PAGE TWELVE
They spared her nothing. She persevered.They lost. She won...
Page twelve, like so many pages of her marvelous book, is very rich and abundant. I could easily write about Grandpa CJ, "a graying Ronald Reagan," and the wonderful family games of Scrabble (our dear friend RAM, BTW, loves Scrabble, as I recall.).
I could easily write about Chuck Heath again, as I did in the comments on p. 10. "Dad loved teaching and coaching all kinds of sports." There is a model and exemplar here, in these few and seemingly simple words, for a true reform of the content of our educational system. I think of the immortal coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi, who was a high-school Latin teacher earlier in his career, before he achieved glory in the National Football League.
In a nutshell: We need "Latin" and "football" in our schools, not the PC nonsense that all too often goes on there now. I use "Latin" to cover the basics: Latin (and even Greek), English language and literature, math, history (especially US History and the study of the Constitution), and science. I use "football" to cover sports in general. It is the Classical ideal of mens sana in corpore sano, a sound mind in a sound body.
However, worthy as all these subjects would be, I would like to move to the lower part of p. 12, and focus on William Seward. Just as Jack London's novels "called Dad north," so Jack London's name calls me to the subject of Seward's dream, dubbed "Seward's Folly" by his uncomprehending enemies.
Sarah writes, "It was just thirty years before London's arrival [in Skagway], in 1867, that Secretary of State William H. Seward bought Alaska from the Russians. The government paid two cents an acre, adding 586,412 square miles to U.S. territory. Critics ridiculed Seward for spending so much on a remote chunk of earth that some thought of as just a frozen, inhospitable wilderness that was dark half the year.
The $7.2 million purchase became known as 'Seward's Folly' or 'Seward's Icebox.' Seward withstood the mocking and disdain because of his vision for Alaska." She notes, on the next page, how Seward was "posthumously vindicated," as The Great Land's abundant natural resources began to be discovered, and her strategic geographical position came to be clearly seen.
My friends, have we not come full circle? America's Alaska was born out of the depths of the soul of a man who possessed the steel of spirit and the eagle's vision to withstand "mocking and disdain."
Now, today, in these fateful months, America herself is poised on the very cusp and edge and verge of being reborn out of the depths of the soul of an Alaskan woman who has the iron firmness of backbone, the golden greatness of heart, and the ethereal loftiness and gallantry of mind and spirit to confront, to withstand, to defy "mocking and disdain"...mocking and disdain of the most cruel, heartless, and diabolical kind!
And, lo, she maketh and taketh this stand with bright, lovely eyes, with a "million-dollar" smile, and with the laughter and joy of a soul that reposes all its trust in the Lord.
Indeed, to say that our fearless, lovely lady has confronted "mocking and disdain" would be like saying that Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron hit a few home runs; that Pete Rose got a few hits; that Joe Montana won a big game or two.
No, evil as they are, some of the partisans of the Left did have the clarity of vision to perceive, from the very first hours, on Sarah Palin Day (8-29-08), the mortal threat that the Governor of Alaska posed to all of the plans, all of the structures of power and deception and intimidation that they had been setting in place for decades.
They unleashed a fury of assault on this lone lady from the North Country that seemed to come out of the very jaws of Hell, or, to put it in Tolkienesque terms, out of the foul depths of Mordor itself.
However, their diabolical devices, by the power of the All-Highest, have truly boomeranged back on them!! The more they lied about her life, the more they twisted and distorted her words, the more they heaped buckets and barrels of opprobrium on her, on her family, on her State, on her country, on her religion, on everything she holds true and precious and dear, the more was the iron, the steel, the silver, the gold of her heroic essence and soul revealed for all of America, indeed for all of the world to behold and to love!!
They spared her nothing. She persevered. They lost. She won.
The tiny spark of vision for Alaska that Seward conceived well-nigh unto a century and a half ago has, in our day, become the full, rich, blazing fire of Alaskan Sarah's vision not only for Alaska, but for all of America, for all of her people.
What return can we make for all that the Lord has given to us, for all that Sarah and her family have done and suffered for us?
