Rich, a thoughtful and valuable poster on the ITPpeople Board, reminds us often of the inhumanities we humans inflict on each other - many times in the very name of God! God must shudder to see such arrogance and hatred and outright stupidity. As Rich posts from different locations [in a satirical way], I looked today to see if I could show my home country as being Earth. But that was not a choice. Often Rich calls for silent prayer for various people who have been victimized by hatred and bigotry. Bigotry dressed up as religion or nationalism - or even as patriotism - is still bigotry.

If ITP and other auto-immune disorders, as well as diseases such as cancer, teaches nothing else, it should teach us that death and taxes come to us all!

I am not going to advocate laying down our arms and being totally non-violent. That only makes us willing victims. But I am saying let us not be agressors. Let us do what our fathers taught us: walk away from a fight while we can, but when we must - to defend our homes, our lives, and our safety, let us stand up and fight vigorously. And let it not just be the ones who can not avoid it because of privilege or riches. And let us not be too quick to claim, "Honor demands it!" or "God demands it!" or even "Freedom demands it!" when our own hands are not clean. Jesus said, "Let he that is without sin cast the first stone."

I guess what I am trying to say is like Marge already said today on the ITPpeople Board. Let us begin to teach our children and grandchildren to look at each other as human beings sharing one earth. Some we will like and some we will not. Some will earn our trust, and some will not. All are worthy of respect and courtesy until they prove otherwise.

In the old west, supposedly "bad men" were those who pulled and shot their weapons at others without provocation. Supposedly our good Marshal would only pull his pistol to shoot back after the "bad man" shot first. Too often in this world we are each "driving" through life in a kind of "road rage" just looking for an excuse to take out our "righteous" indignation.

My prayer today is that ALL the examples of spiritual good that this world has seen will start to have an effect - that the TRUE moral majority who are really the people like your and me, who usually don't raise much ruckus in life, will start to lift our voices. Let us say, hey, instead of fighting more wars, let's get together and settle our differences in, for example, a karaoke contest [but guess that wouldn't work! Marge and I have seen that usually those contests are won by the favorites.].

Oh, well, it sounds good, but we really know that peace on earth can only come through a totally different set of values.

I thank God for the sacrifices of good people in New York, across America, and throughout the world. 9/11 was not the only tragedy the world has seen, but it was a vivid and horrible one for the U.S.A. May we not forget the ones who died there and in the fighting since - nor in Oklahoma City, nor in the Persian Gulf, nor in Viet Nam, Korea, Pearl Harbor, or in any war. And lest our ITP people in Australia, U.K., Canada, Brazil, and other countries think we only care about ourselves, let us remember that sacrifices are made all over the world. All over the world people want to live in peace, health, and happiness.

I pray for the day to come for peace and good will for all.

One more point, that should not be necessary!  I served in the U.S. Navy during the Viet Nam actions with other patriotic service people - with all kinds of political, religious, and spiritual views.  We fight to defend our right to speak our minds and to have opinions of our own.  I love my country.  Anyone who thinks that the above comments proves that I do not - well, maybe they are the ones I have been talking about!

God bless us all!