Sugar Creek Publishing

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

#146

“Dangers of Complacency”

It has been a difficult week for all Americans as they watched Boston deal with an unimaginable terrorist attack. Suddenly, today’s history shouted not “The British are coming,” but “The terrorists are here!”

Awakening on a Sunday, it is unfathomable to us that any religion can espouse killing innocent people to further belief. It begs a question and underscores the fact that the very freedoms we cherish put us at risk in a dangerous world.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser’s is a voice that many Americans never hear. A valued contributor on FOX News Channel, he is appalled that there is no outcry from Muslims across the nation. The silence is deafening. He appealed to peaceful followers of Islam to step forward and demand an end to the violence.

The constant coverage of the Boston Bombing should prod each of us to take the threat seriously. Moreover, there is a terrible reality to our lives in this country. The very freedoms that we cherish put us at risk in a very dangerous world.

Envy and greed are prime motivators. When mixed with extremist religious beliefs, the result is mayhem. I recall a column written shortly after 9/11. I felt then, as I do now, that a nationwide series of timed attacks in ordinary places of business and sports venues would wreak havoc.

If we are lucky — and that is a question in itself — the Boston Marathon Bombing is not the precursor to more attacks. Urging one another to be vigilant is but a first step. Internalizing the threat without a degree of panic looms as a serious way of life now.

Israel knows the game. We hear lawyers scream “profiling” as if it were a curse word. Israelis profile everybody. Not only do they search belongings, they interview El Al passengers and consider body language and all manner of behaviors that telegraph danger.

The fact that someone had a bomb in his shoe initiated shoe removal at all airports, body searches for hidden explosives, and cost millions of man-hours of productivity for business people and wasted vacation time for travelers as all of them endured the delays.

Don’t tolerate commentators describing the Boston Bombers as “boys.” They weren’t “boys,” folks. They were men hell bent on killing innocent people to further a mindset that Islam should rule the world. Trained by a cadre of people who use women and children as shields, they shine as prime examples of evil.

Our troops protect women and children. Theirs sacrifice them without a second thought. Remember that these men came as youngsters with their families and we gave them political asylum. With that designation comes monetary help. We funded this family and were repaid with an attack of unprecedented horror.

So long as we allow the government to soft pedal the profiling, we ask for more Bostons. Take a lesson from Israel. Take the offense. Don’t sit back and wait for another attack. Terror is a form of power play that fuels importance in small-minded people. It attracts advocates among us. What better way to get at the American psyche than to recruit from among our citizens.

To believe that all Muslims are terrorists is false, yet many are Muslim. That fact alone should bring pressure to bear on the religion as a whole and its leadership.

Hate crimes are more than bent thought processes. They are a calling to those who wish to end the American way of life. Control is at the core of such movements. To allow them to gain even a small amount of control is to cede to their tactics. Fear is their friend. We must counter that fear with resolve.

Think about what the two of them did on Monday. They sauntered down the sidewalk attired casually — all the while intending to murder innocents. The younger bomber placed a bomb behind eight-year-old Martin Richard then calmly walked away. Martin died. His little sister Jane lost a leg. His mother Denise was severely injured. Dad Bill and older brother Henry were not hurt. Pray for that family and the families of Krystle Campbell and Lü Lingzi. No family deserved this. Don’t forget Sean Collier’s family. He died in the line of duty, and I’m sure that MIT never expected one of their own to die at the hands of terrorists. Such is the atmosphere in America today.

We listen to those in Washington bantering about “separation of church and state,” and yet the terrorists’ mosque received $225,000 in tax subsidy. What’s behind that? I wonder if Massachusetts will answer that question in the coming days? Any idea that a Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish house of worship had the same chance at government money?

Sorry to be cynical, but my comment would be “Fat chance!”

Wake up and smell the coffee folks. Monday is one day away. We will go about our business as usual, but it should be anything but usual. We cannot dive back into a life of complacency.

Sadly, our society is at great risk. We must push ahead to insure our safety and that of our fellow citizens. It is time that we begin to live with a different view. We are at risk and we need to be vigilant.

I always encourage readers to thank members of the armed services when encountered on the street. I now, with a great deal of apology, add our men in blue — policemen, firemen, and members of the FBI, CIA and other agencies that put their lives on the line to keep us safe. Thanks to all of you! Take a moment to thank them. They deserve it.

Again, the question surfaces. We give incoming immigrants every avenue for success. We do not discriminate against their belief systems and welcome their houses of worship. Shouldn’t they harbor some responsibility for the actions of a few? Why aren’t their leaders speaking out against this? Given their freedom in this country, where is the Muslim community in America? Think about it.

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

# 144

“Twilight Zone?”

Sometimes I feel as if I have been sent through some sort of time bend and find myself in the purview of Rod Serling.

I suppose that only someone over 55 would feel the same. I certainly fit that bill, since another two years will find me hitting the seventy mark.

The sense of propriety lived and shown by our Founding Fathers is not only ailing, it is in terminal condition. News outlets highlight the prurient and neglect the larger issues of the day, choosing instead to stand aside and watch as the country slips into the abyss of tolerance.

Once, the statement, “I won’t tolerate that” was heard night after night in households across the nation in exchanges between parents and children. Children toed the mark and rules not only existed, but parents enforced them. Promiscuity was taboo, as was sexual activity among teens. Sex belonged in marriage, and the occasional slip into out-of-wedlock pregnancy was handled far differently. Girls simply disappeared and returned months later, and the progeny placed into a secure adoptive home.

