Of late…it seems that our Country is having an identity crisis.

We are debating, at times in a deadly manner, who is American and who is not, or is there a litmus test to prove who the ‘Real Americans’ are?

This argument also includes various groups of Protestant faiths…or lack thereof.  I wonder…could it really be true that the majestic God of all of the heavens and the Earth…really cares for only a slim slice of the pie that he created?  Does God only care for a small group of his created human family…and the rest are just out of luck?

When I hear a Presidential Candidate assure his listeners that he will bring religion and prayer back into the schools…does he mean my religion…or his?

A similar debate over Southern Illinois most precious institution, Southern Illinois University, has been going on for years.

Recently the passionate discussion has again arisen as to why SIU’s enrollment has fallen.  Some of the commentators laid the blame at the feet of one former Universiy leader or another.  Others said that one of our past Chancellors was terminated because he was a christian.  Others commented that liberal education was akin to perversity.

Now these type of comments…were the kind that I did not take to seriously…a few years ago.  But, since the rise of alt right politics in our nation…it is clear that beliefs that were often thought in the minority…at times are much larger than we realized.

Our wonderful University is for everyone of any religion and atheist or agnostic.  It’s doors are wide open to all political persuasions and all races and LGBT people from across our Globe.

We often are engaged in contemplating the minutae of mundane small thoughts when a stack of gold bars is in front of us.

The freedom to learn and speak and advocate and live in the manner that you feel lead to…and that illustrates who you are…is priceless!

‘The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Monday, January 6, 1941.  In an address known as the Four Freedoms speech (technically the 1941 State of the Union address), he proposed four fundamental freedoms that people ‘everywhere in the world’ ought to enjoy;

1. Freedom of speech
2. Freedoom of worship
3. Freedom from want
4. Freedom from fear’

wikipedia

I heard our new Chancellor, Carlo Montemagno, say that we must look at our beloved University as a glass that is half full…rather than a glass that is half empty.’

In our Nation and at our University…and in our lives…we often can not see the forest for the trees.

Let us appreciate and build on the gifts that we have been given.

I was, already, reminiscing about last Monday and the indescribable Eclipse!

Although I identify closely with Southern Illinois University and everything that they are involved in…I, at the last minute, decided to go the Blue Sky Vineyard for the actual event.

The spirit of fun and expectancy and adventure…was alive at the Vineyard on Eclipse Day!

There was no discussion about politics or war or major disagreements…or petty ones.  We all were united in the singular purpose of being witness to an event that was far greater than any of us.

I loved the television show, The Sopranos, and remember well Tony Soprano’s son’s comment to him during the last few minutes of the long running series.  A.J. Soprano mentioned how he was enjoying having dinner at a diner with his Mom and Dad and that his Dad, Tony, had told him to always enjoy the good times.  Tony, responded, that he guessed A.J. was right and that they were experiencing one of the good times.

I think that often the singular beauty and profound happiness of events in our lives…are lost on us…as we seek the joy and fulfillment that the media and society has told us equates the ‘Happiness Ideal.’

Is it possible to miss life…while we are living?

Yesterday, Aaron, Mary Jane, and I traveled to Blue Sky Vineyard, to watch the first total eclipse, since 1918.

I had some trepidation that we might not be able to drive there, due to so many people coming to our area and the fact that Blue Sky had the distinct honor of being the home of the longest Eclipse Totality…in the Nation.

We were so happy to drive to the Vineyard with no delays and park, in the ample fields surrounding the establishment and walk into the main building…where a kind gentleman offered us his table.

I would estimate that there was in excess of a thousand people spread throughout the beautiful grounds and buildings.

I began watching the sun about an hour and twenty minutes prior to Totality.

The majesty of being witness to, what for many will be a lifetime event, and being surrounded by people from all over the world…was inspiring!

Many cheered at the awesome beauty of the Eclipse Totality.  Many wept.  There was a profound feeling of unity…and love…and being a member of the miraculous human family…in God’s Creation…that is so much larger than we are!

‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.’  Psalm 19:1   English Standard Version

Have you ever noticed how many hours you spend in a day…a week…a year…a lifetime…waiting?

Mary Jane and I recently took a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  We planned and waited for months to go.  It was wonderful…now it is over.

As a young person, I could not wait to get older.  Now I am older…and dream of my youth.

Carbondale and Southern Illinois University, have waited for the coming total eclipse on Monday…and the 50 thousand or more, expected visitors, to our beautiful city and our outstanding University…we have our fingers crossed.

We Americans…have all been waiting….to have a government that is responsive to it’s people’s needs.

