Granada11111's Journal in December 2007
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From the Cathey Civil War letters
Tuesday,Dec 18 2007, 04:41:48 PM (Last updated: Thursday,Jan 10 2008, 04:05:48 PM)
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My great great grandfather James Cathey, Hiwassee, Towns County, Georgia, to his cousin Col. Cathey, November 12, 1863. James Cathey indicates that crops in his area have been ruined due to bad weather and asks Cathey’s assistance in locating corn for sale and land to rent. James is 51 years old at the time of this letter. Joseph Cathey (1803-1874) of Haywood County, North Carolina, was a community leader who often received requests for assistance from soldiers or home front families during the Civil War. The Letter: Hiwassee Ga Nov 12 -- 1863. This letter is among the Cathey Collection which is part of Photographs & Civil War Letters from the Hunter Library.
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Not all heroes’ are on the battlefield. My heroes are those who surround and influence my life. My hero She is the single mom that goes it alone. They are the firefighters who rush into the burning building. They are those who seek justice and freedom. He is my dog who greets me when I come home They are the police men and women who keep us safe. She is mother Teresa giving love and hope. They are my brothers of the Corp from Nam who did not come home. He is Martin Luther King making the dream that we are all brothers and sisters. They are the children who seeking love that suffer. He is Christopher Reeve who made difference when all others would give up. They are the artist bringing us creation, beauty, and fulfillment as they suffer. They are my family and love ones. But most of all is that man or woman who forgives themselves to love again. Perhaps I can be a hero someday just like you, my friend.
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The absence of love hurts
Monday,Dec 10 2007, 01:00:05 PM (Last updated: Monday,Dec 10 2007, 05:11:01 PM)
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My brother the day I dreaded has come. I am as a blazed marked pine in a forest of ghosts. Our generation that walked the red hills and clay is gone but me alone. I will miss you my brother as the ones that were before you. You have left me as the storyteller. I never saw you play cards but perhaps your cards were the situations you were dealt.That poor hand. You played so well … is a winning hand at the call. Our dad had stood in time when the everyday worker was taken advantage of. He never sold out and kept his principles. His creditors told that he had no job or prospect of one by his former employer when he refused to renounce his friends. For a place to live, Dad rented several rooms from a bootlegger in Little Texas. The roughest, meanest, and toughest part of town. There with Mom, Thad, and Dad and you were to spend your earlier years.. You just would not be bullied. You everyday would have to fight one and usually more than one at time; I think Mom just got tired of your teacher coming to see her so often. She talked to dad about moving the country where Thad and you could and would grow up. Our mother was courageous and so sacrificing, so courageous that she asked Grandpaw Rowland for $2000.00 dollars as down payment for farm you kept trust in memory of Mike, Mom and Dad. $2000 dollars in the early thirties was a fortune. If you knew my Grandpa then you would know how brave Mom was. Momma was right. The farm was right for you. You loved the earth, the plantings, and animals.... A new school Centerville. Ironically some your buddies you played with then, you played with in your years. You were kinda wild as teen. I was listening as you and Thad speak of your great adventures. Neither of you worry because I am not telling, You found your center of your universe. The love of your life. …Jeanette. You confided in me that had you been a single man you would never made back from all theses pieces of hell you served in. How come you were the counselor to those generals and even to the President Johnston? You never finished High School till you took your GED 20 years later. It took a long time before you could tell (be declassified) some of the story. I remember what you told you told President Johnston. Mr. President, This is my personal assessment of the situation, I am a soldier I will follow my orders regardless my personal viewpoint. The Vet Nam War behind us…. You retired to come to place and ones you loved. You built that house where you dreamed you would as child. You built it mostly with your own hands. You know I am kinda envious of you. You got the heart of our mother and the tinker skill of our dad and his happiness. You learned well. You gave the same compassion, hard work, and devotion that Mom did to others. You brought joy with your laughter; kindness and happiness to all us just like Dad You told me that calling on name of Jesus saved you. Well you are in good hands. If others want to see you my brother they only have to look into their heart or the heart of one of your beloved. …You are there…. in all you did for us. What is love but completion? Today my brother you are complete with Jesus. I am not going to cry for you my, but for me. I lost my beloved brother. The absence of love hurts. |
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Integrity requires me to live my life with truth. It makes it uncomfortable for me to side-step issues to avoid conflict and gives me the freedom to be who I really am. Integrity is doing the right thing at all times. Without this how can you trust me? How can I trust myself without this? or at least try to live my life as best in truth? |
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I do it sometimes. I am more convinced each day that a lie regardless of intent is morally wrong. I am imspired by a young person who says... there must be a better way. I don't dig into people's private lives. I never have. Sometimes a lie, a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive, seems the perfect response: a brother lies about his sister's where-abouts to the drunken husband threatening to harm her, a doctor tells a depressed patient that he has a 50-50 chance of long-term recovery when she is confident he'll live only six months, a son gives his late mother's estate to the poor after promising to honor her demand that the money be placed in her coffin. When trying to do the right thing in a difficult situation, perfect honesty may seem second best next to values like compassion, respect, and justice. