In the age of all this prosperity preaching, I imagine that this title would lead a lot of people to believe that I was about to give the battle cry of claiming something in the name of Jesus…nope. I take issue with any mass instruction except for things like fasting, reading the bible, praising the Lord,etc. When it comes to telling a bunch of people to claim the beneficial things of life WITHOUT having intimate knowledge of their life and times, you just might be setting someone up to claim something they are not ready for…(Oh great initial thought forgive me for straying far from thee)
I was thinking of claiming it all because I happened to see another American wearing a confederate flag on his hat. I live in North Carolina and it is a sight that is fairly common. It’s always some wanna be rough looking white guy or some girl who acts as if she’s not expecting some black person to start in on her….it’s usually the darting eyes that give her away. Of course there is that one group of them who you can’t quite tell whether it’s a man or woman because they have that short in the top, long in the back haircut and an extremely wide body…oh yeah and a wallet. Either way it puts me in a weird place to see it. Some days I pity the fool; other days I just want to slap them like they used to do in old black and white movies when someone was out of control.
More than anything else, my issue is with the selective claiming of horrid worldly events. When is the last time anyone saw an acceptable Nazi sign? How about rocking a 9/11 shirt in support of Islamic history. I have never seen rack of baseball hats with Vietnam rocks, nor have I seen t-shirts for the Tuskegee Experiment in support of science. The only outward sign of disrespect that even comes close is when the younger people hang their butts out of pants that are made solely for the purpose of covering your a*$.
My deal is to say; Claim it all. Don’t just claim a war fought for the soul of this nation because of the sore loser syndrome. You know the syndrome that causes the loser to pout and gloat and hold to the point that led to complete destruction and submission. Maybe this is news to some people, but the confederacy was crushed. Their point was lost. Their way of life was bowled over…They said “uncle”.
To still wear or display that relic of evil does not celebrate heritage in any way. How do you celebrate knowing that your ancestors were killed or quit while receiving the most thorough pelting to have been handed out from one military to the other? I mean I see that symbol and I wonder where the self- esteem of a person is who has to hold on to a loss to have meaning in life. When we study the Nazis, we see the defeat of Hitler. When we think about 9/11 we remember two wars and the death of Bin Laden. Vietnam is a black eye for most people so we only hear about helping the veterans. No one hardly knows about the Tuskegee experiment because of how unbelievably cruel it was. When we think about the Civil War we think about a bunch of racists and secessionists who had to tap out of the fight. We are forced to think about people who fought against freedom and liberty for all. Funny how these are the same people who cry out and scream for freedom and liberty now. I guess there isn’t a noose or chain long enough to reach up to the president so they are left holding a fear of the coming retribution. Maybe they don’t feel that way, but it sure felt good to type the possibility.
But if you are truly proud of that heritage then where is the other stuff? Just that group alone could boast about trapping slaves in Africa, driving the Indians along the Trail of Tears, the slaughter of countless Arabs, the killing of thousands of Japanese citizens, the arming of Bin Laden himself, and the killing of citizens of the future United States of America. They could also lay claim to rape of slaves, lynchings, beatings, and unfair voter laws. But if you let them tell it there is not a more “patriotic” group… Some people don’t know what a patriot is. History of a people is something you either learn and accept, or learn and reject. There is nothing wrong with celebrating history worth celebrating, but if you are going to claim the confederacy then the truth about it is, you should just claim it all.
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