To: My Grandson
A BOOKMARK FOR LIFE
(the planting of a seed)
Take up the baton and pass it on ....
Guidance against the odds, as you thinketh in your heart, so will it be the legacy of your soul. You, my grandson, be a descendant of slaves, the great-grandson of farmers, laborers of unity, and the child of educators—a bona fide haven of survival, wisdom, and knowledge. Be forever conscious of who you are—never resting in conceit-ism, in the river of for grant-ism of your accomplishments. Your successes have been preordained, self-replicating, earned by those who came before you—the examples of what you must strive to set for generations to come. I call it engraving the baton, with generational achievements. Always remember, someone is watching. Your consistency of actions will always speak louder than words, garnishing reverence when you speak. You need not prove anything to anyone except yourself through your attributes, limits set by GOD. Compare yourself to no one but the man in the mirror.
Humility cures pride, and kindness cures envy. Abstinence cures gluttony, Chastity cures lust, and Patients cures wrath. Kindness also cures greed, and Diligence cures sloth. While at the same time. A grudging heart will induce divisiveness and anger, tarnishing the soul.
Your Granddad
Parents and Grandparents A CRY TO AMERICA
Lend me your ears
First, to all parents. One day, God Willing, you will become a grandparent. Therefore, I beg of you for your time to indulge, as this is a canvassing. A canvassing of the hearts and minds of those who will take the time to read and ponder the future of this nation.
Without a doubt, my thoughts/opinions will differ from many of the readers. Irrespective, I work tirelessly at being optimistic. A trait needed to indulge in positive communication. Sentiments derived from longevity and lived experiences, from roads traveled in a distinctively acculturated America. "Judge not lest ye be judged."
In a democracy, opinions matter, but selfishness and greed are the two dominant enemies of the people. A mindset that leaves not a skidder for compromise. Because compromise, in the mind’s eyes of an autocrat, can be a sign of weakness. And the price of compromise would be the acquisition of empathy and shame, a communion in the unity of souls. The only reward in 2022 would be the rebirth of a nation which is sinking into the abyss. The handwriting is in the ketchup on the wall.
Selfishness & Greed vs. Compromise is what’s really on the November ballot. As a facilitator, I challenged biases through the art of salesmanship, getting people to listen to each other. As a recruiter, I canvassed for attentiveness in America’s youth, the presents of mind, and the sparkle in the eye. Never striving to convince anyone for the sake of winning. Nor the need for a body to fill a quota.
As a recruiter-in-charge of a military station, I lead by example while excepting nothing less. As a Zone / District manager, I canvassed communities where the welcoming was cold and brutal because of the color of my skin. Commanding my appearance, my uniform, and my pride in wearing it while being approachable was the first nuance to open communications.
For the last six years, my communications have been and will continue to be canvassing, not in divisiveness, but in the facilitation of civil conversation. With a direct challenge to the media in its propagation. A Bookmark for Life (The Child) and Grandparents in Unity 2022 (The Adult). Letters in the hundreds I've written to the community, the church, John Hopkins, educational boards, and elected officials, the news media, along with six years of social media posts. Paragraphing each in succession, could be converted into a book. The title would be: "A Virtual March" In the vision of Dr. King's dream. The book, no doubt ...... would be scrutinized, under the auspice of critical race theory and band from school libraries.
The biggest challenge for Republicans is not to abandon their party but to rebuild it by voting in the November mid-term election in the affirmative, putting the country first in the mindfulness of we the people and not he the man. Try taking a page out of Liz Cheney’s playbook, who’s endorsing a Democrat. Rep. Slotkin (D-MI). In my opinion, fearlessly trying to bring the country back into the realm of together we stand—forsaking the fear of retaliation of choice—expelling the macronucleus need for power by one man, allowing the return to the sphere of one nation under God with bipartisan leadership. A mental procurement of liberty and justice handing it to our children and children’s children.
Henry L Faulkner Chief Navy Counselor USN Ret.
