Buoyancy And Sincerity

He was sustained not only by his natural buoyancy but by the sincerity of his Christian faith. During these last months the King walked with death as if death were a companion, an acquaintance whom he recognized and did not fear. In the end death came as a friend, and, after a happy day of sunshine and sport, and after "Good night" to those who loved him best, he fell asleep as every man or woman who strives to fear God and nothing else in the world may hope to do.




"A Deep And Solemn Note"




from a broadcast address given by Winston Churchill on the death of King George VI [Queen Elizabeth's dad], 7 February 1952




Start a conversation with me with something Churchill did, said, or is attributed to him and you pretty much will get on my good side. Or at least get me listening; soldier, writer, leader -- for those who don't know much about him (and I believe it's difficult if not impossible to interpret the twentieth century without a basic knowledge of what he did and said) you could do WAY worse than A Man of Destiny: Winston S. Churchill by the editors of Country Beautiful (LOC 65-21475) getting a summation of his life followed by his own work and tributes to him. This was published in 1965, the year of Churchill's death.




And I need to be doing some research if I plan to produce my planned National Novel Writing Month ... well, novel this November "President Churchill" which has me transposing his parents' places of birth. Because his real-life father was British and his mother was American, and something he said the first time he got to address the United States Senate gave me the idea: what if his dad was American and his mom was British? Would Winston Churchill as he faux-prophesied, assuming
similar American experiences to his real-world British ones, have eventually attained a Senate seat, or even the Presidency? And how would that, or would have that, changed the world we know?


Well, truth is stranger than fiction.


Not sure how much of this, if any of this, I'll get done when my family and I go on vacation in a week and a half. Perhaps that won't matter so much, but getting out of town and out of state, the latter of which I haven't done since my last visit to see my mom three years ago, has GOT to be a help. Even with the graphic novels I've been reading and getting some cool ideas from (an adaptation of James Patterson & Leopoldo Gout's Daniel X: Alien Hunter, ISBN 9780316004251 and the incredibly minimalist but so much fun Tiger Moth: Insect Ninja, ISBN 9781598892284, by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Erik Lervold) are just not ... well, moving me or I'm not letting them.


Martha, Sarah, Jeffrey, and I all did sit down to plan our vacation last night after dinner of Totino's pizza -- which normally I'm not a humongous fan of, but last night I was hungry and didn't complain AS much -- and chips and a distinct Pepsi drink for each of us. Truth, we are working not to yell at the kids, I need to not yell at the kids or not let Martha's yelling set me off to dislike someone as much as she does. We can hate what someone DOES -- our kids had that teachable moment, what I think could be a "God moment" when Sarah said upon seeing a picture of President Obama (man, he's been here a lot this week!) that we were supposed to hate him,


and Jeffrey came back that we can hate what he does, but not hate the man himself. I hear that and there is hope. Martha bounced off of that and explained that Jeffrey was the same say, we hate -- ok, she especially hates -- what he does sometimes but that doesn't mean we hate him. Boy, there are so many people today who need a lesson like this; from a Christian standpoint, it's the person's action that is the sin, NOT the person. Sure, this might get me kicked out of a few country club churches, but heck with that. So I finish this with the kids at Grandma's, who after her fall this Sunday has an appointment with a hand doctor today and an eye doctor tomorrow. They should go very well for her.


David