will sanity return to humanity in this country again

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 6, 2023

What still matters to all of us? That is the question all of us need to start asking before we begin to open up a conversation that all too often divide people. That happened to me today.

I came out of my doctor's office and another car like mine was parked next to it. A nice couple was standing outside of theirs and we started talking. Yes, I'm one of those people that talk to everyone and usually about a lot of things.

We talked about how much we love our Subaru Outbacks and how few miles we had on them. We talked about living in Rochester NH and how our neighbors were nice. We also talked about our fur babies.

The wife showed me her dogs and cats and I showed them Charlie. He went to the vet today and at only 3 months, he's already over 30 pounds.

We talked about our health issues and a lot of other things. Then we started to talk about how everything we talked about matters on a human level. We all felt that when people put politics above what really matters, we all lose. I know I've lost a lot of friends I thought I knew because their political ties mattered more to them than the bonds of friendship.

Our generation grew up with political topics that were banned from family gatherings. We were able to focus on what our lives were all about.

Sure we had different points of view, but no one focused on them unless it was to tell a joke and no one got bent out of shape because when that happened, there was always one of us to tell a better one. Then the topic was dropped because one joke led to another about something else.

Yes, I have a political point of view, just as most people do. The thing is, mine is not more valuable than your real life. When I post something political it is based on sharing thoughts that may help you see something differently. If you disagree, I love a good debate as long as it does not turn into personal attacks. We have to face that with too many people when they hear something they don't like, they turn it into an attack of the conversation killer labels. It makes the subject of the attack feel as if they just don't really matter to the attacker. I walk away from them and will not subject myself to that again. Life is too short to spend time with someone that hates what I think.

So, my question is, will sanity return to humanity in this country again, or has it gone too far? I'm still hoping for the best and after today, I know it is possible!

Politics turn deadly for veteran and neighbors

I wish I could say this is as bad of a political season as it gets, but it isn't.

There are times when I am at a gathering of people committed to veterans as much as I am, but they make me feel uncomfortable when they start to talk about their political views. There is so much anger in their voices and the hateful words they use convince me that they would probably hate me as well. I walk away from them because their views cannot be reasoned with because they have set their thoughts in stone.

Because I am involved with so many groups, on group email lists, I end up reading what they have to say about this politician or that one no matter how anyone else feels. These are not passive emails. They are overblown rants someone else wrote but hey, it supports their views, so they make sure everyone they know reads it.

Most of the time they are also filled with lies. They just pass them on without ever once making sure what they send is the truth or not as much as they don't make sure what they believe is true or not.

Now we have a Vietnam veteran facing charges for killing two friends when it seems as if they only time they argued was when they were talking about politics. After the debate, this veteran returned to his best friend, the man he shared his pain with after his wife died five years to the day before this shooting.

Vallejo man allegedly shoots friends dead
Justin Berton
October 4, 2012

Residents in a tight-knit Vallejo subdivision knew Martin Hohenegger, 65, as the former Marine, a neighborhood fixture who spent every day hanging out in the garage across the street with his best friend, Mike Scally, 58.

On Wednesday evening, the daily routine turned tragic.

Shortly after the televised presidential debate began at 6 p.m, police said, Hohenegger got into an argument with Scally and another man, Doug Kahley - neighbors said it was possibly over politics - stormed home and returned with a gun, shooting his two friends dead in front of Scally's house.

The front-lawn killings on the 300 block of Foulkstone Way left neighbors in shock Thursday.

"It's insane to think about," said Jamie Dowd, who lives two doors from Scally's garage. "They were so similar."

"I just can't see Martin shooting anyone," she added.

Apparently Scally couldn't either.

Just before the shots rang out, Dowd said, neighbors heard Scally tell Hohenegger: "You're not going to shoot me, Martin. You'd go to jail."

One area where Hohenegger and Scally differed and sometimes argued, Dowd and other residents said, was over politics.

Dowd said Hohenegger identified himself as a proud Republican while Scally leaned Democrat. But it was impossible to tell what their final argument was over, she said, because the two men "bickered about everything. That's just what they did."
read more here

Neighbors stunned by best friends fatal confrontation

I have political views but have learned to keep them to myself and share facts while forcing myself to hit the delete button when I start to type what I really think. I refuse to fall into the same trap I was in 5 years ago.

