A BOY, A DOG, A COUNTRY AND HONOR

 

 

 

They told me the big black Lab's name was Reggie, as I looked at him
lying in his pen. The shelter was clean, no-kill, and the people
really friendly.

I'd only been in the area for six months, but everywhere I went in the
small college town, people were welcoming and open. Everyone waves
when you pass them on the street.

But something was still missing as I attempted to settle in to my new
life here, and I thought a dog couldn't hurt. Give me someone to talk
to. And I had just seen Reggie's advertisement on the local news. The
shelter said they had received numerous calls right after, but they
said the people who had come down to see him just didn't look like
"Lab people," whatever that meant. They must've thought I did.

But at first, I thought the shelter had misjudged me in giving me
Reggie and his things, which consisted of a dog pad, bag of toys
almost all of which were brand new tennis balls, his dishes and a
sealed letter from his previous owner.

See, Reggie and I didn't really hit it off when we got home. We
struggled for two weeks (which is how long the shelter told me to give
him to adjust to his new home). Maybe it was the fact that I was
trying to adjust, too. Maybe we were too much alike.

I saw the sealed envelope. I had completely forgotten about that.
"Okay, Reggie," I said out loud, "let's see if your previous owner has
any advice."

____________ _________ _________ _________

To Whomever Gets My Dog:

Well, I can't say that I'm happy you're reading this, a letter I told
the shelter could only be opened by Reggie's new owner. I'm not even
happy writing it. He knew something was different.

So let me tell you about my Lab in the hopes that it will help you
bond with him and he with you.

First, he loves tennis balls. The more the merrier. Sometimes I think
he's part squirrel, the way he hoards them. He usually always has two
in his mouth, and he tries to get a third in there. Hasn't done it
yet. Doesn't matter where you throw them, he'll bound after them, so
be careful. Don't do it by any roads.

Next, commands. Reggie knows the obvious ones ---"sit," "stay," "come," "heel."

He knows hand signals, too: He knows "ball" and "food" and "bone" and
"treat" like nobody's business.

Feeding schedule: twice a day, regular store-bought stuff; the shelter
has the brand.

He's up on his shots. Be forewarned: Reggie hates the vet. Good luck
getting him in the car. I don't know how he knows when it's time to go
to the vet, but he knows.

Finally, give him some time. It's only been Reggie and me for his
whole life. He's gone everywhere with me, so please include him on
your daily car rides if you can. He sits well in the backseat, and he
doesn't bark or complain. He just loves to be around people, and me
most especially.

And that's why I need to share one more bit of info with you...His
name's not Reggie. He's a smart dog, he'll get used to it and will
respond to it, of that I have no doubt. But I just couldn't bear to
give them his real name. But if someone is reading this ... well it
means that his new owner should know his real name. His real name is
"Tank." Because, that is what I drive.

I told the shelter that they couldn't make "Reggie" available for
adoption until they received word from my company commander. You see,
my parents are gone, I have no siblings, no one I could've left Tank
with ... and it was my only real request of the Army upon my
deployment to Iraq, that they make one phone call to the shelter ...
in the "event" ... to tell them that Tank could be put up for
adoption. Luckily, my CO is a dog-guy, too, and he knew where my
platoon was headed. He said he'd do it personally. And if you're
reading this, then he made good on his word.

Tank has been my family for the last six years, almost as long as the
Army has been my family. And now I hope and pray that you make him
part of your family, too, and that he will adjust and come to love you
the same way he loved me.

If I have to give up Tank to keep those terrible people from coming to
the US I am glad to have done so. He is my example of service and of
love. I hope I honored him by my service to my country and comrades.

All right, that's enough. I deploy this evening and have to drop this
letter off at the shelter. Maybe I'll peek in on him and see if he
finally got that third tennis ball in his mouth.

Good luck with Tank. Give him a good home, and give him an extra kiss
goodnight - every night - from me.

Thank you,
Paul Mallory
____________ _________ _________ _______

I folded the letter and slipped it back in the envelope. Sure, I had
heard of Paul Mallory, everyone in town knew him, even new people like
me. Local kid, killed in Iraq a few months ago and posthumously
earning the Silver Star when he gave his life to save three buddies.
Flags have been at half-mast all summer.

I leaned forward in my chair and rested my elbows on my knees, staring
at the dog.

"Hey, Tank," I said quietly.

The dog's head whipped up, his ears cocked and his eyes bright.

"C'mere boy."

He was instantly on his feet, his nails clicking on the hardwood
floor. He sat in front of me, his head tilted, searching for the name
he hadn't heard in months. "Tank," I whispered.

