Just thought I would Share

The Sandpiper


by Robert Peterson


She was six years old when I first met her on the beach near where I live. 

I drive to this beach, a distance of three or four miles, whenever the world begins to close in on me. She was building a sand castle or something and looked up, her eyes as blue as the sea. 
"Hello," she said. 

I answered with a nod, not really in the mood to bother with a small child. 
"I'm building," she said. 

"I see that. What is it?" I asked, not really caring.

"Oh, I don't know, I just like the feel of sand." 
That sounds good, I thought, and slipped off my shoes. 

A sandpiper glided by. 

"That's a joy," the child said. 
"It's a what?" 

"It's a joy. My mama says sandpipers come to bring us joy." 

The bird went gliding down the beach. Good-bye joy, I muttered to myself, hello pain, and turned to walk on. I was depressed, my life seemed completely out of balance. 

"What's your name?" She wouldn't give up. 

"Robert," I answered. "I'm Robert Peterson." 

"Mine's Wendy... I'm six." 

"Hi, Wendy." 

She giggled. "You're funny," she said. 

In spite of my gloom, I laughed too and walked on. 

Her musical giggle followed me. 

"Come again, Mr.. P," she called. "We'll have another happy day." 

The next few days consisted of a group of unruly Boy Scouts, PTA meetings, and an ailing mother. The sun was shining one morning as I took my hands out of the dishwater. I need a sandpiper, I said to myself, gathering up my coat. 

The ever-changing balm of the seashore awaited me.. The breeze was chilly but I strode along, trying to recapture the serenity I needed. 

"Hello, Mr. P," she said. "Do you want to play?" 

"What did you have in mind?" I asked, with a twinge of annoyance. 

"I don't know. You say." 

"How about charades?" I asked sarcastically. 

The tinkling laughter burst forth again. "I don't know what that is." 

"Then let's just walk." 

Looking at her, I noticed the delicate fairness of her face. 
"Where do you live?" I asked. 

"Over there." She pointed toward a row of summer cottages. 

Strange, I thought, in winter. 

"Where do you go to school?" 

"I don't go to school. Mommy says we're on vacation" 

She chattered little girl talk as we strolled up the beach, but my mind was on other things. When I left for home, Wendy said it had been a happy day. Feeling surprisingly better, I smiled at her and agreed. 

Three weeks later, I rushed to my beach in a state of near panic. I was in no mood to even greet Wendy. I thought I saw her mother on the porch and felt like demanding she keep her child at home. 

"Look, if you don't mind," I said crossly when Wendy caught up with me, "I'd rather be alone today." She seemed unusually pale and out of breath. 

"Why?" she asked. 

I turned to her and shouted, "Because my mother died!" and thought, My God, why was I saying this to a little child? 

"Oh," she said quietly, "then this is a bad day." 

"Yes," I said, "and yesterday and the day before and -- oh, go away!" 

"Did it hurt?" she inquired. 

"Did what hurt?" I was exasperated with her, with myself. 

"When she died?" 

"Of course it hurt!" I snapped, misunderstanding, 
wrapped up in myself. I strode off. A month or so after that, when I next went to the beach, she wasn't there. Feeling guilty, ashamed, and admitting to myself I missed her, I went up to the cottage after my walk and knocked at the door. A drawn looking young woman with honey-colored hair opened the door. 

"Hello," I said, "I'm Robert Peterson. I missed your little girl today and wondered where she was." "Oh yes, Mr. Peterson, please come in. Wendy spoke of you so much. I'm afraid I allowed her to bother you. If she was a nuisance, please, accept my apologies." 
"Not at all! she's a delightful child." I said, suddenly realizing 
that I meant what I had just said. 

"Wendy died last week, Mr. Peterson. She had leukemia
Maybe she didn't tell you." 

Struck dumb, I groped for a chair. I had to catch my breath. "She loved this beach, so when she asked to come, we couldn't say no. She seemed so much better here and had a lot of what she called happy days. But the last few weeks, she declined rapidly..." Her voice faltered, "She left something for you, if only I can find it. Could you wait a moment while I look?" 

I nodded stupidly, my mind racing for something to say to this lovely young woman. She handed me a smeared envelope with "MR. P" printed in bold childish letters.. Inside was a drawing in bright crayon hues -- a yellow beach, a blue sea, and a brown bird. Underneath was carefully printed: 

A SANDPIPER TO BRING YOU JOY. 

Tears welled up in my eyes, and a heart that had almost forgotten to love opened wide. I took Wendy's mother in my arms. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," I uttered over and over, and we wept together. The precious little picture is framed now and hangs in my study. Six words -- one for each year of her life -- that speak to me of harmony, courage, and undemanding love. A gift from a child with sea blue eyes and hair the color of sand 
-- who taught me the gift of love.

NOTE: This is a true story sent out by Robert Peterson. It happened over 20 years ago and the incident changed his life forever. It serves as a reminder to all of us that we need to take time to enjoy living and life and each other. The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less. 


Life is so complicated, the hustle and bustle of everyday traumas can make us lose focus about what is truly important 
or what is only a momentary setback or crisis.. 

This week, be sure to give your loved ones an extra hug, and by all means, take a moment... even if it is only ten seconds, to stop and smell the roses. This comes from someone's heart, and is read by many 
and now I share it with you.. 

May God Bless everyone who receives this! There are NO coincidences! 
Everything that happens to us happens for a reason. Never brush aside anyone as insignificant. Who knows what they can teach us?

I wish for you, a sandpiper.

THIS IS A MUST WATCH FYI

watch this by( clicking on link below)

 http://www.youtube.com/embed/_T-F_zfoDqI?rel=0

VVA Chapter 17 &1076

I just thought this need to be posted 

god bless our flag

Flag Day

2013

The American Legion

Public Relations Division

PO Box 1055

Indianapolis, IN 46206

www.legion.org

      

 Today, we honor not only the flag of our great country, but what it symbolizes. We are honoring freedom. We are honoring the freedom to worship as we please, to speak as we please and to vote as we please. We are honoring the hardworking men and women who have made this the greatest and most successful country that the planet has ever known. Flag Day is America’s Day.

The 13 stripes on our flag are not just symbolic of the original colonies but they are symbolic of the founding fathers who hailed from those colonies. They are symbolic of their dreams for a great Republic, dreams that have been forged into reality by all the men and women who have defended this great nation.

George Washington once said of the original Flag, “We take the stars from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty.”

Larry Eckhardt uses the flag to honor America’s fallen heroes. He is not a veteran nor are there servicemembers in his family. He is simply a patriot.

In 2006 the native of Little York, Illinois, attended a funeral for a soldier in his area. When there weren’t enough flags there to satisfy Larry, he bought 150 more. He loaded his truck and started hauling them to military funerals throughout Illinois. His inventory has grown to more than 2,200 flags and he has expanded his reach to cover several states. Larry and his volunteers line the flags up to cover 14 miles of a fallen hero’s final journey.

“I’m news that shouldn’t be news,” Larry told the Evansville Courier Press. “My hope is that others will take up what I’m doing in other states. I really want this idea to spread so that every time a fallen hero comes home – no matter where – there is an individual, group, or organization ready to provide the flags for their funeral.”

The American Legion provides honors at military funerals in many communities. We do so – not just because we are veterans – but because, like Larry, we love our flag.

As school children, we pledged to it. As Scouts, we saluted it. As veterans, we fought for it. And as Americans, we cherish it.

In 1989 the Supreme Court mistakenly ruled that flag desecration laws were invalid because of First Amendment free speech protections. The case, Texas vs. Johnson, confused outrageous conduct with speech and robbed legislatures of their ability to pass reasonable laws prohibiting that conduct.

                                                                                                                                                           

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens dissented from the Flag desecration ruling. He wrote, “sanctioning the public desecration of the flag will tarnish its value – both for those who cherish the ideals for which it waves and for those that desire to don the robes of martyrdom by burning it.

“That tarnish is not justified by the trivial burden on free expression occasioned by requiring that an available, alternative mode of expression – including uttering words critical of the flag…be employed.”

For nearly a quarter century The American Legion has been fighting for a constitutional amendment that would restore the right of the American people to once again protect their flag – OUR FLAG – from desecration.

All 50 state legislatures have petitioned Congress for a constitutional amendment that would restore to Congress the authority to prohibit flag desecration. Poll after poll shows the overwhelming majority of the American people want to see their flag protected.

Lopsided majorities in both houses of Congress have supported it. The House of Representatives has passed such an amendment in six consecutive votes and the Senate failing by only one vote of a needed two-thirds supermajority in the 109^th Congress.

But The American Legion is persistent and we continue to support this worthy fight. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri has introduced House Joint Resolution 19, which would once again protect the flag. It is up to “We the People,” to tell our Representatives to pass H.J. Res 19 and for the United States Senate to follow suit.

The American Legion also believes that the Pledge of Allegiance should be recited frequently and in its current form.  When President Eisenhower added “Under God” to the Pledge on Flag Day in 1954, he said, “From this day forward millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty. To anyone who truly loves America, nothing could be more inspiring than to contemplate the rededication of our youth, on each school morning, to our country’s true meaning.”

Eisenhower’s addition of “Under God,” was universally accepted at the time. “In this way,” he said, “we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource, in peace or war.”

The Flag of the United States is also a reminder of the possibilities and potential of the United States. It is the only flag to have ever been placed on the moon. This was not done as symbol of seizure or sovereignty, but as astronaut Buzz Aldrin said, “a philosophical moment of achievement.” And it is an achievement that the United States has accomplished six times.

The flag has been an inspiration on many American battlefields and provided a comforting presence to rescue workers at New York’s Ground Zero and further south as it draped the west wall of the Pentagon in the days following the 9/11 attacks. It is both a rallying symbol to Americans and a sign of defiance to her enemies. It was, after all, following the bombardment at Fort McHenry that Francis Scott Key famously observed, “that our Flag was still there.”

And with the help of American patriots, that Flag will continue to fly forever.

Thank you for being here. God Bless you all and God bless the Flag of the United States of America!

WORTH A READ SO TRUE

please read

Guess our national leaders didn't expect this. On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.

They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness.. The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers. 

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart. 

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent 

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. 

Your laws ignore our deepest needs, 
Your words are empty air. 
You've stripped away our heritage, 
You've outlawed simple prayer. 
Now gunshots fill our classrooms, 
And precious children die. 
You seek for answers everywhere, 
And ask the question "Why?" 
You regulate restrictive laws, 
Through legislative creed. 
And yet you fail to understand, 
That God is what we need! 

"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. 

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone! 
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!" 
- Darrell Scott

Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech. Please send this out to everyone you can.