Those that voted for President Trump, many out of desperation, sought a President that would remember the millions of forgotten people in our Country.  Hard working middle class folks, that had been forgotten by both parties…for far to long.

Over the past few months the President’s actions and rhetoric…have been chilling to much of our nation…including many who voted for him.

Recently, the President of our University posted an observation regarding many business leaders leaving the councils and committees that the President had appointed them to…out of protest about his comments regarding the protests and deaths in Charlottesville, Virginia last week.

I commend the SIU President for his simple and straightforward comment regarding many business leaders leaving the Presidential Committees while it seems that evangelicals are still with him.

We all want to be with President Trump…he is our President…whether you voted for him or not.

But, we are waiting…for our President to delineate between Neo-Nazis or White Supremacist and those protesting their hate filled speech and subsequent death of a young woman and two Virginia State Police Officers.

Thousands of Americans fought and died to defeat Hitler and the Nazis.

There has been untold bloodshed and suffering and genocide in association with the African American Experience in our Nation.

Republican Governor Rauner, of Illinois, spoke out in the strongest of terms against the President’s comments, last Tuesday, regarding Charlottesville, Virginia.

And, so, we are waiting…for men a women of good will and heart and who believe in the bedrock tenets, that have set the United States apart…as a leader of the free world…to come forward….

Men and women of high office and low office and no office…other than the supreme office of being a member of the human family….need to speak out against hate!

‘First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Socialist.’

‘Then they came for the Trade Unionist, and I did not speak out-Because I was not a Trade Unionist.’

‘Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-Because I was not a Jew.’

‘Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me.’

Martin Niemoller

‘4 Days 22 Hours 24 Minutes 1 Second’ until the Eclipse!

‘The August 21 , 2017 eclipse will travel 2,500 miles across the United States of America in an estimated 70 mile wide path, beginning its journey in Oregon, crossing 12 states, and ending at the Atlantic Ocean off the shore of South Carolina.  NASA will be streaming the eclipse live from Carbondale, one of the designated sweet spots within the path of totality.’

‘Carbondale is only a few miles north from the point of greatest duration.  At approximately 1:20 pm CDT on August 21, 2017, you can experience the total eclipse for 2 minutes and 38 seconds.’   Carbondale Eclipse

As I was walking the SIU Campus today I noticed a Eclipse Fair…being set up, in conjunction with the historic event.

The ancient Egyptian Running Dog, the Saluki, is the mascot for Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

NASA will be broadcasting from the Football Stadium.

National Media will be converging on our little city.  CBS News will be doing their nightly news broadcast from the Stadium on Monday evening.

Planning for this captivating event has been going on for two years or more.

Carbondale has installed new sidewalks on the primary street leading to SIU.

My friend and former colleague, Elizabeth, has been working night and day to ensure that her, important part of the operation, runs like a finely tuned clock!

People are streaming in…anticipation….and excitement are at their zenith!

The SIU Campus and the Carbondale Community…will never be the same!

NOW – 4 Days 21 Hours 21 Minutes 31 Seconds

‘Through the looking glass is a metaphorical expression.  It means: on the strange side, in the twilight zone, in a strange parallel world.  It comes from the idea of Lewis Carol’s novel: ‘Through the Looking-Glass’, and the strange and mysterious world Alice finds when she steps through a mirror.’   Quora

‘Trump: ‘Both sides’ to blame for Charlottesville’

‘In a remarkable news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower, President Donald Trump blamed the violence in the Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday on both sides of the conflict, equating the white supremacists on one side with the ‘alt-left’ on the other side.

‘I think there is blame on both sides,’ he said.’

‘He added: ‘You had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent, nobody wants to say it, but I will say it right now.’

‘Trump defended his 48-hour delay in denouncing whit supremacists, arguing that he took his time because he didn’t know the facts.’   CNN

‘Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!’   Isaiah  5:20

Heather Hyer is dead.

‘A North Carolina KKK leader says that he is ‘glad’ that anti-white supremacist protestor Heather Heyer was run down and killed in Virginia.’   New York Daily News

‘I’m sorta glad that them people got hit and I’m glad that girl died’, Justin Moore ‘a Grand Dragon’ in a KKK organization, told WBTV’

‘The voicemail for the group’s phone number also praises Fields’ [Neo-Nazi James Fields who drove his car into a crowd of people, injuring several and killing Ms. Hyer]

‘Nothing makes us more proud at the KKK than we see white patriots such as James Fields Jr. age 20, taking his car and running over nine communist anti-fascist, killing one n—-r lover named Heather Heyer.’   New York Daily News

I was driving to Carbondale earlier today.  The Sheriff has a Command Post, about two and one half miles from my house…and I live in the country.

