Wow! This is not a simple essay to write about.  It is so deep.  One of the shortest “books” I have ever read, yet it yields more wisdom than a book of a 1000 pages.  I will focus on just a few concepts that made an impact on me.

“The world has gone a slumming.” This statement occurs near the end of the essay. It sort of defined the over-all picture for me, of what Elbert Hubbard was saying in his A Message to Garcia.

He made a character analysis of his perception of the working man and set it to the reality of the workplace with an employer who has expectations of  a business to run and make successful.  In order to have a prosperous outcome, one needs to have dedicated, hard-working souls. This can then be applied to almost every other aspect in life.  A deed worth doing must first be done right.  One must first have the right person to do the job, one with integrity and strength of character.  Just as Hubbard is lamenting the lack of such workers, we as conservatives can lament the lack of true principled men/women today as relates to out elected officials.

Along with this, I think a case needs to be made for the the strength and character of the employer. While expecting the workers to be loyal, conscientious and unfailing in their duties, the leader, employer or commander also must be made of the same cloth. How can one expect that out of your followers, if the one at the top does not follow the same precept?  IMO, the same expectations must needs be on both sides.  To have respect, integrity, and thus credibility, one must have earned it. This in turn attracts and holds the individuals of like work ethics and principles.

In one section, I immediately thought of Erick and RedState.

“And this incapacity for independent action, this moral stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold and lift, are the things that put Socialism so far into the future.  If men will not act for themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for all?”

Erick’s direction of RedState is a reaction to the type of people Hubbard described;  unless one takes action, independent action.   Erick has acted with a firm will, calling us to act for ourselves, to do what others have forgotten and are not willing to do.

I bet many of you remember the Marine Corps advertisement that has been around a few years.  The Marines are looking for “A Few Good Men.” The same underlying theme is present in those words.

One last reflection that flowed through my mind relates to the Christian Hymn, “Here I Am Lord” (1981) by Daniel Schutte. It connects to Isaiah 6:8 and you can read more here. The hymn is one of my favorites, and the refrain stays in one’s mind.  The verse has the Lord asking, “Whom shall I send?” and the refrain, “Here I am, Lord, Is it I Lord?”

Jaded and Penguin’s Excellent 9/12 DC Adventure

“Better late than never.”  That is the phrase we overheard from a fellow sardine (rider) on the Metro, which we boarded in Vienna, Va. to DC.  Packed as noted, like sardines, that Metro train made many stops along the route, where no one else could board, leaving the metro platforms filled with 100’s of people to wait for the next train.

The overheard phrase initiated discussion.  The statement is self-explanatory, but let’s talk about what it meant.  The individual who said it, was speaking for all of us on these trains bound for Washington, our nation’s Capitol. Why? – to tell the government that we want it to stop.  Stop infringing on our lives; stop telling us what to do, stop taking away our freedoms and controlling us.  You see, that is how far the government has come.  Insidious, sneaky , and oh-so-nice.  A little bit here, a tad there, and now almost, but not quite, completely – have we been taken over.

The March to the Capitol was to tell the government that we want control back.  Were we able to do that?  Only a fool would pretend that something extraordinary had not happened yesterday.  Jaded and family, penguin and husband, joined 100’s of thousands, probably over a million, but I’ll leave the final number count to the experts.  I can tell you from observation, we were like a rookery of penguins marching on Pennsylvania Ave toward the Capitol.  People poured in from the side streets and the numbers surrounding the reflecting pool were awesome.  Whenever one heard the roar of the crowd, it was exhilarating.  The most important aspect about all of this, was seeing the core constituency of our great nation descend, in huge numbers, upon the seat of government, in protest, to stop the destruction of our Constitution and harm to our nation.

Who was there?  Many have already noted gray-haired people in wheelchairs, children, old, young, people from all walks of life, from probably every state in the Union.  Jaded noted “that it is a sad state of affairs, that things have become so bad  that old people and people in wheelchairs need to come out and protest their government.”  Doesn’t that tell us something?

We joined the masses (clean, neat and polite folks), helpful all around, and marched to the Capitol. Couldn’t see much, due to the crowds, but could listen.  Favorite activity was seeing all the creative handmade signs:  “Stop Taking our Childrens’ Inheritance,” “Throw the Bums Out- All of them,” “Liberty and Life,” “It Isn’t Just the Dems,” that was one of my favorites.  Republicans have been complicit in bringing us to this state of affairs.