In the 1960s, while segregation was the rule in many areas of the country, the Negro family was alive and well. More than 95% of all black families consisted of father, mother and children. Many claim that the incredibly strong cohesion stemmed from the fact that so many families were torn asunder during the era of slavery. Not only is that understandable, it is a testament to the importance of marriage.

Church was a foundation to the Negro community and much of their music is so familiar to Americans that the genesis of the tunes is lost. They are American music. Ah, so true! Spirituals not only caught the ear of the America, they also touched its heart.

I anguish over the countless babies that have been aborted in the name of women’s reproductive rights. For those of us who believe that life begins at conception, abortion is nothing short of murder.

Consider the widely ignored trial of the Philadelphia doctor who deliberately terminated live babies during late-term abortion procedures. Contrast this nearly invisible media response to one where a serial killer of small children stands trial. Is this Gosnell person any different?

I wonder what those stalwart, long-suffering folks would think if they could see the conditions today when a high percentage of black children are born into homes without fathers? I wonder what they would say to the young people who seek escape in drugs and aberrant behavior? I don’t restrict the problems to the black community, because it is far wider in scope and envelops every ethnicity.

The sad story is that generation after generation will grow up without a father in the home. Role models so strong in the past now dissolve into sports heroes, and those who live wholesome lives are rare.

Pray for our nation. When government condones handing out the “morning after pill” to girls as young as fifteen without parental knowledge, what is next? I shudder to consider that at all.

Each morning brings a new day, but so many of those days are such disappointments to those of us who believe that the America we love is dying. Courage is the ability to face down evil and do the right thing. Courage is not coming out of a bigger and bigger closet and flaunting homosexuality. Privacy is privacy. If some people feel that they need to live that lifestyle, let them do it — but in private.

I do not know what it will take to change course, but I pray that God will give us the guidance we need. He is there for us. We have only to ask. Think about it.

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

# 143

April 21, 2013

“Dangerous Complacency”

Monday we sat aghast at yet another Islamic attack took the lives and shattered the bodies of innocent people. “Yet another?” You bet. The Fort Hood massacre wasn’t a case of workplace violence. The perpetrator was heard screaming “Allah Akbar” as he systematically mowed down cohorts.

But should this incident sparked shock? I think not. Patience on the terrorists’ part is not balanced by vigorous vigilance on ours. Because we live in a free society where people can move around at will, it is hard to internalize the mindset of awareness that the growing threat requires.

This has been a hard week for all of us — individually and corporately. The cry of “The British are coming” is eclipsed by the “Islamic terrorists are here.” Yet, we should not be surprised.

Our very character welcomes others. We are not, by nature, a suspicious society. However, of necessity, that is changing. Questions arise about how we monitor activities of a movement that shelters itself behind religion.

As we move to houses of worship across the nation, it is hard to internalize a creed that preaches death to non-believers and eternal reward for murderers. Yet, as we hear from the grisly “last videos” of suicide bombers, this is reality for perhaps tens of thousands of Islamists around the world.

I seldom write on a Sunday, but this week demands it. Shocking as it may seem Boston gave a $225,000 tax subsidy to the mosque attended by the terrorist duo. This shocks most of us because we constantly hear the bantering of “separation of church and state.” I wonder if a Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish congregation was afforded the same funding. Being the cynic that I am, my response is “Fat Chance!”

Fear of being judged intolerant allows extremists in Islam to make headway into areas that most of us deem outside the boundaries separating government and religious institutions.

Where is the wider Islamic community in all this? Dr. Zuhdi Jasser is a spokesperson that most viewers never hear. A valued contributor to FOX News Channel, this morning he pled for peace loving Muslims to step forward and decry the actions of the Boston Bombers.

Moreover, don’t listen to some commentators describe these two brothers as “boys.” The likes of them aren’t boys, they are men hell bent on killing others. The younger of the two cavalierly placed a bomb behind eight-year-old Martin Richard. He died. His little sister Jane lost a leg and his mother Denise suffered grave injuries. Thankfully, father Bill and older brother Henry were not hurt.

We cannot let their loss and the loss of both Krystle Campbell and Lü Lingzi dim as we go about our everyday activities — and Sean Collier was murdered in squad car as he guarded the MIT Campus in Boston. His loss is especially bitter to law enforcement on every American campus.

I remember vividly a column I wrote shortly after 9/11. As I reflect on its content, it is even more important to restate. It is not unreasonable to envision a nationwide series of small attacks in ordinary places of business or sports venues timed to strike fear into all of us.

Feeling safe is at the heart of our lives. We know of areas that are patently unsafe and we avoid them. We teach our children to avoid them. We warm newcomers to avoid them. Yet, the specter of violence as we go about our daily business and travel back and forth to work is alien to us.

We have allowed immigrants to this country to practice their religions freely for centuries. We welcome their houses of worship into our cities and towns and do not discriminate. Tolerating their silence is encouraging more of the violence and hatred, yet nobody in our government says a word.

As you pause to consider how religion impacts your life, I urge you to remember what faith in God imparts. What comes to mind are love and life. We love life. Knowing that it is not finite, we try to make every day count. The very idea that a faith would espouse death and mayhem is more than we can internalize. The question of the day is where is the wider Muslim community in this nation? Think about it. Complacency won’t answer it.