I stopped in our local Kroger store, for a grand slice of hand tossed pizza, and overheard two gentlemen talking.  One exclaimed to the other, ‘that NASA was going to leave the telescope, that they had sent to SIU, as the next eclipse was happening in 2024.’

The Re-Grand Opening of Kroger, as it has been remodeled, had a lot of people inside today.  I could not ascertain if these people were stocking up, as we have been admonished to do before the eclipse viewers descend on our little city, or if, indeed, the Sun Enthusiast had already begun to arrive.

This past Saturday, we journeyed to Blue Sky Winery…which is the nexus for the longest duration of the eclipse…in the nation.

Our friend, Liz, joined us…and we had a lovely day!

I asked one of the young women that was working at the winery…if she was ready for the influx of sun and wine connoisseur?  She said that she was.

Traffic seemed greater…but it is also move in week for SIU…in preparation for the Fall Semester that begins next week.

I caught a glimpse of our new Chancellor…he seemed excited and ready for the challenge.

My old friend, Jim Allen, is coming back to Southern Illinois from his home in Texas..to see the eclipse.  I remember talking with him about an eclipse…when we were kids…many years ago.

Our University is looking resplendent and ready for the upcoming semester!  We are excited about displaying it for the thousands of wonderful people that are coming to visit us…it is our special treasure!

It seems that in our present day…all to few things…bring us together.  Certainly it is exciting to be a part of an all encompassing event, the eclipse, that captivates the attention of the nation…and focuses it on Little Egypt…Southern Illinois!

One of the pristine delights of Southern Illinois University is the majestic natural woods and wildlife…that are literally surround you!

Literally, squirrels, almost eat out of your hand and deer contemplate their human neighbors with curious and benign neglect.

‘I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by an epaulet I could have worn.’   Henry David Thoreau

‘ I saw a muskrat come out of a hole in the ice…While I am looking at him, I am thinking what he is thinking of me.  He is a different sort of man, thats all.’   Henry David Thoreau

‘I saw deep in the eyes of the animals the human soul look out upon me.  I saw where it was born deep down under feathers and fur, or condemned for a while to roam four-footed among the brambles, I caught the clinging mute glance of the prisoner and swore that I would be faithful.’   Henry David Thoreau

What an intricately weaved Laboratory of Nature and Life…to receive a first class University education!

‘Many Americans watched transfixed as members of those groups marched down the street, barked out anti-Semitic chants and openly displayed the symbols of Nazi Germany and the secessionist South.’

‘And many looked on in horror as a speeding car crashed into other vehicles on a crowded street Saturday afternoon, resulting in the death of a 32-year-old woman and injuries to at least 19 other people.’

‘We achieved all of our objectives,’ Matthew Heimbach, a founder of the Nationalist Front, a neo-Nazi group that bills itself as an umbrella organization for the white nationalist movement, said in and interview Saturday.  ‘We showed that our movement is not just online, but growing physically.  We asserted ourself as the voice of white America.’  New York Times

Americans, fought and died in World War II…to defeat Hitler and Nazism.

Over six million Jews died in the Gas Chambers of Nazi Germany.

I have often heard the accusation that Black Lives Matter should include that all lives matter.

It has never been my assumption that the Black Lives Matter group…does not care about white or other ethnic groups lives…but rather it is a cry against the documented injustice that the African American Community has suffered since they were first brought to this country, against their will, as slaves.

‘Ex-KKK leader David Duke has told Donald Trump to ‘take a good look in the mirror and remember it was white Americans who put you in the presidency.’   Mirror

‘After hours of silence, President Donald Trump commented on the white nationalist rally and related violence happening in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday.’

‘We all must be united & condemn all that hate stands for.  There is no place for this kind of violence in America.  Lets come together as one!’

A second Tweet said, ‘Am in Bedminster for meetings & press conference on V.A. & all that we have done, and and are doing, to make it better-but Charlotesville sad!’

‘In Bedminster on Saturday, Mr. Trump said he and his team were closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville, Va., ‘then tried to portray the violence there as a chronic, bipartisan plague.  ‘It has been going on for a long time in our country,’ he said.  ‘It is not Donald Trump, it’s not Barack Obama.’   New York Times

‘In remarks from his Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he has been on a working vacation, Trump made the following statement: ‘We condemn in the strongest terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.’   NBC News

There is only one side to the virulent…cancerous…corruption of ant-Semitism and Racism…it is wrong and evil and it must be called out and identified in the strongest of terms by all of us…and…by our President!

The KKK and many white supremacist groups claim to be devout christians.  I wonder if they are aware that Jesus was born to a Jewish mother and father?

‘His head and his hairs were white like wool. as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.  Revelation 1: 14-15   KJV