mabuhay po tayong lahat!

Salutation #180

Man is a victim by first principle.



(Tread Carefully)

We live in a bubble of reality
hospitable to our humanity - body and soul -
ONLY by a mere fraction of a thought
yet the One Who does the thinking
loves the each of us infinitely
enough to keep it all indefinitely
IF - it were at all possible -
that He may save all of us
from our own choices.

If it were possible...
for even God, being our God,
does not seek power over our freedom -
Things will then end in this universe,
as science has so clearly seen,
when the purpose of God in time is fulfilled
in order for those of us who truly wish
to be simply free in the LORD
to have a real beginning...

Tread carefully.
---<--@



We are the Children because we are most vulnerable of All.
We are the Children also because we are most precious of All.

The Four Values

Eternity - 
a strong and abiding sense
of the Spirit of God in All things -
a quiet dedication to the Unseen LORD;
to the Truth, to the Creative Ideal,
and to the Timeless in All things.

Virtue - 
a bright and shining love
of the glory of God in all things -
an awareness of what is Good in all things;
of what is upon Earth and in Heaven
truly excellent and worthy
of the Praise and the Memory
of All creation.

Humanity - 
a deep and meaningful understanding
of what makes the person "in each one of us" human -
a great affinity to the noble truths about our Common Humanity;
a compassionate knowledge and faithful respect
of what is (1) innocent in the Truth,
of what is (2) broken upon the Earth,
of what is (3) wounded and in need
of care and of repair
in Man.

Universality - 
a profound and powerful commitment,
born of every true and genuine understanding
of what makes the Nation "in every all of us" human,
to the one, true Peace of the one, true God -
a zealous dedication to the promise of the LORD,
the one Sovereign of the Nations of the Children of Mankind
that by His faithfulness to the stars of our Father Abraham,
God shall deign to bless our Nations forever
and deepen us in the Truth - ever as one whole Sky -
of the hidden Wholeness that behind all things
gather All things - despite all things
unto Unity and into Peace.
---<--@

The Lion of the Sea

I saw a City,
a City by the bay
and the throne of a Lion -
the Lion of the Sea.

I saw you, O City,
all covered in grime
like a widow weeping
the victim of a crime.

Return again, O Lion,
thou great lover of brav'ry,
reclaim again thy City
let thy Justice roam free.

- selah -

I saw a Nation,
a Nation by the sea -
a poor and forlorn people
awaiting for thee.

O saw you, O Nation,
despairing in the darkness
like an orphaned son -
alone amidst the madness.

Awaken then, O Lion,
O ruler of the free -
reclaim again thy spirit
and let thy glory be!
---<--@

(original produced 20110611)

An Emerging Republic

The next time you hear, "third world country"... THINK.



Whenever I hear a fellow Filipino refer to our Republic undertaking of Country as "a third world country", I think of the mindlessness of such talk and shudder at the thought that many of us may still, for lack of a better working model, thoughtlessly accept this concept of a three world global order based on perhaps, a most narrow and unfair definition of national wealth.

Too, there is something implicitly prejudicial about the concept...

We are NOT a "third world country". We are an emerging Republic - just one of the many undertakings of Country (Republic or otherwise) cast upon a World afloat in a vast temporal ocean composed of Nations unevenly spread, under the unfathomable dictates of the Providence of God, upon an area of earth, sea, air, space, and spirit that comprise in all its sum (at the time of this writing), only a single planetary whole.

We exist, a Nation among Nations, growing great through our labors of Country as Trees exist, growing together in a Garden of Many Trees.

We (1) emerge to belong, (2) we belong to build, (3) we are built to become, (4) we become to belong, and (5) we belong to be one with the One - for these are the Five Ages of Country.
---<--@

We are, therefore, we must.


The Ages of Country