What are we going to do?  Well, the Tea Parties are a great start.  Get active, join groups and organizations working to stop this Socialism.  Replace this Congress in 2010 and 2012.  Go to the marches and protests.  A fellow RedStater, Janis, notes that for every person at this march, 50-100 were unable to attend.  The people want our Constitution back, the one our Founding Fathers set up.  We want to abide by the Constitution.  Also, ask yourselves, How does a new President go from ‘all’ glory and honor on Inauguration Day, to over a million people protesting him and his government 7 1/2 months later?

Would we march again?  Absolutely, 100 times over.  As the man said, “Better late than never.”

Traditionally, a neighborhood was a community of like minded people.  Several
decades ago most of us grew up in neighborhoods/communities that shared
common interests and common goals.  We were culturally connected.  The
Amish are a good example of people being members of a community, though
they don’t live close-by.  Yet, they can gather together to raise a barn.
Recent societal changes due to affluence, increased mobility and technology
have changed our neighborhoods.  Now it is much more difficult to form and
maintain our cultural bonds.  Often our local communities are less connected.
Yes, we may live where we are economically compatible, but not culturally.

I want to tell you about the community of RedState.  Geographically, we may be
many miles apart.  We have no tall apartment buildings, condos or suburban
houses.  Yet, RS is filled with neighbors.  Each and every contributor,
commenter or reader, is part of the community.  Almost everyone comes to RS
seeking a connection to their conservative values  and like-minded people.  We
don’t have to be in the same social economic strata, the same city or even a
village.  But we all have this unique membership in the community.  All members
are vital to the function its function.  When Mark Kilmer passed away this past
year, the community was grief stricken.  I do not think that is too strong a
description.  I had only recently come to know him through his writing summaries
of the Sunday talk shows, but I grieved for him too.  I believe his family was
comforted by the support and condolences that poured forth from the RS
members to Mark’s family. He was remembered at the Gathering.

Now, that brings me to that recent, special event.  My husband and I went to
Atlanta to join the community.  Our friends here at home asked if I knew anyone.
I said no, but I felt I knew them.  I did not feel I was going to meet strangers or
would be out of place.  Most of the people who visit RedState and stay are
people who share and desire to promote Conservatism. We have similar
values,interests and goals.  Of course there may be variation, but those would
be minor, not major, else one would not stay at RedState.

While one is on this site, bits and pieces of ourselves are revealed.  Even
members who just read the site are often able to identify with the ideas and ideals
being discussed.

The Gathering did not disappoint.  For myself and even my husband, I found my
premise that RedState is a true community validated.  Especially unique to our
gathering, was the realization that even our absent members were still very
much on our minds; they were missed.  Our moderators were checking in,
monitoring and fixing tech stuff.

To me that is a true community.  Welcome to the neighborhood.

This is my first attempt at a diary – so here goes:

I’d like to share a personal story.  Last weekend and this weekend, I was out of town, attending two college graduations.  I have twin boys, one graduated from Radford University, Radford, Va. (western part of state), and the other from George Mason University, Fairfax, Va. (northern Virginia).

The Radford graduation had Gov. Tim Kaine as commencement speaker.  When introduced, he only received polite, but muted applause from the crowd.  Obama’s name was not mentioned at all during the entire ceremony.  Interestingly enough, Gov. Kaine’s address focused on part of the Democrats agenda-expanding the ability to go to college for a larger number of young people.  He said America “lagged behind” in the number of college grads compared to the rest of the world and that “we were falling further behind.”  Translation-free ride and expansion of another entitlement program.

The George Mason graduation had Steve Case (founder of AOL) as speaker. Did you know that they both attended the same high school in Hawaii?  Obama was a freshman and Case was a senior.  Anyway, as soon as he started talking about Obama there was an enthusiastic response from the student body, and polite applause from the guests.  Mr. Case gave an outline of Pres. Obama’s life story.  His point for the students was “like the president, they could achieve anything, possibly by a circuitous path.”  It was interesting that he adroitly glossed over what some of us perceive as “holes” in the president’s story.  But, the main observation I came away with was, when the student speaker at the graduation brought up Obama’s name again and said “this was the most inspiring election we ever had,” the crowd response was definitely tepid, although a specific, smaller group of students remained enthusiastic.

An observation on Notre Dame’s graduation, being held today, can be added here.  This is one of the first, rare times that we have seen protests toward Obama on such public display and the MSM has had to cover some of it.

What I am trying to say in an anecdotal way, is that I sense a change in the wind.  Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope; maybe something is happening here.