We shall stand with her; we shall fight with her; we shall pray with her and for her; we shall defend her...we shall love her, love her family, love all that she so nobly incarnates and represents...and IS.
Deo Gratias...Thanks be to God!!!
I could easily write about Chuck Heath again, as I did in the comments on p. 10. "Dad loved teaching and coaching all kinds of sports." There is a model and exemplar here, in these few and seemingly simple words, for a true reform of the content of our educational system. I think of the immortal coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi, who was a high-school Latin teacher earlier in his career, before he achieved glory in the National Football League.
In a nutshell: We need "Latin" and "football" in our schools, not the PC nonsense that all too often goes on there now. I use "Latin" to cover the basics: Latin (and even Greek), English language and literature, math, history (especially US History and the study of the Constitution), and science. I use "football" to cover sports in general. It is the Classical ideal of mens sana in corpore sano, a sound mind in a sound body.
However, worthy as all these subjects would be, I would like to move to the lower part of p. 12, and focus on William Seward. Just as Jack London's novels "called Dad north," so Jack London's name calls me to the subject of Seward's dream, dubbed "Seward's Folly" by his uncomprehending enemies.
Sarah writes, "It was just thirty years before London's arrival [in Skagway], in 1867, that Secretary of State William H. Seward bought Alaska from the Russians. The government paid two cents an acre, adding 586,412 square miles to U.S. territory. Critics ridiculed Seward for spending so much on a remote chunk of earth that some thought of as just a frozen, inhospitable wilderness that was dark half the year.
The $7.2 million purchase became known as 'Seward's Folly' or 'Seward's Icebox.' Seward withstood the mocking and disdain because of his vision for Alaska." She notes, on the next page, how Seward was "posthumously vindicated," as The Great Land's abundant natural resources began to be discovered, and her strategic geographical position came to be clearly seen.
My friends, have we not come full circle? America's Alaska was born out of the depths of the soul of a man who possessed the steel of spirit and the eagle's vision to withstand "mocking and disdain."
Now, today, in these fateful months, America herself is poised on the very cusp and edge and verge of being reborn out of the depths of the soul of an Alaskan woman who has the iron firmness of backbone, the golden greatness of heart, and the ethereal loftiness and gallantry of mind and spirit to confront, to withstand, to defy "mocking and disdain"...mocking and disdain of the most cruel, heartless, and diabolical kind!
And, lo, she maketh and taketh this stand with bright, lovely eyes, with a "million-dollar" smile, and with the laughter and joy of a soul that reposes all its trust in the Lord.
Indeed, to say that our fearless, lovely lady has confronted "mocking and disdain" would be like saying that Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron hit a few home runs; that Pete Rose got a few hits; that Joe Montana won a big game or two.
No, evil as they are, some of the partisans of the Left did have the clarity of vision to perceive, from the very first hours, on Sarah Palin Day (8-29-08), the mortal threat that the Governor of Alaska posed to all of the plans, all of the structures of power and deception and intimidation that they had been setting in place for decades.
They unleashed a fury of assault on this lone lady from the North Country that seemed to come out of the very jaws of Hell, or, to put it in Tolkienesque terms, out of the foul depths of Mordor itself.
However, their diabolical devices, by the power of the All-Highest, have truly boomeranged back on them!! The more they lied about her life, the more they twisted and distorted her words, the more they heaped buckets and barrels of opprobrium on her, on her family, on her State, on her country, on her religion, on everything she holds true and precious and dear, the more was the iron, the steel, the silver, the gold of her heroic essence and soul revealed for all of America, indeed for all of the world to behold and to love!!
They spared her nothing. She persevered. They lost. She won.
The tiny spark of vision for Alaska that Seward conceived well-nigh unto a century and a half ago has, in our day, become the full, rich, blazing fire of Alaskan Sarah's vision not only for Alaska, but for all of America, for all of her people.
What return can we make for all that the Lord has given to us, for all that Sarah and her family have done and suffered for us?
We shall stand with her; we shall fight with her; we shall pray with her and for her; we shall defend her...we shall love her, love her family, love all that she so nobly incarnates and represents...and IS.
Deo Gratias...Thanks be to God!!!
