Gerald Maclennon's Blog
August 25, 2025
11th Anniversary of THE DAY FROM HELL
25 AUGUST 2014 - "THE DAY FROM HELL"
Today is the day 11 years ago, August 25, 2014, that was the day from hell. Jeris and I sat in the VA surgery waiting room expecting to be there a long time but actually it was a very short time. The surgeon came out and said it was an open and close because there was nothing they could do (for Gerry). The cancer was too extensive. It’s also the day that Shar had her brain aneurysm... again, making it the day from hell. And today 11 years later you are both alive and well. Thank the Lord.
Sandra Lee Lehl (Hansen Logan Hansen) 8-25-2014
*****************************************************
A LETTER TO FELLOW GENEALOGY ENTHUSIAST re: the ancestors
I have worked on family history since 1982, and most of it was for the Logan family of Scotland and Ulster, of which I've learned I am not a biological member. How bizarre to discover such a life-altering fact at the age of 69. I am starting over with a new family from different origins, namely Wales (originally known as Cymru).
This phenomenon probably did not occur in other parallel time dimensions because I was dead from cancer in 2014.
It was only by a combined circle of human love, an army of prayer warriors, and the Deity they petitioned, that I was allowed a few more years of life in this aging, degenerating shell.
I do the work -- pleasure actually -- of genealogy for my daughter, my granddaughter, for those who have gone before us. In researching the deceased loved ones and their lives, I'm becoming acquainted with many remarkable human beings whom I am proud to call "family" -- rich and poor, of all social classes, some highborn but, more often than not, hard-laboring salt-of-the-earth people. God bless them all.
I have traced the bloodlines of my newly discovered family, the Salisbury's, back to the Middle Ages. That journey has included the story of the USA and its colonial period prior to the American Revolution in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The Salisbury's have been an integral part of the American experience, nearly all of the Salisbury men -- and women, too -- served in the struggles that bought and preserved our freedom, from the World Wars of the 20th century, to the American War Between the States where my great-great-grandfather, Edward Salisbury, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, and then on to the Wars of 1812 and to our nation's Revolutionary War against England, in which, I've learned, my 3rd great-grandfather, another Edward Salisbury, husband of Abigail Hawkins, served as Continental Soldier at the Battle of Ticonderoga, New York, plus other venues, to include the Battle of Oriskany -- after which (coincidentally?) my Vietnam War U.S. aircraft carrier was named.
[Clarification. There were 3 major battles at Fort Ticonderoga — located at the southernmost point of Lake Champlain, New York. They were fought in 1758, 1775, and 1777. The first in 1758 was considered a battle of the French and Indian War -- also known as The Seven Years War. The Battle for... and the Seige of... Fort Ticonderoga (1775, 1777) were actions of the American Revolutionary War.]
Today, too many Americans, due to lack of oral traditions and/or familial cohesiveness, feel disenfranchised from their own nation -- which is a nation of immigrants, of indigenous, of former slaves, of refugees. It is indeed a great melting pot -- always has been. Today, far too many Americans feel unattached, floating in a limbo of haze -- electronic, pharmacological, ecological, misinformational. This should not be the case. Our heritage is too great for such dissolution and such disillusion, to occur.
Optimistically, I am ecstatic to know I, you and fortunate others, have regained some grounding and understanding by way of genealogical research. Some always had it, but only a minority. Research of heritage and traditions, I believe, is integral to the ordered flow and flux of human history. I might even say, essential.
Some scientists theorize that humans contain genetic memory in the cells of their bodies, passed from generation to generation. In light of this theory, during the last year, my daughter Jessica -- my only child who thought she was a Logan but in actuality is a Salisbury/Salusbury -- has felt emotionally drawn to the dynasty of the Tudor kings and queens of Wales, Scotland, Brittany but primarily England. Lo and behold, within the past five months, we've learned by way of DNA analysis and on Ancestry (dot) com, that as Salisbury family, we are genetically linked to the Tudor dynasty. My daughter's 13th great-grandmother is Katheryn of Berain Tudor, Mother of Wales. Jessica's 16th great-grandparents are King Henry VII Tudor and his wife, Queen Elizabeth of York Plantagenet. Remember the War of the Roses? Their marriage was a peace treaty of sorts. And then, there's the notorious King Henry VIII. He is Jessica's 16th great-uncle... but in the silver-lining department, Queen Elizabeth I of England, one of Britain's greatest and most beloved monarchs, is Jessica's 1st cousin, 16X removed. Of course, that also links Jessica and Stella to Anne Boleyn, mother of Elizabeth I. In some providential way, being blood relatives to Queens Elizabeth and Boleyn, and other great women, must, I pray, compensate for the scoundrel who was the murderous, polygamist Henry the Eighth.
And so be it, that is my raison d'etre here in the twilight years of my present incarnation. I do look forward, and backward, to meeting the ancestors again. Time is a human construct. In all truth, we of all the human race, have always been together -- past, present, future.
Gerald Edward Logan Salisbury
County Lancaster, Nebraska USA - 10 March 2017
****************************************************
SAPIENTIA
What I learned when I died... and returned
13 December 2020
Not until you are told you are dying, do you become aware you are not your body but merely consciousness inhabiting the body of an animal: a highly evolved ape. And you’re living in a world of apes that think they are the crowning achievement of natural evolution. Wrong.
Consciousness. What is it?
Some call it Spirit. Some call it a Soul. I prefer Consciousness because in all things it is what fits best. Like any ethnic group, it begins with a clean slate and builds upon that. As with an ethnic group – or race, or nation – Consciousness accumulates a culture.
Consciousness floats in the ethereal quantum Universe. With the advent of every new life, the brain (and heart) imports a portion of the Great Universal Consciousness and names it Gerry, Sandra, Jeff, Jeris, Jessica, Stella, Ryan, Derek, Tanner, Tonya, Jason, Kalah and so on and so forth.
Each portion in all truth can call itself an individual... divided/extracted from the whole.
Time is a concept invented by man (and other conscious entities) to help us navigate this minuscule segment of the Universe which many of our kind come to believe is the only portion/segment in existence, as in, “The world is Planet Earth and Homo sapiens sapiens... and we are the entire sum.”
Nothing is further from the truth. We are fully functioning droplets of individual Consciousness within the massive “Cloud” that constitutes the Whole of Consciousness.
Call it what you will... Cloud (which I don’t particularly like because it describes an Internet cyber alternative). Call it Cloud... as in Heaven, Nirvana, Valhalla, Elysium, Happy Hunting Ground. Your choice.
When we as individuals have traveled through life -- from beginning to end of the inhabited body -- 0 to 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 circumnavigations of our little planet around the star we call “Old Sol”... And when that body breaks down and is no longer a useful vehicle, we as individual portions of Consciousness depart the aged or broken ape body and transmigrate back to the Whole (the Cloud, if you prefer) from whence we came. This journey of Consciousness is called Transmigration.
