Conservative Conversation and Community
The Darkling Thrush
By Thomas Hardy
MoreI leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-grey,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.
Barack Obama and his cohort did more damage to the Republic in his two terms than did all the combined evil of the world in any other eight-year period of our history. One could say the Civil War had some constructive aspect; it at least resolved the otherwise-impossible issue of chattel slavery. Slavery is incompatible […]
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When Ricochet member @andrewklavan posted about his new book called The Great Good Thing – A Secular Jew Comes to Faith in Christ, I was curious. I was curious why he took a little flack from a few Jewish members of Ricochet when he posted about his new book, who didn’t feel he gave Judaism a fair shake. But that’s not why I ordered the book. As a Christian, I was born into the faith, but came to a more personal faith backward and sideways, sometimes kicking and screaming. I was curious to hear about another person’s journey of faith – was it worse than mine?
So I ordered it and threw it up on my bookshelf for another day. Published in 2016, I am three years late in picking it up, but not really. I read it at the perfect time. There are times in a person’s life when a book like this is profound and quite frankly, more appreciated, than other times. The recent deaths of people I love and thoughts about mortality and immortality flowing through my mind, rapidly changing world events, including challenges to people of faith, especially Christians and Jews, with the dramatic rise in antisemitism, religious persecution across the world, and the upcoming peace talks in Israel made it the right time.
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I’ve walked in the fields, and I’ve trod light for daysSeems I’ll do that old rag, takes me all kinds of waysExcept the way I’d be headed if I knew where I was goingBut I’m from the country, and it’s better not knowing. I do not pretend to know much about life. I have read […]
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Man does not live by bread alone. As bread was being earned at a record clip, and more people got off the dole, more people in their prime years cut their own lives short. Reflecting back on the U.S. military’s Herculean effort to end suicide in the service, an unwon battle, I am painfully aware there is no clear solution, no magic pill or words. And. I wonder if our changing societal habits and beliefs make vulnerable people more vulnerable.
2017 brought unbroken good economic news, and not just for stockholders. President Trump repeated at every occasion the good news for everyone, including demographic groups who had been lagging in employment. Wages started to rise. And in the midst of all this, the suicide rate increased to a 50-year peak.
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“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year” ~ E. Scrooge We have arrived at December at last; I trust we can all agree that Christmas music is at now acceptable. For me it started in the summer. My Pandora commonly shuffles over to ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ […]
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TL;DR: This might be a moment that you feel good and satisfied in, but it is at precisely this moment that you should start making calls and knocking on doors for Congressmen. Nemesis hangs over us, and and it is likely that there will not be a better opportunity to make a difference. If you don’t already have a good candidate in mind, I’d recommend signing up to make calls for Peter Roskam (R-IL 6th).
Kavanaugh made it. It’s hard to predict precisely what will come from having a Court with five conservative justices, but it seems safe to say “a lot”.
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Two little pieces of what looks to me anyway like hopeful signs: that Europe is looking to Australia’s model for how to cope with immigration, and that there may be more atheist, agnostic or otherwise apostate Muslims than we know.
From Quillette, an interview with a Pakistani-Canadian Muslim writer, Ali Rizvi. A few good quotes to give the flavor:
More@bethanymandel did a post on her friend’s new book called, ”Leaving Cloud 9”, By Erica Anderson. https://ricochet.com/532746/when-you-leave-cloud-9/ More
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Before things can change we have to first imagine how things could be and that is what I write here: More
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Ahh! Springtime. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming and people everywhere are coming out of their winter caves. For the last couple of weeks, we here in the Southwest have had our usual springtime winds. Yes, there is nothing like 60 mph wind gusts, kicking up tons of dust to welcome spring into your home […]
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The village I grew up in had a population of about 850 (not including livestock). It was a peaceful little place, nestled next to mountains, and far away from the hustle and bustle of any city. In winter, I played outside in the snow; in summer, I played outside on the lawn (or in the […]
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Flipping through the channels recently, I stumbled onto our local Tallahassee Public Station, featuring the Fiftieth Anniversary of Mr. Rogers Special. Mr. Rogers started out in my hometown of Pittsburgh on WQED. The special is narrated by then stagehand, actor Michael Keaton, who was also a character in the musical skits (think low budget). Michael […]
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Billy Graham passed from this world into the next at the amazing age of 99. I heard a quote by him today that is even inspiring amidst news of his passing. It was adapted from someone Rev. Graham admired, a 19th-century evangelist named Dwight L. Moody:
More“Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive that I am now. I will have just changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.”
The decorations came down, the tree put up or tossed to the roadside, cards read once more and gradually, life goes back to the hustle and demands of the New Year. Christians worldwide anticipate the holidays with fervor, shopping, baking, concerts, hymns and carols, gifts, decorating, the ringing of bells, sending cards, and church services. […]
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They were Old Chimes – Trust me. Not speechless though – far from it. They had clear, loud, lusty sounding voices, had these Bells and far and wide they might be heard upon the wind. They would pour their cheerful notes into a listening ear royally, and bent on being heard; on stormy nights, by some poor mother watching a sick child, or some lone wife whose husband was at sea. Falling out into the road to look up at the belfry when the Chimes sounded, Toby stood still, for they were company to him.
Toby found himself face to face with his own child and looking close into her eyes. Bright eyes they were. Eyes that would bear a world of looking in, before their depths were fathomed. Dark eyes, that reflected back the eyes which searched them, not flashingly, but with a clear, calm, honest patient radiance, claiming kindred with the Light which Heaven called into being. Eyes that were beautiful and true, and beaming with Hope. With Hope so young and fresh; with Hope so buoyant, vigorous and bright.
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This time of year seems to bring out joy, wonder, sadness, mourning, inspiration, and anticipation more than any other. I have been reflecting over the recent 12 months as a new year approaches – a time of endings and new beginnings.
Among all the lights, festivities, and holiday preparation, I got a phone call that my cousin passed away. She was almost 16 years older than me, but a part of my growing years. She taught me to twist, was glamorous, my big tall older cousin with the big smile and ready laugh. We kept in touch on occasion – my last email from her after the Las Vegas massacre was “We’re fine – we weren’t near the Strip — you can’t go anywhere and feel safe anymore — it’s awful!!” Her sister tearfully called me, saying she was in the middle of life, groceries still on the counter. This time of year can be tough.
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You walk a familiar route. Again, there is litter on the ground. You pick it up and dispose of it when you can. There is always litter these days. And it’s getting worse. Every week there is more. You had hoped your example would inspire others, though that might not have been your full purpose. […]
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Though Benedict is still living, Francis is trying to bury him. So writes Matthew Schmitz at First Things. More
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This video seems to me to be something we’ve been waiting for — a voice within Islam to shame and expel the violent extremist. To celebrate life and love instead of death. There’s no hiding the bomber’s religious motivation; he recites the Muslims’ creed. But the others counter what he says with positive messages from Islam. They point to the misery bombers have caused with images of destruction and the presence of people — Muslims — who have been hurt by them.
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