Where the Buffalo roam

Another blast from the past! Bison on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. This herd of about 100 head let us know that they were around first.

The Inland Sea

A Great Moment in Time

It's funny how things run together. At the same time that I am working on research on John Henry, my son is memorizing the Gettysburg address, I am reading Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, and yesterday there's a CNN cover story on Civil War sites. Life's funny that way. So bear with me as I go nostalgic for the next few entries.

To get things rolling, let's start with a classic. One of the greatest speeches ever delivered. Not just because it was short, but because of what it says in such a short time. In the movie "National Treasure" Nicolas Cage's character says, in referring to the beginning of the Declaration of Independence: "Nobody speaks like that anymore". The same applies to the Gettysburg Address.

So please, Mr Lincoln, take us back to when Presidential speeches were Presidential and meaningful.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Thank You, Mr President.

Elias Schwartz Said...

Anything not worth doing is worth not doing well. Think about it.

Cat Watches

How does a cat, or any animal for that matter, know how to tell time. I swear my cat does the same things at the same time every day!

I know it's the same time, because I look at my clock in my room every time he wakes me up during the night and it is always around the same time.

His favorite time to wake me is 3:58 AM. Before my alarm clock, and enough time to fall back to sleep, but close enough to really be annoying.

I heard once that the biggest difference between man and animal is the fact that man can build a clock. Apparently, animals don't need to.

Stephen Colbert Said...

When the president decides something on Monday, he still believes it on Wednesday -- no matter what happened Tuesday.

Sunday Scripture Choice

Micah 7:8

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.

Dessert?

The Science Fair

Marci and I spent the day involved in yet another Science Fair. This time, however, it was to support our oldest in his appearance at the District level. I noted several things:

1) Isn't it cool that there are students and parents that are interested enough in education and learning to show up to a volunteer event like this? The kids may get extra credit, but they also have to re-study their projects and take time to defend them to judges. It's encouraging.

2) I have to laugh at the parents who are more serious then the students. I guess I should say more intense. They are forced off the floor during judging, they practice the responses with the students before and they are the ones video-taping the award ceremony. I love my kids, but there is a time to let them fly and does anyone REALLY watch those videos?

3) Even though I give them credit for sponsoring an event like yesterday, I still don't the District gets it. You may not have the social attachment, but why not treat the event like it was important. What if this was the District Championship for Basketball, or football, or what if the whole world was watching? Put some flash or some showmanship in the thing. Like most events, it was more of the same. When an organization puts value into something, the participants will feel like its more valuable.

I am very proud of my oldest, even if he didn't win one of the trophies. I am proud of what he knows and the effort he puts into learning it. Anyone who dares ask him a question will soon find out just how serious he takes his education as you will receive one yourself.