This affirmation has long existed in Buddhists, Hindu’s, Kabbalistic Judaism, even certain sects of Mystic Christianity and Messianism as they were at their inception... but were gradually dispensed because specific portions of Consciousness disapproved of the notion that leaders, monarchs, magistrates, royalty could ever be reincarnated as mere peasants, slaves, campesinos, field workers.
Unbelievably, it is valid. And rebirth location (body occupancy) is based on thoughts and actions in the previous incarnation. Hindus and Buddhists call it Kama or Karma. In affirmation, one book of wisdom says, “As you sow, so shall you reap.”
We are all individualized portions (Heb. Perushim) of The Universal Mind. That Greater Consciousness is the Source of All That Is. Intelligent, sentient, compassionate, loving... it is the so-called “Kingdom of Heaven” that Messiah Yeshua identified in his Jewish Coming.
It is comprehended by a portion of us.
------------------------------------------------------
Y’shua called “The Heart” a special organ of receptiveness within us... and I’m not sure if He was being literal or figurative in that identification. In human anatomy, I have learned the human heart has its own internal command center, and functions independently of the cerebrum/cerebellum. A man shot in the brain may still have a beating heart that continues pumping blood until the victim has totally bled out.
Connie Francis may have been right when she sang, “Yes, my heart has a mind of its own.”
***********************************************
Gerald Edward Logan Salisbury
13 December 2020 /
25 August 2025
Today is the day 11 years ago, August 25, 2014, that was the day from hell. Jeris and I sat in the VA surgery waiting room expecting to be there a long time but actually it was a very short time. The surgeon came out and said it was an open and close because there was nothing they could do (for Gerry). The cancer was too extensive. It’s also the day that Shar had her brain aneurysm... again, making it the day from hell. And today 11 years later you are both alive and well. Thank the Lord.
Sandra Lee Lehl (Hansen Logan Hansen) 8-25-2014
*****************************************************
A LETTER TO FELLOW GENEALOGY ENTHUSIAST re: the ancestors
I have worked on family history since 1982, and most of it was for the Logan family of Scotland and Ulster, of which I've learned I am not a biological member. How bizarre to discover such a life-altering fact at the age of 69. I am starting over with a new family from different origins, namely Wales (originally known as Cymru).
This phenomenon probably did not occur in other parallel time dimensions because I was dead from cancer in 2014.
It was only by a combined circle of human love, an army of prayer warriors, and the Deity they petitioned, that I was allowed a few more years of life in this aging, degenerating shell.
I do the work -- pleasure actually -- of genealogy for my daughter, my granddaughter, for those who have gone before us. In researching the deceased loved ones and their lives, I'm becoming acquainted with many remarkable human beings whom I am proud to call "family" -- rich and poor, of all social classes, some highborn but, more often than not, hard-laboring salt-of-the-earth people. God bless them all.
I have traced the bloodlines of my newly discovered family, the Salisbury's, back to the Middle Ages. That journey has included the story of the USA and its colonial period prior to the American Revolution in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The Salisbury's have been an integral part of the American experience, nearly all of the Salisbury men -- and women, too -- served in the struggles that bought and preserved our freedom, from the World Wars of the 20th century, to the American War Between the States where my great-great-grandfather, Edward Salisbury, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, and then on to the Wars of 1812 and to our nation's Revolutionary War against England, in which, I've learned, my 3rd great-grandfather, another Edward Salisbury, husband of Abigail Hawkins, served as Continental Soldier at the Battle of Ticonderoga, New York, plus other venues, to include the Battle of Oriskany -- after which (coincidentally?) my Vietnam War U.S. aircraft carrier was named.
[Clarification. There were 3 major battles at Fort Ticonderoga — located at the southernmost point of Lake Champlain, New York. They were fought in 1758, 1775, and 1777. The first in 1758 was considered a battle of the French and Indian War -- also known as The Seven Years War. The Battle for... and the Seige of... Fort Ticonderoga (1775, 1777) were actions of the American Revolutionary War.]
Today, too many Americans, due to lack of oral traditions and/or familial cohesiveness, feel disenfranchised from their own nation -- which is a nation of immigrants, of indigenous, of former slaves, of refugees. It is indeed a great melting pot -- always has been. Today, far too many Americans feel unattached, floating in a limbo of haze -- electronic, pharmacological, ecological, misinformational. This should not be the case. Our heritage is too great for such dissolution and such disillusion, to occur.
Optimistically, I am ecstatic to know I, you and fortunate others, have regained some grounding and understanding by way of genealogical research. Some always had it, but only a minority. Research of heritage and traditions, I believe, is integral to the ordered flow and flux of human history. I might even say, essential.
Some scientists theorize that humans contain genetic memory in the cells of their bodies, passed from generation to generation. In light of this theory, during the last year, my daughter Jessica -- my only child who thought she was a Logan but in actuality is a Salisbury/Salusbury -- has felt emotionally drawn to the dynasty of the Tudor kings and queens of Wales, Scotland, Brittany but primarily England. Lo and behold, within the past five months, we've learned by way of DNA analysis and on Ancestry (dot) com, that as Salisbury family, we are genetically linked to the Tudor dynasty. My daughter's 13th great-grandmother is Katheryn of Berain Tudor, Mother of Wales. Jessica's 16th great-grandparents are King Henry VII Tudor and his wife, Queen Elizabeth of York Plantagenet. Remember the War of the Roses? Their marriage was a peace treaty of sorts. And then, there's the notorious King Henry VIII. He is Jessica's 16th great-uncle... but in the silver-lining department, Queen Elizabeth I of England, one of Britain's greatest and most beloved monarchs, is Jessica's 1st cousin, 16X removed. Of course, that also links Jessica and Stella to Anne Boleyn, mother of Elizabeth I. In some providential way, being blood relatives to Queens Elizabeth and Boleyn, and other great women, must, I pray, compensate for the scoundrel who was the murderous, polygamist Henry the Eighth.
And so be it, that is my raison d'etre here in the twilight years of my present incarnation. I do look forward, and backward, to meeting the ancestors again. Time is a human construct. In all truth, we of all the human race, have always been together -- past, present, future.
Gerald Edward Logan Salisbury
County Lancaster, Nebraska USA - 10 March 2017
****************************************************
SAPIENTIA
What I learned when I died... and returned
13 December 2020
Not until you are told you are dying, do you become aware you are not your body but merely consciousness inhabiting the body of an animal: a highly evolved ape. And you’re living in a world of apes that think they are the crowning achievement of natural evolution. Wrong.
Consciousness. What is it?
Some call it Spirit. Some call it a Soul. I prefer Consciousness because in all things it is what fits best. Like any ethnic group, it begins with a clean slate and builds upon that. As with an ethnic group – or race, or nation – Consciousness accumulates a culture.
Consciousness floats in the ethereal quantum Universe. With the advent of every new life, the brain (and heart) imports a portion of the Great Universal Consciousness and names it Gerry, Sandra, Jeff, Jeris, Jessica, Stella, Ryan, Derek, Tanner, Tonya, Jason, Kalah and so on and so forth.
Each portion in all truth can call itself an individual... divided/extracted from the whole.
Time is a concept invented by man (and other conscious entities) to help us navigate this minuscule segment of the Universe which many of our kind come to believe is the only portion/segment in existence, as in, “The world is Planet Earth and Homo sapiens sapiens... and we are the entire sum.”
Nothing is further from the truth. We are fully functioning droplets of individual Consciousness within the massive “Cloud” that constitutes the Whole of Consciousness.
Call it what you will... Cloud (which I don’t particularly like because it describes an Internet cyber alternative). Call it Cloud... as in Heaven, Nirvana, Valhalla, Elysium, Happy Hunting Ground. Your choice.
When we as individuals have traveled through life -- from beginning to end of the inhabited body -- 0 to 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 circumnavigations of our little planet around the star we call “Old Sol”... And when that body breaks down and is no longer a useful vehicle, we as individual portions of Consciousness depart the aged or broken ape body and transmigrate back to the Whole (the Cloud, if you prefer) from whence we came. This journey of Consciousness is called Transmigration.
This affirmation has long existed in Buddhists, Hindu’s, Kabbalistic Judaism, even certain sects of Mystic Christianity and Messianism as they were at their inception... but were gradually dispensed because specific portions of Consciousness disapproved of the notion that leaders, monarchs, magistrates, royalty could ever be reincarnated as mere peasants, slaves, campesinos, field workers.
Unbelievably, it is valid. And rebirth location (body occupancy) is based on thoughts and actions in the previous incarnation. Hindus and Buddhists call it Kama or Karma. In affirmation, one book of wisdom says, “As you sow, so shall you reap.”
We are all individualized portions (Heb. Perushim) of The Universal Mind. That Greater Consciousness is the Source of All That Is. Intelligent, sentient, compassionate, loving... it is the so-called “Kingdom of Heaven” that Messiah Yeshua identified in his Jewish Coming.
It is comprehended by a portion of us.
------------------------------------------------------
Y’shua called “The Heart” a special organ of receptiveness within us... and I’m not sure if He was being literal or figurative in that identification. In human anatomy, I have learned the human heart has its own internal command center, and functions independently of the cerebrum/cerebellum. A man shot in the brain may still have a beating heart that continues pumping blood until the victim has totally bled out.
Connie Francis may have been right when she sang, “Yes, my heart has a mind of its own.”
***********************************************
Gerald Edward Logan Salisbury
13 December 2020 /
25 August 2025
April 11, 2022
Open Letter to Dr Eban Alexander Regarding His Book About Dying and Going to Heaven: Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife
Upon completion of this book (13 Apr 2017) I didn't know quite what to think of the good doctor's journey into the unknown. It seemed more like hell than it did heaven. I experienced the same feeling of spiritual betrayal that I had after watching director Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988) starring Michael Keaton. Such an existential emptiness... I felt sorry for impressionable youth exposed to such cinematic heresy.
On 13 Apr 2017, I wrote a letter to Dr. Eban Alexander - hoping against all hope he would reply. But he didn't. The letter comments:
Regarding your decision, doctor, to use "Om", I propose the Hebrew Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey or YHVH more accurately conveys the nature of the Self-Existent One. I propose that Prince of Egypt, Moshe, knew precisely why he chose that triple verb conjugation of hayah (to be; exist). Defined, it means essentially "I was, I am, I always will be." There is no gender assignment. It is spirit. It defies concepts of time and space, as you experienced, and later tried to explain in words that seemed inadequate, the "awe of the Core". In my opinion, it is the universal connectedness of everything, as you suggested... as quark mechanics theorizes.
Doctor, there is much more depth to Judaism than what is presented to the world; so too the Jewish Rabbi bearing the name of Yesha-Yah-u (meaning, the liberation of spirit provided by YHVH).
In 2014, I was near death but came back. Why? I don't know for sure but I think my small army of prayer warriors had something to do with it.
Academically, I am no one special. I am not a worldly success story by any stretch. Still, I feel a certain kinsmanship with you because of our experiential similarities.
There was a secondary formal name the Deity conveyed to Moshe. It was, "Aehyeh Asher Aehyeh" meaning "I am continually becoming what I am becoming". To most people that would seem like gibberish but I have a hunch you understand exactly what it means.
Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife
On 13 Apr 2017, I wrote a letter to Dr. Eban Alexander - hoping against all hope he would reply. But he didn't. The letter comments:
Regarding your decision, doctor, to use "Om", I propose the Hebrew Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey or YHVH more accurately conveys the nature of the Self-Existent One. I propose that Prince of Egypt, Moshe, knew precisely why he chose that triple verb conjugation of hayah (to be; exist). Defined, it means essentially "I was, I am, I always will be." There is no gender assignment. It is spirit. It defies concepts of time and space, as you experienced, and later tried to explain in words that seemed inadequate, the "awe of the Core". In my opinion, it is the universal connectedness of everything, as you suggested... as quark mechanics theorizes.
Doctor, there is much more depth to Judaism than what is presented to the world; so too the Jewish Rabbi bearing the name of Yesha-Yah-u (meaning, the liberation of spirit provided by YHVH).
In 2014, I was near death but came back. Why? I don't know for sure but I think my small army of prayer warriors had something to do with it.
Academically, I am no one special. I am not a worldly success story by any stretch. Still, I feel a certain kinsmanship with you because of our experiential similarities.
There was a secondary formal name the Deity conveyed to Moshe. It was, "Aehyeh Asher Aehyeh" meaning "I am continually becoming what I am becoming". To most people that would seem like gibberish but I have a hunch you understand exactly what it means.
Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife
June 26, 2021
Positivity and Hope for Our Children rather than Alarmism and Despair
2021. It is time to give children of this world a diet of positivity and hope rather than alarmist despair.
Swedish teen, Greta Thunberg, and those who “condone her alarmist nonsense” are tragically destroying young people, according to Australian Commentator Alan Jones.
“We have learned that vulnerable students have fallen through the cracks over coronavirus,” he said.
“We have been told that schools don't have a proper review process to prevent - a frightening term - suicide clusters.
“Young people are constantly comparing themselves to others on social media and suffering mental health problems as a result.”
Mr Jones said there are “two blunt answers” as to how this crisis has “accelerated to this point”.
“The first is an appalling absence of political leadership,” he said.
“But young people are being confronted by uninformed, disinformed, illiterate and often innumerate protest leaders urging young people to march for causes they don’t understand based on arguments that can’t be proven and trading on fear which is destructive.
“Why have leaders in the western world given international exposure to the uninformed and dis-informed utterances of Greta Thunberg?”
Greta Thunberg’s “dishonest, alarmist rubbish” is now seeing its manifestation in massive emotional and psychological instability in young people, according to Mr Jones.
“It is a farce; a sickening farce,” says Alan Jones.
-------------------------------------------------------
The following "Wake Up Call" comes from an anonymous source on Facebook:
To all the school kids going on “strike” for Climate Change.
You are the first generation who has required air-conditioning in every classroom.
You want TV in every room and your classes are all computerized.
You spend all day and night on electronic devices.
More than ever, you don’t walk or ride bikes to school but arrive in caravans of private cars that choke suburban roads, pollute the air and worsen rush hour traffic.
You are the biggest consumers of manufactured goods ever and update perfectly good expensive luxury items to stay trendy.
Your entertainment comes from electric devices.
Furthermore, the people driving your protests are the same people who insist on artificially inflating the population growth through immigration, which increases the need for energy, manufacturing and transport.
The more people we have, the more forest and bush land we clear and more of the environment is destroyed.
How about this…
Tell your teachers to switch off the air-conditioning.
Walk or ride to school.
Switch off your devices and read a book.
Make a sandwich instead of buying manufactured fast food.
No, none of this will happen because you are selfish, badly educated, virtue signalling little turds, inspired by the adults around you who crave a feeling of having a “noble cause” while they indulge themselves in Western luxury and unprecedented quality of life.”
Wake up, grow up and shut up until you are sure of the facts before protesting.
----------------------------------------------------------
Again... Australian Commentator Alan Jones:
Consider this: there are alarming incidents -- and they are increasing -- of suicide and attempted suicide among today's teenagers. Even more are considering it. Many experts are saying this is the tip of the iceberg and these incidents won't go away.
There are so many other factors at work here: social media that can say anything it wants about any other person. Kids live off of this stuff and, as a result, are made to feel unworthy.
The teenage Greta Thunbergs of the world are telling their peers, "There is no hope. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We're at the beginning of a mass extinction." So she whines on and on.
------------------------------------------------
THE CHILD BORN TODAY WILL HAVE MORE OPPORTUNITIES AND A SAFER FUTURE THAN ANY OTHER CHILD AT ANY TIME IN HUMAN HISTORY
------------------------------------------------
It is disgraceful that these assertions go unchallenged by adults who call themselves 'leaders'. Young people are privately terrified and wonder where they belong.
The system is broken and badly broken. And only by admitting that, can we seek solution. Stop preaching alarmism and look at the facts rather than the propaganda they are fed.
That learned, the child born today will have more opportunities and a safer future than any other child at any time in human history.
That child in the classroom will be blessed with a longer life expectancy than of any time in human history.
That child is entering a world where poverty, health and freedom are at an infinitely better level than other time in human history.
That child will find the availability of food better than at any time in human history.
We'll be safer from extreme weather. Last year, deaths from extreme weather were the lowest ever recorded.
That child will enjoy more leisure time than any other child in human history, and the greater slice of his or her life is focusing on things like music and the arts due to improved nutrition and living standards.
That child in the classroom is unlikely to ever take up arms in the defense of a nation; never have to climb into a trench or out of one; never have to storm a beach under machine gun fire.
Surely it's time to give these children a diet of positivity and hope, rather than alarmism and despair.
-- Alan Jones, seconded by Gerald Logan MacLennon
Swedish teen, Greta Thunberg, and those who “condone her alarmist nonsense” are tragically destroying young people, according to Australian Commentator Alan Jones.
“We have learned that vulnerable students have fallen through the cracks over coronavirus,” he said.
“We have been told that schools don't have a proper review process to prevent - a frightening term - suicide clusters.
“Young people are constantly comparing themselves to others on social media and suffering mental health problems as a result.”
Mr Jones said there are “two blunt answers” as to how this crisis has “accelerated to this point”.
“The first is an appalling absence of political leadership,” he said.
“But young people are being confronted by uninformed, disinformed, illiterate and often innumerate protest leaders urging young people to march for causes they don’t understand based on arguments that can’t be proven and trading on fear which is destructive.
“Why have leaders in the western world given international exposure to the uninformed and dis-informed utterances of Greta Thunberg?”
Greta Thunberg’s “dishonest, alarmist rubbish” is now seeing its manifestation in massive emotional and psychological instability in young people, according to Mr Jones.
“It is a farce; a sickening farce,” says Alan Jones.
-------------------------------------------------------
The following "Wake Up Call" comes from an anonymous source on Facebook:
To all the school kids going on “strike” for Climate Change.
You are the first generation who has required air-conditioning in every classroom.
You want TV in every room and your classes are all computerized.
You spend all day and night on electronic devices.
More than ever, you don’t walk or ride bikes to school but arrive in caravans of private cars that choke suburban roads, pollute the air and worsen rush hour traffic.
You are the biggest consumers of manufactured goods ever and update perfectly good expensive luxury items to stay trendy.
Your entertainment comes from electric devices.
Furthermore, the people driving your protests are the same people who insist on artificially inflating the population growth through immigration, which increases the need for energy, manufacturing and transport.
The more people we have, the more forest and bush land we clear and more of the environment is destroyed.
How about this…
Tell your teachers to switch off the air-conditioning.
Walk or ride to school.
Switch off your devices and read a book.
Make a sandwich instead of buying manufactured fast food.
No, none of this will happen because you are selfish, badly educated, virtue signalling little turds, inspired by the adults around you who crave a feeling of having a “noble cause” while they indulge themselves in Western luxury and unprecedented quality of life.”
Wake up, grow up and shut up until you are sure of the facts before protesting.
----------------------------------------------------------
Again... Australian Commentator Alan Jones:
Consider this: there are alarming incidents -- and they are increasing -- of suicide and attempted suicide among today's teenagers. Even more are considering it. Many experts are saying this is the tip of the iceberg and these incidents won't go away.
There are so many other factors at work here: social media that can say anything it wants about any other person. Kids live off of this stuff and, as a result, are made to feel unworthy.
The teenage Greta Thunbergs of the world are telling their peers, "There is no hope. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We're at the beginning of a mass extinction." So she whines on and on.
------------------------------------------------
THE CHILD BORN TODAY WILL HAVE MORE OPPORTUNITIES AND A SAFER FUTURE THAN ANY OTHER CHILD AT ANY TIME IN HUMAN HISTORY
------------------------------------------------
It is disgraceful that these assertions go unchallenged by adults who call themselves 'leaders'. Young people are privately terrified and wonder where they belong.
The system is broken and badly broken. And only by admitting that, can we seek solution. Stop preaching alarmism and look at the facts rather than the propaganda they are fed.
That learned, the child born today will have more opportunities and a safer future than any other child at any time in human history.
That child in the classroom will be blessed with a longer life expectancy than of any time in human history.
That child is entering a world where poverty, health and freedom are at an infinitely better level than other time in human history.
That child will find the availability of food better than at any time in human history.
We'll be safer from extreme weather. Last year, deaths from extreme weather were the lowest ever recorded.
That child will enjoy more leisure time than any other child in human history, and the greater slice of his or her life is focusing on things like music and the arts due to improved nutrition and living standards.
That child in the classroom is unlikely to ever take up arms in the defense of a nation; never have to climb into a trench or out of one; never have to storm a beach under machine gun fire.
Surely it's time to give these children a diet of positivity and hope, rather than alarmism and despair.
-- Alan Jones, seconded by Gerald Logan MacLennon
March 23, 2021
Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife
Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife -- by Eban Alexander
Upon completion of this book (13 Apr 2017) I didn't know quite what to think of the good doctor's journey into the unknown. It seemed more like hell than it did heaven. I experienced the same feeling of spiritual betrayal that I had after watching director Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988) starring Michael Keaton. Such an existential emptiness... I felt sorry for impressionable youth exposed to such cinematic heresy.
On 13 Apr 2017, I wrote a letter to Dr. Eban Alexander - hoping against all hope he would reply. But he didn't.
My letter comments follow:
Regarding your decision, doctor, to use "Om", I propose the Hebrew Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey or YHVH more accurately conveys the nature of the Self-Existent One. I propose that Prince of Egypt, Moshe, knew precisely why he chose that triple verb conjugation of hayah (to be; exist). Defined, it means essentially "I was, I am, I always will be." There is no gender assignment. It is spirit. It defies concepts of time and space, as you experienced, and later tried to explain in words that seemed inadequate, the "awe of the Core". In my opinion, it is the universal connectedness of everything, as you suggested... as quark mechanics theorizes.
Doctor, there is much more depth to Judaism than what is presented to the world; so too the Jewish Rabbi bearing the name of Yesha-Yah-u (meaning, the liberation of spirit provided by YHVH).
In 2014, I was near death but came back. Why? I don't know for sure but I think my small army of prayer warriors had something to do with it.
Academically, I am no one special. I am not a worldly success story by any stretch. Still, I feel a certain kinsmanship with you because of our experiential similarities.
There was a secondary formal name the Deity conveyed to Moshe. It was, "Aehyeh Asher Aehyeh" meaning "I am continually becoming what I am becoming". To most people that would seem like gibberish but I have a hunch you understand exactly what it means. I do.
- Gerald Edward Logan d/b/a Gerald MacLennon
Upon completion of this book (13 Apr 2017) I didn't know quite what to think of the good doctor's journey into the unknown. It seemed more like hell than it did heaven. I experienced the same feeling of spiritual betrayal that I had after watching director Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988) starring Michael Keaton. Such an existential emptiness... I felt sorry for impressionable youth exposed to such cinematic heresy.
On 13 Apr 2017, I wrote a letter to Dr. Eban Alexander - hoping against all hope he would reply. But he didn't.
My letter comments follow:
Regarding your decision, doctor, to use "Om", I propose the Hebrew Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey or YHVH more accurately conveys the nature of the Self-Existent One. I propose that Prince of Egypt, Moshe, knew precisely why he chose that triple verb conjugation of hayah (to be; exist). Defined, it means essentially "I was, I am, I always will be." There is no gender assignment. It is spirit. It defies concepts of time and space, as you experienced, and later tried to explain in words that seemed inadequate, the "awe of the Core". In my opinion, it is the universal connectedness of everything, as you suggested... as quark mechanics theorizes.
Doctor, there is much more depth to Judaism than what is presented to the world; so too the Jewish Rabbi bearing the name of Yesha-Yah-u (meaning, the liberation of spirit provided by YHVH).
In 2014, I was near death but came back. Why? I don't know for sure but I think my small army of prayer warriors had something to do with it.
Academically, I am no one special. I am not a worldly success story by any stretch. Still, I feel a certain kinsmanship with you because of our experiential similarities.
There was a secondary formal name the Deity conveyed to Moshe. It was, "Aehyeh Asher Aehyeh" meaning "I am continually becoming what I am becoming". To most people that would seem like gibberish but I have a hunch you understand exactly what it means. I do.
- Gerald Edward Logan d/b/a Gerald MacLennon
November 14, 2020
2020 November, Pandemic, Trump Refusal to Concede to Biden
What is to come in December and early January 2021? Will Trump's allegations of voter fraud be proven accurate? Will he create a National Emergency and then declare Martial Law in order to "deal with it"? That would allow him to remain in office and dismiss Congress until such time as he declares the emergency ended.
To those listening... I am not saying I endorse such actions.
It's a bit nerve-wracking because i can't pinpoint the endgame. Some use populism; some use religion; some try psy-ops (psychological operations); some violence. But none really pinpoints the endgame.
There are several political endgame theories posted online. They may have some of the truth but no one has it all. I don't think it can be whittled down to 'principalities of the air' as St. Paul wrote... nor angels of heaven vs fallen angels of hell.
Maybe I accord the alarmists too much intelligence. Perhaps they're driven solely by emotion. To the best of my ability I avoid the mass hysteria because if one gives in and starts believing the alarmists, he becomes a slave to their ideologies.
That's why - for the sake of personal serenity - much of my focus remains on Nature and the Animal Kingdom. They are (by nature, excuse the pun) universally neutral. The other? Well, it's a younger man's game. I don't think the Almighty gave me a bonus of six years so that I could drive myself insane... and then die. That wouldn't be in His/Her/Its nature... would it?
-- Gerald Logan MacLennon
To those listening... I am not saying I endorse such actions.
It's a bit nerve-wracking because i can't pinpoint the endgame. Some use populism; some use religion; some try psy-ops (psychological operations); some violence. But none really pinpoints the endgame.
There are several political endgame theories posted online. They may have some of the truth but no one has it all. I don't think it can be whittled down to 'principalities of the air' as St. Paul wrote... nor angels of heaven vs fallen angels of hell.
Maybe I accord the alarmists too much intelligence. Perhaps they're driven solely by emotion. To the best of my ability I avoid the mass hysteria because if one gives in and starts believing the alarmists, he becomes a slave to their ideologies.
That's why - for the sake of personal serenity - much of my focus remains on Nature and the Animal Kingdom. They are (by nature, excuse the pun) universally neutral. The other? Well, it's a younger man's game. I don't think the Almighty gave me a bonus of six years so that I could drive myself insane... and then die. That wouldn't be in His/Her/Its nature... would it?
-- Gerald Logan MacLennon
October 5, 2020
Socialist Commandeering of Mainline Protestant Churches
This was a so-called sermon during worship services, Sunday, October 5, 2020. I say "so-called" because it's more of a political speech than a sermon.
Friends of mine, who have been lifelong members of this church are understandably upset. One of them told me, "Another political message from church this morning. Without actually saying 'vote for Biden', that's pretty much what the message was. I'm becoming a bit disillusioned with the church I've always loved. I'm sad because it's been my church for 50 years and it would be really hard to leave. I love that church and there are many memories there for me. Many important events have taken place there. It's always felt like home to me."
I will now provide a transcription of that service.
SUNDAY MORNING, OCT 4, 2020, ST PAUL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
INTRODUCTION by Rev. Jane Florence, Senior Pastor, St Paul United Methodist Church:
"It is my pleasure today to welcome Dr. Carolyn Winfree to our pulpit. She was formerly the Nebraska Conference United Methodist Church (NC UMC) Director of Peace with Justice Ministries Coordinator for over 3 decades! And even in her retirement has continued to integrate spirituality as the base and the foundation for all social justice work. And so, she remains active with her husband, Ken, living a life grounded in God's love to bring forth a change in the world.