To: Grandparents of America
GRANDPARENTS IN UNITY 2022
An Uncharted Entity
No Dues
No Meetings
No Party Affiliation
No Membership Requirements
The only expectation is the writing of a challenge to one's grandchildren with a belief in:
"The Preamble to the Constitution."
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our POSTERITY…”
The only thing necessary for evil to
triumph is for good people to do nothing.
Guidance Against the Odds ©2016
www.bookmystory.net
A BOOKMARK FOR LIFE September 2022
The Un-Serenity of Time
In my childhood on my grandparent's farm, it was the rooster's crow at dawn which encapsulated the nature of God's creation in the serenity of a loving family.
But since 2016, and for the last four years, I have been awakened by the bark of my dog Raven on sporadic mornings. The dawn erupting with the blast of a whistle way off in the distance. Her ears fine-tuned to the encroachment of a train, giving warning to its tonnage by the roar of its engines, racing louder until it passes, leaving in its echo the clanging of rail cars, its wheels churning upon the railways of the times. A clanking that reverberated in my soul as shackles of bondage.
On January 6, 2021, a train ran into the United States Capital. Its cargo? The unlearned lessons of years passed, now projected in real-time.
DIALOGUE >> THEORIZED & DEFINED
As a NOUN:
A conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or movie:
As a VERB:
To take part in a conversation or discussion to resolve a problem:
Martin Buber was an Austrian Jewish and Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue. He assigns dialogue a pivotal position in his theology. Buber cherishes and promotes dialogue not as some purposive attempt to reach conclusions or express mere points of view, but as the very prerequisite of authentic relationship between man and man, and between man and God.
March 6, 2023
Greetings Senator Scott
Senator Scott, I pray this letter is received with a gracious heart. My name is Henry Lee Faulkner: retired Navy and a senior citizen. I'm an inquisitive soul and an avid reader. I've read a couple of your books. "Opportunity Knocks," and " “America, a Redemption Story" I am also a canvasser for ideas and a facilitator of concepts. I've even written a book myself. With that said, this letter comes with a gift, a copy of my book, “GUIDANCE AGAINST THE ODDS” and to inquire about your viewpoint on "Cordial Communications."
First, about your books. Have any of your republican colleagues read any of them? And, if so, how many would commit to an open dialogue on the merit of the content? I permeate this question because of the "State of our Nation" as I search for optimism in a deteriorating democracy. My intentions are productive discussions without degradation or victorious fanaticism to be the money maker. Combative dialogue is not a means to a constructive end.
It's no secret that fear has become reflective of the unspoken truth. With dominance and hatred being the bottleneck. It's modern-day warfare, as opposed to the "Preamble to the Constitution," "We the people." The fear of being humiliated if you don't go along with a lie by the power of one person resonates in the Republican Party. The indignation was amplified auspiciously in the 2016 presidential primary.
This letter and book be sent to you in the form of a request for you to read and respond in kind. I am not a writer or politician. Just a senior citizen who has been around the block a few times, with the anthology, heart of hearts "Instincts" together with genuine intentions from "The Seat of my Soul," searching for a solution in a divided nation. Our democracy is in peril. We should not fight hate with hate. Elected officials need to demonstrate bipartisanship. And not use the power of position to divide us further. i.e., A committed liar is seated in a chamber of legislation. Some members of Congress are wearing AR-15 assault rifle pins even after an insurrection—speaker of the House releasees Capitol riot footage to a motivator of hate. Even deeper, an elected official is calling for a national divorce. "Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness," A quote by George Washington to the states, May 9, 1793.