His tail swished.

I kept whispering his name, over and over, and each time, his ears
lowered, his eyes softened, and his posture relaxed as a wave of
contentment just seemed to flood him. I stroked his ears, rubbed his
shoulders, buried my face into his scruff and hugged him.

"It's me now, Tank, just you and me. Your old pal gave you to me."
Tank reached up and licked my cheek.

"So whatdaya say we play some ball?" His ears perked again.

"Yeah? Ball? You like that? Ball?"

Tank tore from my hands and disappeared into the next room. And when
he came back, he had three tennis balls in his mouth.

If you can read this without getting a lump in your throat or a tear
in your eye, you just ain't right.

A veteran is someone who, at one point, wrote a blank check made
payable to 'The United States of America' for an amount of 'up to and
including their life.'

That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who
no longer understand it.

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him,
but because he loves what is behind him."

THE CAR !!

A young man was getting ready to graduate college. ...For
Many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's
Showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told
Him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited
Signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the
Morning of his graduation his father called him into his private
Study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine
Son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son
A beautiful wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man
Opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible. Angrily,
He raised his voice at his father and said, "With all your money you
Give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy
Book.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in
Business.
He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his
Father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He
Had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make
Arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had
Passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He
Needed to come home immediately and take care things.
When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and
Regret filled his heart.

He began to search his father's important papers and
Saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With
Tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he
Read those words, a car key dropped from an envelope
Taped behind the Bible.
It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the
Sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation,
And the words...PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not
Packaged as we expected?

Things Have Gotten Worse In America

35 Shocking Statistics That Prove That Things Have Gotten Worse In America

March 8, 2012

Most Americans know that things used to be much better in the United States, but they don’t have the facts and the figures to back that belief up. Well, after reading the shocking statistics in this article nobody should be left with any doubt that things have gotten worse in America. There are less jobs, incomes are down, home values have plummeted, poverty is up, consumer debt is way up, dependence of the government has skyrocketed and government debt is totally out of control. Sadly, it hasn’t really mattered which political party has had control over the White House. Things have gotten worse under Obama, they got worse under Bush, and they got worse under Clinton. We are in the midst of a horrific long-term economic decline and the American people desperately need to wake up.

The following are 35 shocking statistics that prove that things have gotten worse in America….
#1 Median household income in the United States is down 7.8 percent since December 2007 after
adjusting for inflation.
#2 There are 5.6 million less jobs than there were when the last recession began back in late 2007.
#3 The U.S. government says that the number of Americans “not in the labor force” rose by 17.9 million between 2000 and 2011. During the entire decade of the 1980s, the number of Americans “not in the labor force” rose by only 1.7 million.
#4 In 2007, the unemployment rate for the 20 to 29 age bracket was about 6.5 percent. Today, the unemployment rate for that same age group is about 13 percent.
#5 In 2007, 73.2 percent of all young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 that were not enrolled in school had jobs. Today, that number has declined to 65 percent.

#6 Back in the year 2000, more than 50 percent of all Americans teens had a job. This past summer, only 29.6% of all American teens had a job.

#7 When Barack Obama entered the White House, the number of “long-term unemployed workers” in the United States was approximately 2.6 million. Today, that number is sitting at 5.6 million.

#8 The average duration of unemployment in the United States is nearly three times as long as it was back in the year 2000.

#9 Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.

#10 According to the Obama administration, about 20 percent of all jobs in the United States were manufacturing jobs back in the year 2000. Today, about 5 percent of all jobs in the United States are manufacturing jobs.

#11 Sadly, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States have been shut down since 2001.

#12 Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.

#13 The U.S. trade deficit with China during 2011 was 28 times larger than it was back in 1990.

#14 About twice as many new homes were sold in the United States in 1965 as are being sold today.

#15 Home prices in the 4th quarter of 2011 were four percent lower than they were during the 4th quarter of 2010. Overall, U.S. home prices are 34 percent lower than they were back at the peak of the housing bubble.

#16 The total value of household real estate in America has declined from $22.7 trillion in 2006 to $16.2 trillion today.

#17 At the end of 2011, 22.8 percent of all homes in the United States with a mortgage were in negative equity. That would have been unthinkable a decade or two ago.

#18 Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago.

#19 Total consumer debt in the United States has increased by a whopping 1700% since 1971.

#20 Since the beginning of 2009, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States has increased by more than90 percent.

#21 The number of children living in poverty in the state of California has increased by 30 percent since 2007.

#22 Back in the year 2000, 11.3% of all Americans were living in poverty. Today, 15.1% of all Americans are living in poverty.

#23 In November 2008, 30.8 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, 46.5 million Americans are on food stamps.

#24 The U.S. dollar has lost 96.2 percent of its value since 1900. You can thank the Federal Reserve system for that.

#25 In 1950, the United States was #1 in GDP per capita. Today, the United States is #13 in GDP per capita.

#26 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives direct monetary benefits from the federal government. Back in 1983, less than a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.

#27 In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7% of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.

#28 Federal housing assistance increased by a whopping 42 percent between 2006 and 2010.

#29 Medicare spending increased by 138 percent between 1999 and 2010.

#30 Back in 1990, the federal government accounted for 32 percent of all health care spending in America. Today, that figure is up to 45 percent and it is projected to surpass 50 percent very shortly.

#31 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a whole lot worse. It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.

#32 Right now, spending by the federal government accounts for about 24 percent of GDP. Back in 2001, it accounted for just 18 percent.

#33 In 2004, the U.S. government had a budget deficit of a little over 412 billion dollars. This year, the U.S. government will run a budget deficit of over 1.3 trillion dollars.

#34 In 2001, the U.S. national debt was less than 6 trillion dollars. Today, it is over 15 trillion dollars and it is increasing by about 150 million dollars every single hour.

#35 The U.S. national debt is now more than 22 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.

Unfortunately, these shocking statistics just don’t fully capture the horrible pain that many American families are having to endure in this economy.

A recent USA Today article told the sad story of one unemployed American named Jerome Greene….
Greene, about to turn 50, worked for 16 years as an Oracle software developer, most recently at a Pennsylvania company that made electronic components for cars. When he was laid off in June 2008, the recession was just taking hold, and he still had job interviews. By fall, with the economy in free fall, his phone stopped ringing.
Greene hoped the downturn would be brief and he’d weather it with unemployment benefits.
But the jobless rate hovered above 9% and Greene’s 99 weeks of unemployment expired. He had trouble sleeping. Depression set in. Without health insurance, he took precautions — carrying hand sanitizer and his own pen when doing errands to avoid getting sick and having to pay $65 for a doctor’s visit.

“There’s no room for error,” he says “There’s no extra money.”
Can you imagine going through all that?
Tonight there are millions upon millions of Americans that will struggle to get to sleep as they wrestle with their financial problems. It is easy to feel as though you have failed when you can’t get a job and can’t provide for your children. After years of fighting to turn things around, it is hard not to fall into a state of depression.

Unfortunately, our leaders are not fixing any of the long-term problems that are systematically destroying the U.S. economy.

So things are going to get even worse in the years ahead.
Buckle up.

Message to the Supreme Court/Congress

Message to the Supreme Court/Congress: Seven of you & all of Congress violated your oaths by allowing Obama to run, be seated & pursue myriad unlawful assaults on our Constitution despite knowing he wasn’t eligible. Surely none of you is proud of those treasonous actions?! Needed actions: A. Cleanup all Federal courts. Ask Kagan, Sotomayor & all other Obama court appointees to resign immediately.... Obama wasn’t eligible to appoint them. B. Declare Obama ineligible & request his immediate removal via Congressional action as previously proposed by multiple groups. C. Declare Obamacare unconstitutional and unworkable for multiple reasons. D. Work with those left standing in DC to get temporary leadership in place and agree on a short term budget. E. Then start termination, cleanup, and financial tracking of every ungodly/unlawful bill, executive order, and illicit cash outflow that Obama & his horde has imposed on “we the people”. When you’ve completed those actions, check with the tiny handful of “true right Leaders” among you Sociotonians for the next highest priority course corrections in every major arena.

Letter To God

Our 14-year-old dog Abbey died last month. The day after she passed away my 4-ye...ar-old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could so, and she dictated these words:

Dear God,

Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick.

I hope you will play with her. She likes to swim and play with balls. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

Love, Meredith

We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, 'To Meredith' in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, 'When a Pet Dies.' Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and this note:

Dear Meredith,

Abbey arrived safely in heaven. Having the picture was a big help and I recognized her right away.

Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by.

Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you. I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much. By the way, I'm easy to find. I am wherever there is love.

Love, God

What happened to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence?

What happened to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence?
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. Thomas Nelson quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. His own home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: “For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot of what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn’t just fight the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Some of us take these liberties so much for granted…….We shouldn’t.

SO TAKE A COUPLE OF MINUTES TO REMEMBER THEIR SACRIFICE SO WE COULD ALL LIVE IN A FREE COUNTRY!
-- Author Unknown
We came by this writing by e-mail passed to many on the Internet. If you know who wrote this please let us know. You may copy and pass this on.