----------------------------------------------------
Dr. Winfree: What do we do today when we have leaders in high offices who demean women, who label immigrants as rapists and murderers? What do we do when we see leaders support white supremacists and encourage violence?
What do we do when the messages from the highest office in the land are dividing us and creating fear?
This is not about pitting one political party against another... this is so far beyond a partisan issue. Our democracy is in peril as the president of the United States refuses to accept a peaceful transition of power should he lose in November.
Part of our Christian journey is to take the values of Jesus into every sphere of our lives. And, that means we take those values into the politics of our government.
Let me share a different narrative than what we hear from the White House (story of the Dr Carolyn's time on the US/Mexico border assisting refugee families from Latin American countries who seek entry into the USA).
The Politics of Jesus compel us to vote for leaders who will open their hearts "to the least of these"* be they immigrants fleeing for their lives or elders worrying about their Social Security checks.
The Politics of Jesus compel us to vote for leaders who support and listen to and see Blacks who are raging against the system that continues to discount their humanity; the Politics of Jesus compel us to be sensitive to that mother of a sick child who can't afford healthcare.
We are now just weeks away from this [presidential] election... it is time to take to heart these words from Matthew 5, verses 13 through 15, "You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden, neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house."
It is time to be salt, and light. My invitation, my plea to you this day is to pray with all of your hearts, to pray with your head, and your hands, and your feet, not only to commit to vote but to also help others register and vote as well....
Select a candidate on the local level, the state and the national level that you believe exemplifies the Politics of Jesus, and then, ask how you can help....
In the words of Martin Luther King, Junior -- adapted somewhat -- "The ultimate measure of a man, and a woman, is not where he or she stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where that person stands in times of challenge and controversy."
We are living in such times, and silence is complicity. Our vote is an act of discipleship. And this year, it is an act of resistance.
--------------------
*Matthew 25:40. “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”. King James Version (KJV)
--------------------------------------------------
KEY WORDS: (according to me)
- United _____ Church [United = ecumenical, a liberal transition of the church beginning in the 1970s]
- Peace with Justice [a euphemism for Socialism]
- Social Justice [a euphemism for Socialism]
- Silence is Complicity [Black Lives Matter slogan]
- Raging against the System [revolution]
- Act of Resistance [revolution]
Friends of mine, who have been lifelong members of this church are understandably upset. One of them told me, "Another political message from church this morning. Without actually saying 'vote for Biden', that's pretty much what the message was. I'm becoming a bit disillusioned with the church I've always loved. I'm sad because it's been my church for 50 years and it would be really hard to leave. I love that church and there are many memories there for me. Many important events have taken place there. It's always felt like home to me."
I will now provide a transcription of that service.
SUNDAY MORNING, OCT 4, 2020, ST PAUL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
INTRODUCTION by Rev. Jane Florence, Senior Pastor, St Paul United Methodist Church:
"It is my pleasure today to welcome Dr. Carolyn Winfree to our pulpit. She was formerly the Nebraska Conference United Methodist Church (NC UMC) Director of Peace with Justice Ministries Coordinator for over 3 decades! And even in her retirement has continued to integrate spirituality as the base and the foundation for all social justice work. And so, she remains active with her husband, Ken, living a life grounded in God's love to bring forth a change in the world.
----------------------------------------------------
Dr. Winfree: What do we do today when we have leaders in high offices who demean women, who label immigrants as rapists and murderers? What do we do when we see leaders support white supremacists and encourage violence?
What do we do when the messages from the highest office in the land are dividing us and creating fear?
This is not about pitting one political party against another... this is so far beyond a partisan issue. Our democracy is in peril as the president of the United States refuses to accept a peaceful transition of power should he lose in November.
Part of our Christian journey is to take the values of Jesus into every sphere of our lives. And, that means we take those values into the politics of our government.
Let me share a different narrative than what we hear from the White House (story of the Dr Carolyn's time on the US/Mexico border assisting refugee families from Latin American countries who seek entry into the USA).
The Politics of Jesus compel us to vote for leaders who will open their hearts "to the least of these"* be they immigrants fleeing for their lives or elders worrying about their Social Security checks.
The Politics of Jesus compel us to vote for leaders who support and listen to and see Blacks who are raging against the system that continues to discount their humanity; the Politics of Jesus compel us to be sensitive to that mother of a sick child who can't afford healthcare.
We are now just weeks away from this [presidential] election... it is time to take to heart these words from Matthew 5, verses 13 through 15, "You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden, neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house."
It is time to be salt, and light. My invitation, my plea to you this day is to pray with all of your hearts, to pray with your head, and your hands, and your feet, not only to commit to vote but to also help others register and vote as well....
Select a candidate on the local level, the state and the national level that you believe exemplifies the Politics of Jesus, and then, ask how you can help....
In the words of Martin Luther King, Junior -- adapted somewhat -- "The ultimate measure of a man, and a woman, is not where he or she stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where that person stands in times of challenge and controversy."
We are living in such times, and silence is complicity. Our vote is an act of discipleship. And this year, it is an act of resistance.
--------------------
*Matthew 25:40. “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”. King James Version (KJV)
--------------------------------------------------
KEY WORDS: (according to me)
- United _____ Church [United = ecumenical, a liberal transition of the church beginning in the 1970s]
- Peace with Justice [a euphemism for Socialism]
- Social Justice [a euphemism for Socialism]
- Silence is Complicity [Black Lives Matter slogan]
- Raging against the System [revolution]
- Act of Resistance [revolution]
August 21, 2020
One Century of the 19th Amendment
This must not go by without acknowledgement. My daughter, the conscientious activist, would be disappointed in me.
One century ago, American Women finally won the right to vote. The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution granted women the right to vote; the right sought by the Women's Suffrage movement. It was ratified on August 18, 1920. A few of the more prominent leaders were Emmeline Parkhurst, Alice Paul, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and of course, Susan B. Anthony.
"The only question left to be settled now is: Are women persons? And I hardly believe any of our opponents will have the hardihood to say they are not.... Being persons, then, women are citizens; and no state has a right to make any new law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or immunities."
-- Susan B. Anthony
President Trump's Advisors thought it would be cute to issue a pardon to Susan B. Anthony on this anniversary. However, the Susan B. Anthony Museum Curator said, something on the order of... Ms Anthony did not want a pardon, she wanted no capitulation in any form because she said to accept a pardon or pay the $50 fine would be admission to guilt. She did not consider a woman casting a vote as anything to be guilty about.
One century ago, American Women finally won the right to vote. The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution granted women the right to vote; the right sought by the Women's Suffrage movement. It was ratified on August 18, 1920. A few of the more prominent leaders were Emmeline Parkhurst, Alice Paul, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and of course, Susan B. Anthony.
"The only question left to be settled now is: Are women persons? And I hardly believe any of our opponents will have the hardihood to say they are not.... Being persons, then, women are citizens; and no state has a right to make any new law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or immunities."
