Ziggy the cartoon character just celebrated his 40th birthday. He’s the ne’er do well who’s always trying to get a girlfriend (unsuccessfully), and seldom wears pants. Sounds like a certain congressman.
Ziggy’s creator, Tom Wilson Sr, passed the strip on to his son, Tom Jr, several years ago. This father faithfully taught Tom Jr the fine art of cartooning each Saturday eating at Bob’s Big Boy in Berea OH when Tom was a small boy. What a wonderful father.
Our nation had some incredible Founding Fathers, specifically the original 56 signers of The Declaration Of Independence?
Five of them were captured by the British and tortured as traitors before they died. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Another had 2 sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds of the War.
Each realized the risk when they signed pledging “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
John Hart is typical. Driven by the British from his wife’s bedside as she was dying, he and their 13 children fled for their lives in all directions. His fields and gristmill were laid waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves. He returned home to find his wife dead and children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion--and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston had stories starkly similar to Hart’s (Encyclopedia Britannica and History Channel archive).
Few of us living today know much about this kind of sacrifice for our country. Gold star wives, children, mothers and fathers do. But most of us think fuel-less Fridays or dialing down our AC is a major deal.
What kind of future does this unfamiliarity with sacrifice and “paying the price” portend for America? I’m praying the various cuts, crises and challenges we’re encountering cause us to go deep into the same fabric of the American soul that made these men great. If you look closely at this cloth you’ll see the words “in God we trust” embroidered there with scarlet thread from patriot blood.
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance" (Psalms 33:12 NIV Bible).
