It's Wings All Aflutter Thing

Dear America,

Virtue and Happiness are

 Mother and Daughter

Poor Richard's Almanack

by Ben

so... recently purchased a birthday card for somebody very, very special to me and chose a beauty, made by PAPYRUS -- the company logo floats a little hummingbird off the upper right hand corner.

It comes complete with a gold seal, and offers a sweet sentiment inside, and even includes an insert to carefully cover the front of the card while in transit from the giver to the receiver.  It's like they think of everything, you know.  And not only do they think of everything, but think of things outside the realm of expectations, in an over and above the industry standards kind of way.

Upon this simple cardstock insert -- the one that is to guard the card with its life until final destination -- comes an instant pick me up for life itself, and reads:

"Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration.  The hummingbird's delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life's sweetest creation."

indeed.

and then again, sometimes it just sucks.

oh yes,

but laughter is "life's sweetest creation," isn't it.  Isn't it?

Perhaps today, it's the residual laughter I hear in the back of my mind from a conversation just a few days ago with my mama that is propelling my thoughts on the day... 

It was a riot, really; for the first time in a long time, I heard my mama laugh like a little school girl.  And the funniest thing was, given the circumstances, given the strife with things going a wee bit cuckoo in her everyday life -- she should have been loosing it, as in kicking and screaming and crying in every way.

But she laughed.

and she laughed...

and she laughed...

She brought us both to delirious, can't catch my breath, tears through life's sweetest creation, allowing our spirits to soar above the thing that carried the power to break us in two.

"Life IS rich, beauty IS everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and [that] laughter IS life's sweetest creation."  But when it's not, an exorcism by giggles works wonders.

Which brings me to the unfortunate reality that we clearly have enough going on in America these days to send us all over an edge,  and landing smack dab into the funny farm with no foreseeable way out.  Oh to be a hummingbird right now -- to be able to "float free of time" over and above the mire, to flit and flutter in total freedom without a care in the world, bouncing from one of life's sweet nectars to another.

What are we to do with the likes of Eric Holder -- to say such a thing as this?

"Creating a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in this country is essential. The way we treat our friends and neighbors who are undocumented – by creating a mechanism for them to earn citizenship and move out of the shadows – transcends the issue of immigration status. This is a matter of civil and human rights. It is about who we are as a nation. And it goes to the core of our treasured American principle of equal opportunity."

A matter of civil rights?

Illegal aliens enter our country ILLEGALLY, usurping the leverage and lawfulness of immigrants coming to America LEGALLY, and after decades of being incapable of securing the border, growing the "unauthorized immigrants" to 11 million (if that is even true -- who really knows by now, right) -- our Attorney General believes this waywardness falls under some kind of civil right now? 

Civil rights are for citizens only.

Does this blanketed amnesty program cover student visas from Yemen, Chechnya, and Egypt too?  Does this mean American taxpayers will supplement struggling immigrants to "fit in" and pursue happiness, providing full access to a boatload of entitlement programs, as well?   Do these freshly plucked citizens get social security starting at the age of 65, no questions asked?   Are we investigating any other civil travesty in the form of providing a Jihad Allowance,  as we piece together the lifestyles of the suddenly nouveau-riche and radical? 

We shouldn't even be talking about amnesty, illegal aliens, and extremist allowances; the only thing we should be talking about is closing up the shutters and locking the doors until such time we have a handle on all things known and unknown.   Not even so much as a hummingbird should be allowed until the exploitation of resources, civility, and Constitution are corrected.

It's like that policy when up at 35,000 feet -- you know the one; when the cabin pressure drops, we are told to put our own mask on first, then the children...

America can't even afford to pay attention these days and we have Holder, and Obama, and the entire Left (alongside some surprising talking heads of the right), thinking its a bright idea to just make it so, adding eleven million people to the welfare rolls, food stamps, and universal healthcare and audaciously granting an open invitation to allow other family members still to come?  Much like the protective placard sent with every PAPYRUS note, are you not, as the Attorney General, Mr. Holder, responsible for guarding America with your life?

I can't breathe.

All of a sudden it's now a civil right -- tethering all Americans to yet another long term, financial commitment, and thereby, making any kind of future solvency and economic freedom totally unattainable. It's a trajectory that ultimately hits a wall, a ceiling, with wings spinning aimlessly into chaos.

Fundamental transformation by virtue of the delicate grace of radicals -- whether in office, or not.

I can't breathe.

I read on www.astrology.com, courtesy of Yahoo!, something just the other day that rings somehow connected to all of this.  It went something like this:

'Culture clashes don't have to be negative experiences.  Sometimes, when you come face to face with a different tradition or custom, it makes you re-evaluate your own lifestyle in a much more conscientious way.'

Indeed.

Did you know that because of the amount of lift generated in flight, it's possible for the wings of a hummingbird to go motionless even in mid-air; it's also the only bird that can fly backwards, upside down, in circles, if it wants, splendidly "free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration."

My question in this moment -- as I hover in time and space and circumstance --  how much IS conscientious for the typical immigrant coming to America today?  Before they come -- I wonder just how much time is spent contemplating how best to assimilate into the American culture and traditions, the culture and traditions that have proven to make America pretty wonderful -- creating a life that is rich, where beauty can be found everywhere, where every personal connection has meaning, and where the pursuit of happiness is an opportunity, not a guarantee, fully recognizing it's something truly earned, Mr. Holder, in every sense of the imagination and understanding?   Do you have America's best interests at heart?

Just as Mexico -- and every other country in the world -- upholds it's traditions, it's culture, it's laws, it's principles and values for enriching and uplifting and conscientiously reinforcing the lives of it's people -- so does America.  We have that, too.   How immigrants can come here and not expect us to be America, on behalf of all Americans, is mind boggling.  How immigrants can come here and expect us to disrespect our own laws, is simply astounding. 

And does this personal sense of entitlement, now automatically attached to every single American civil right -- endorsed emphatically, although reprehensibly, by our very own Attorney General and many others -- give rise to a cultural divide a mountain high and a valley long?

Oh to be a hummingbird, how I could just fly, fly away.

Though good news may be on the horizon, for the president has recently admitted that he's not the "strapping young Muslim Socialist" he used to be...touché, mr. president...And just today, he said, 'maybe I should just pack up and go home.'   Such a kidder.

Must remember the laughter -- life's sweetest creation -- the thing that carries the power and grace to save us from the day to day.

Make it a Good Day, G