-- Susan B. Anthony
President Trump's Advisors thought it would be cute to issue a pardon to Susan B. Anthony on this anniversary. However, the Susan B. Anthony Museum Curator said, something on the order of... Ms Anthony did not want a pardon, she wanted no capitulation in any form because she said to accept a pardon or pay the $50 fine would be admission to guilt. She did not consider a woman casting a vote as anything to be guilty about.
August 20, 2020
Burial of the USS Oriskany
SUE: Amazing! I had to look up the ship - quite a history and now an artificial reef for divers. What a trip that would be! Glad they kept her intact (for the most part)
MAC: The USS Oriskany (CVA-34) now lies under 200 feet of the Gulf of Mexico. She was scuttled on purpose to create an artificial reef. She's open for business for SCUBA adventurers. Joe Dietrich, a photo interpreter shipmate, did a SCUBA dive on her... said it was eerie to see the compartments where we lived and worked submerged.
The Oriskany had a stellar history especially in Vietnam. One of my new friends, CDR Peter Fey, USN-retired pilot and Top Gun instructor, has written a book about the Oriskany and my airwing in particular during our Vietnam "cruise" of 1967. It's well worth the money to read if you're interested in naval aviation during war. The book is "BLOODY SIXTEEN" referring to our Carrier Air Wing-16 (CVW-16). His book is true military history and was approved for publishing by the DOD (Dept of Defense).
My book is a surly & gritty account of that particular cruise as seen from a grunt's point of view (a photo reconnaissance tech's POV). I call it "God, Bombs & Vietnam" using my pen name, Gerald MacLennon.
Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War
God, Bombs & Viet Nam: Based on the Diary of a 20-Year-Old Navy Enlisted Man in the Vietnam Air War - 1967
MAC: The USS Oriskany (CVA-34) now lies under 200 feet of the Gulf of Mexico. She was scuttled on purpose to create an artificial reef. She's open for business for SCUBA adventurers. Joe Dietrich, a photo interpreter shipmate, did a SCUBA dive on her... said it was eerie to see the compartments where we lived and worked submerged.
The Oriskany had a stellar history especially in Vietnam. One of my new friends, CDR Peter Fey, USN-retired pilot and Top Gun instructor, has written a book about the Oriskany and my airwing in particular during our Vietnam "cruise" of 1967. It's well worth the money to read if you're interested in naval aviation during war. The book is "BLOODY SIXTEEN" referring to our Carrier Air Wing-16 (CVW-16). His book is true military history and was approved for publishing by the DOD (Dept of Defense).
My book is a surly & gritty account of that particular cruise as seen from a grunt's point of view (a photo reconnaissance tech's POV). I call it "God, Bombs & Vietnam" using my pen name, Gerald MacLennon.
Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War
God, Bombs & Viet Nam: Based on the Diary of a 20-Year-Old Navy Enlisted Man in the Vietnam Air War - 1967
July 5, 2020
Black Lives Matter from an Old White Man's Perspective
Querida Daughter Jessica,
At the end of life I see it all now from the tower of a short man and old white man (two of the most despised segments of society) and then, I look back to my youth and the era of Jim Crow Laws which were heavily in force when I went to the Old South in 1965 to get U.S. Navy photography training.
I lived in Pensacola, Florida (actually more a part of Alabama than it is Florida) and was shocked by what I saw -- compared to Nebraska and southern California -- segregation everywhere (except on-base... the US Navy desegregated in 1947) but within the city the term was "colored": no coloreds allowed / colored go to the back of the bus / men women and colored restrooms / white and colored drinking fountains / colored section of bars/restaurants or just whites only, no coloreds / no coloreds or dogs / hotels & motels for whites only... coloreds had their own, usually in shitty conditions.
Like I said, such overt racism was shocking... we Northerners kept our racism less conspicuous, like the men of our family before me. And of course, systemic racism was present in the South and the North. Al Hill, one of my black shipmates, told me he preferred Southern racism because he "knew where he stood, and didn't have to guess."
As far as the business world goes, I was born into a "white man's dominion" that was segregated everywhere: the entertainment world, vaudeville, theater, movies, radio, television. Watching TV in the 1950's, I thought it was normal to see all white men on the news, all white people on programs - except for colored in subservient roles, like Rochester on the Jack Benny Show. (women in subservient roles, too). "Coloreds" were depicted as uneducated, humble, ebonics speaking, untermenchen -- no Frederic Douglass's. The common white excuse there was and is "Douglass probably had more white blood than Negro."
Oh, and that's right... in the 40s, 50s and 60s, the correct name was "Negro" in Yankeeland. Apparently a derivation of the Spanish: Negros, meaning Blacks. And while I'm on that, the Spanish word for indigenous people is "Indígenas" (in-DI-hee-NAS) which is where the name "Indians" came from not from "Columbus thought he was in the East Indies" as my 6th grade teacher taught me.
I am amazed watching today's 2020 television. In programming there's an equal amount of 'People of Color.' In some shows, more. Within news, comedies, dramas and other programs, people of all races are represented. And in advertising, mixed race actors are preferred. What we used to call "Mulatto's" in the 1950's but stopped because it was the Spanish word for "Mules"... those Mixed Race actors are in the highest demand... especially those who can pass for "just about any race."
There are many, many more Black Police today. When I was a kid, there were no Black Police... Zilch, Nada, Zero, Goose Egg. Any condemnation of police today is also condemnation of Black police, such as Seattle's Chief of Police.
We see Upper-Class Black men and women today and many, many more Middle-Class Black men and women. And in Low Income sectors, there appears to be as many whites as there are people-of-color. (Not sure if that's accurate since I haven't consulted the available data and stats. I could be wrong on that.)
Let me just close with this... you've seen progress in your 50 years, Daughter; I've seen even more in my 73. Sure, it ain't perfect but I doubt if it ever will be.
Jesus said, "You'll always have the poor among you." (John 12:8) but WHY should I quote from a book that never condemns slavery. Matter of fact, the writings of the Apostle Paul were used to keep America's slaves under subjugation, "Slaves, obey your masters." (Col 3:22, Eph 6:5) Why Black Slaves ever wanted to be Christians is puzzling to me. I suppose there were social advantages in earlier times.
Like I said, nothing and no body's perfect.
Hasta luego, Papacito
At the end of life I see it all now from the tower of a short man and old white man (two of the most despised segments of society) and then, I look back to my youth and the era of Jim Crow Laws which were heavily in force when I went to the Old South in 1965 to get U.S. Navy photography training.
I lived in Pensacola, Florida (actually more a part of Alabama than it is Florida) and was shocked by what I saw -- compared to Nebraska and southern California -- segregation everywhere (except on-base... the US Navy desegregated in 1947) but within the city the term was "colored": no coloreds allowed / colored go to the back of the bus / men women and colored restrooms / white and colored drinking fountains / colored section of bars/restaurants or just whites only, no coloreds / no coloreds or dogs / hotels & motels for whites only... coloreds had their own, usually in shitty conditions.
Like I said, such overt racism was shocking... we Northerners kept our racism less conspicuous, like the men of our family before me. And of course, systemic racism was present in the South and the North. Al Hill, one of my black shipmates, told me he preferred Southern racism because he "knew where he stood, and didn't have to guess."
As far as the business world goes, I was born into a "white man's dominion" that was segregated everywhere: the entertainment world, vaudeville, theater, movies, radio, television. Watching TV in the 1950's, I thought it was normal to see all white men on the news, all white people on programs - except for colored in subservient roles, like Rochester on the Jack Benny Show. (women in subservient roles, too). "Coloreds" were depicted as uneducated, humble, ebonics speaking, untermenchen -- no Frederic Douglass's. The common white excuse there was and is "Douglass probably had more white blood than Negro."
Oh, and that's right... in the 40s, 50s and 60s, the correct name was "Negro" in Yankeeland. Apparently a derivation of the Spanish: Negros, meaning Blacks. And while I'm on that, the Spanish word for indigenous people is "Indígenas" (in-DI-hee-NAS) which is where the name "Indians" came from not from "Columbus thought he was in the East Indies" as my 6th grade teacher taught me.
I am amazed watching today's 2020 television. In programming there's an equal amount of 'People of Color.' In some shows, more. Within news, comedies, dramas and other programs, people of all races are represented. And in advertising, mixed race actors are preferred. What we used to call "Mulatto's" in the 1950's but stopped because it was the Spanish word for "Mules"... those Mixed Race actors are in the highest demand... especially those who can pass for "just about any race."
There are many, many more Black Police today. When I was a kid, there were no Black Police... Zilch, Nada, Zero, Goose Egg. Any condemnation of police today is also condemnation of Black police, such as Seattle's Chief of Police.
We see Upper-Class Black men and women today and many, many more Middle-Class Black men and women. And in Low Income sectors, there appears to be as many whites as there are people-of-color. (Not sure if that's accurate since I haven't consulted the available data and stats. I could be wrong on that.)
Let me just close with this... you've seen progress in your 50 years, Daughter; I've seen even more in my 73. Sure, it ain't perfect but I doubt if it ever will be.
Jesus said, "You'll always have the poor among you." (John 12:8) but WHY should I quote from a book that never condemns slavery. Matter of fact, the writings of the Apostle Paul were used to keep America's slaves under subjugation, "Slaves, obey your masters." (Col 3:22, Eph 6:5) Why Black Slaves ever wanted to be Christians is puzzling to me. I suppose there were social advantages in earlier times.
Like I said, nothing and no body's perfect.
Hasta luego, Papacito
April 4, 2020
Delirium
Wrestling with Angels: An Anthology of Prose & Poetry
1951. Little Gerald was 4 years old and sick as a dog. I don't remember which childhood disease I had contracted, but it pretty much sapped all of my energy. My mother had made a bed for me in the living room of our Red Oak, Iowa apartment and was doing everything in her power to relieve the symptoms of the illness. I was sweating profusely. My pajamas were soaked. My body was so hot that normal air chilled my skin and made me shiver. It was summer but I had a blanket covering me. Mom would place a thermometer in my mouth at least once every hour.
The last thing I remember before entering delirium was Mom crying out to Dad, "Good Lord, Neal! His fever is up to 105 degrees! Call the doctor again!"
Deep within that delirium, I had a terrifying vision. I saw multiplication of things, both large and small... and some microscopic. A little boy doesn't have words to describe such visions, but I watched it as if it was a motion picture being projected on the screen of my mind.
Today, I can describe it as something similar to an amoeba reproducing by dividing into two, and then those two dividing into four. In turn, those 4 amoeba became 8. You get the idea. The division continued with increasing speed 8 to 16, 16 to 32, 32 to 64. Soon there were hundreds, then thousands, then millions, then billions. The image in my mind was filled to overflowing with this exponentially growing mass. I couldn't explain it to Mom or Dad. I kept the horrifying vision in the archives of my mind until I reached adulthood.
Then, one day I knew. We are destroying our own species and taking along thousands of others as we upset the balance of nature, the cycles of life, all that the Creator had made perfect in the beginning.
In my delirium I saw the shape of things to come. In the year 1950 the world’s population was approximately 2.5 billion human beings. As I write this in 2009, the population has leaped to around 6 billion. We are the delirium. The nightmare is us.
How long can earth's natural resources sustain out-of-control breeders reproducing like bunnies just to prove their virility. Men such as these strain our planet’s carrying capacity – taking, consuming but rarely giving anything of value back. Instead they loot us all of a future. And then, will the plagues and pandemics begin.
Referring to the human race, Earth scientist Dr. Louis Turi stated the dilemma quite well, “Mother Earth does not need us. When she is ready to heal herself, she will do so, even if it means the extinction of man.”
I know. That's not very encouraging.
Gerald Logan-MacLennon, 62, Rio Grande Valley, Texas 2009
1951. Little Gerald was 4 years old and sick as a dog. I don't remember which childhood disease I had contracted, but it pretty much sapped all of my energy. My mother had made a bed for me in the living room of our Red Oak, Iowa apartment and was doing everything in her power to relieve the symptoms of the illness. I was sweating profusely. My pajamas were soaked. My body was so hot that normal air chilled my skin and made me shiver. It was summer but I had a blanket covering me. Mom would place a thermometer in my mouth at least once every hour.
The last thing I remember before entering delirium was Mom crying out to Dad, "Good Lord, Neal! His fever is up to 105 degrees! Call the doctor again!"
Deep within that delirium, I had a terrifying vision. I saw multiplication of things, both large and small... and some microscopic. A little boy doesn't have words to describe such visions, but I watched it as if it was a motion picture being projected on the screen of my mind.
Today, I can describe it as something similar to an amoeba reproducing by dividing into two, and then those two dividing into four. In turn, those 4 amoeba became 8. You get the idea. The division continued with increasing speed 8 to 16, 16 to 32, 32 to 64. Soon there were hundreds, then thousands, then millions, then billions. The image in my mind was filled to overflowing with this exponentially growing mass. I couldn't explain it to Mom or Dad. I kept the horrifying vision in the archives of my mind until I reached adulthood.
Then, one day I knew. We are destroying our own species and taking along thousands of others as we upset the balance of nature, the cycles of life, all that the Creator had made perfect in the beginning.
In my delirium I saw the shape of things to come. In the year 1950 the world’s population was approximately 2.5 billion human beings. As I write this in 2009, the population has leaped to around 6 billion. We are the delirium. The nightmare is us.
How long can earth's natural resources sustain out-of-control breeders reproducing like bunnies just to prove their virility. Men such as these strain our planet’s carrying capacity – taking, consuming but rarely giving anything of value back. Instead they loot us all of a future. And then, will the plagues and pandemics begin.
Referring to the human race, Earth scientist Dr. Louis Turi stated the dilemma quite well, “Mother Earth does not need us. When she is ready to heal herself, she will do so, even if it means the extinction of man.”
I know. That's not very encouraging.
Gerald Logan-MacLennon, 62, Rio Grande Valley, Texas 2009
