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The Patriot Post Easter Special Edition 9-14
From The Federalist Patriot
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____________________________ Years ago, before family and career made my life much more complicated, I would pick Jac up at his office and we'd take sack lunches out into the countryside or to his family's nature preserve, where he would read poetry or excerpts from his voluminous journals.
Jac taught me some important things about "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," but the greatest lesson was how to see God's face in creation. I can't help but see Him in everything now.
On the eve of his 100th year, Jac is fond of quoting the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas: "Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; rage, rage against the dying of the light."
For your friendship and mentorship, thank you, Jac.
Shortly after this encounter with Jac, I visited my local barber for a "high and tight." When the fellow in the chair ahead of me was done, and the barber pulled back his cape, I saw that he had no arms, nor even buds where his arms might have been. He stepped out of the chair, retrieved 10 dollars and a tip from his sandal "handing" it to the barber, walked to the door and opened it with his foot, walked out to his car, got in, started it up and drove away.
I watched with amazement, for this fellow didn't seem the least bit inconvenienced by his circumstances.
I asked the barber who he was, and I called Richard Stephens yesterday. He graciously agreed to tell me his story so that I could tell you.
Richard lost his arms in an electrocution accident in 2002 when he was an apprentice lineman. Those who are born without limbs learn to compensate from birth, but Richard was 24 years old when he was repairing a power pole -- and "woke up in the hospital three weeks later with no arms." He had to relearn how to do almost everything, but he has undertaken that challenge with a perseverance and fortitude that few could muster.
His car has a setup on the floorboard with a small steering wheel for his left foot, and he brakes and accelerates with his right. Shifting gears, honking the horn and other functions are located on the dash, where he can reach those with his foot.
Having completed his accounting degree, Richard is today working toward becoming a CPA. He uses assistive technology like an Intellikeyboard for his work as a bookkeeper, e-mail communication, and the like.
He is engaged to be married, but says one of the few things that really causes him heartache is that he will not be able to "go out in the yard and pitch ball" with the kids he hopes to have.
For the example you set for the rest of us every day of your life, especially those of us who complain about the mundane, thank you, Richard.
So, what is the common but indissoluble bond between Zach, Jac and Richard, from which they draw their strength, fortitude and inspiration? They are all Christians, men of faith. They might describe and exercise their faith differently, but they are, at their core, men of faith, in possession of a trust, assurance and conviction shared by tens-of-millions of fellow Patriots.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, appropriately celebrated in our country each year as the dormant season of winter yields to new life in spring, is the foundation of our belief that life can arise miraculously from the hard darkness of apparent death, that there is hope even in the bleakest of winters.
Our Founders understood that faith in God is indelibly linked to liberty.Thomas Jefferson declared, "The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. The hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." Shortly before his death, he wrote, "Adore God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more than yourself. Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of Providence."
James Madison stated, "The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities impressed with it."
John Adams averred, "It is the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the SUPREME BEING, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe."
John Jay affirmed, "The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts."
Justice Joseph Story, however, cautioned us: "It yet remains a problem to be solved in human affairs, whether any free government can be permanent, where the public worship of God, and the support of religion, constitute no part of the policy or duty of the state in any assignable shape."
Looking at the degraded state of constitutional rule of law today, and the abject corruption of our executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, it would appear that "separation of church and state" has proven conclusively that liberty is in great peril when its source, the God of all nature, is evicted from those institutions.
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