Democrats constantly speak of reaching across the aisle. In the business world, the need for fellowship is essential, the meeting of the minds by arbitration when parties cannot agree when money is at stake. There's partisanship when you pay a person a penny when the cost of living is a dime while the rich are making a dollar paying little to no taxes. It is one of the biggest reasons for urban decay. PEONAGE on a legal scale. When fear is induced by enacting laws based on race, sexuality, the control of a women’s right to birth control and abortion, etcetera, etc., I call it psychological warfare. When a people's history is forbidden, or should I say under forbidden learning, with the assertion of teaching privileged children to hate themselves. It's PRIVILEGED INDOCTINATION by omitting, the eradication of the past. The 3Ps of modern-day slavery which will lead to the fall of our democracy.
“Nothing to fear, but fear itself,” a phrase from the 1933 inaugural address of Franklin D Roosevelt. Fear that united the country in those times, now on the inside divides us. From the beginning, fear has always been used as a means of control. In your book, your sister's words spoke of your father's fear of driving. In America, for the black man, fear has always been present while trying to maintain the dignity of a man. Besides driving, the fear of walking, jogging, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time while black. Something I developed early in life. In my youth, I was taught by my mother how to act around white folks for my safety. Fear was instilled in me when Emmett Till was lynched; I was eleven. This is from a 79-year-old citizen to you, a lawmaker, saying: a deaf ear to history will not solve this country's problem. Tyre Nichols’ death in Memphis by police was a shot in the arm for me. Ironically, while stationed at the Naval Training Center near Memphis in the early 70s, the police stopped me on many occasions. One time there was a beating, I went to jail. The judge, under a speedy trial, the very next morning, didn't listen, and I'll leave it at that. Two things were in the balance: "My life and my Naval career." Guidance Against the Odds speaks for millions who have steered the minefields, where the system wholes dominion over destiny. Post my naval career, I have 39 more years of living, which could be another book navigating the swamps of inequity. Different places, different times, but with replicating scenarios. As the saying goes, "you can't make this stuff up."
I'm ending this letter with three questions: Why did the chicken cross the road? Parenthetically to get to the other side. So why wouldn't a politician reach across the aisle in a democracy? The answer should not be paradoxical in seeking a cordial conversation. And why would I, a nonwriter, produce a website, write a book, and continue to write blogs unanswered for nine years? My response to the third is that I love my country, and because I believe in WOKE. Because "I can't breathe" and through the grace of God, there is a need in me to be heard as a man. And in the words of Rodney King, “Why can’t we all just get along?” I pray you will read my book and harmoniously post a convivial response or at least respond in kind.
God Bless!
Respectfully
Henry L Faulkner USN Ret.
Chief Navy Counselor
Ref:
https://twitter.com/hlf442207
http://www.bookmystory.net/
https://bookmystorydomain.blog/2019/07/20/a-tweet-for-the-45th-president-4th-re-tweet/
George Dawson was a slave's grandson who learned to read at age 98 and lived to the age of 103. In this remarkable memoir, he reflects on his life and shares valuable lessons in living, as well as a fresh, firsthand view of America during the entire sweep of the twentieth century.
An invite to a cordial conversation
Joan Baez performed "We Shall
Overcome" at the White House in front of
President Barack Obama, Feb 9, 2010, at a
celebration of music from the period of the
civil rights movement. The modern version of
the song was first said to have been sung by
tobacco workers led by Lucille Simmons
during the 1945 1946 Charleston Cigar
Factory strike in Charleston, South Carolina.
In 1947, the song was published under the
title "We Will Overcome" in an edition of the
People's Songs Bulletin (a publication of
People's Songs, an organization of which
Pete Seeger was the director) as a
contribution and with an introduction by Zilphia Horton, then-music director of the Highlander Folk School of Monteagle, Tennessee (an adult education school that trained union organizers). Horton said she had learned the song from Simmons and considered it her favorite. She taught it to many others, including Pete Seeger, who included it in his repertoire, as did many other activist singers, such as Frank Hamilton and Joe Glazer, who recorded it in 1950.
Highlander Folk School Library: The Historic Civil Rights Monument is located in Monteagle, Tennessee. Ref: Wikipedia
"We shall Overcome"
Meet George Dawson, who proves you are never too
old to learn.
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