If you only turn into 24-7 cable news or the talk shows, you'd think that everyone is consumed with politics just like you, because that is all you hear. You'd be convinced everyone else is an idiot without ever once contemplating they are thinking the same of you.

Like minded people on one subject do not always agree on everything but they manage to get along on a human level with a common goal. That is until politics make enemies out of friends. Think about that the next time you forward an email to people you know and wonder how much you may be hurting someone you'd otherwise care about.

Emails, death and dumb

Emails, death and dumb
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
September 5, 2012

This morning I received yet another email from someone so focused on hating Democrats and the President, that I asked to be removed from his email list. I'm fed up with people I used to respect sending out lies filled with nonsense especially when they are in a position of being respected. This person is a Chaplain! Does he automatically assume everyone he knows agrees with the hatred he is supporting? Does he have a clue anymore what a Chaplain is supposed to be? I was part of his group a very long time ago and now I am more convinced than ever leaving it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Not that my own hands are clean because I used to be political as well. I didn't send out emails but I posted them on my old blog. I fell into the same trap I always complain about. I thought it was my duty to share the truth without ever once considering that some people would be hurt by what I posted. That stopped when a Marine sent me an email and asked me to stop doing it. I fired back a testy response defending my right to say what I wanted. Yep, got on that high horse and went as fast as I could. He replied with a very simple question. "Are you doing this for us or yourself?" After I stopped crying I realized he opened my eyes to how wrong I was.

I made him a promise that I would start this blog and only do political posts when it was about what politicians were doing for them or to them.

For the last 5 years, I kept that promise all while being constantly repulsed by emails flying in from both sides.

I read emails from military families and veterans all the time because their lives are falling apart and they are not getting the help they need. Then I read news reports from all over the country that make me so sad it is hard to type.

I posted this first thing. Fort Worth Mom let her toddler die because she was depressed about her husband's deployment. She tried to commit suicide and asked for help but didn't get it. Her other two children were also neglected. Then I read this.

Florida woman arrested for leaving infant son in dumpster: police
Alexandria Sladon-Marler was a troubled young woman with a history of frequent run-in with the law.
BY CHRISTINE ROBERTS
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

A Florida mother sits behind bars accused of infanticide after she was arrested and jailed Monday.

Alexandria Sladon-Marler was a familiar figure to many in the small Lake Ridge neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale, population 3,000. Some days she could be seen sitting on curb and just hanging out.

"She used to like to knock on windows," Mary Rhodes, former head of the neighborhood's Community for a Better Lake Ridge, told the Daily News. "She'd hang out at local Wendy's…knock on men's car windows and ask for sex."

Sladon-Marler was struggling with a troubled life. Those who knew her suggest that mental illness — not just bad behavior — played a part in the tragedy of this mother, and child.

If she had been spotted and helped during one of the numerous times she had been in contact with the law, the system might have saved not only her, but also the tiny newborn found wrapped in a towel, stuffed into a pillowcase and hidden among the garbage and the trash of a dumpster behind the hotel Sladon-Marler was staying at, says Rhodes.
read more here

Two Moms, one military and one civilian clearly dealing with mental illness but no one took care of them. No one made sure they got the help they needed or made sure their children were safe yet what comes in emails? Crap about moral values from people so concerned with the life of the unborn they never have time to think about the living. There are two babies dead just from last weekend alone.

Will I read emails from these political zealots about either of these stories? No. They are never interested in doing anything to inform or actually do something about helping anyone.

The picked sides and the truth no longer matters to them. Humans in need never come into their minds or penetrate their stone cold hearts but they hide behind the title they believe they earned as a "Christian" using His name but never following in His footsteps. Spreading lies is not a value He would approve. Turning away from the poor, the sick, the needy is not something He would approve because He didn't approve of it when He walked this earth.

Matthew 25
The Sheep and the Goats
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.

32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." Bible Gateway

Do you do this for wounded? Do you do this for homeless? Do you do this for Christ's sake?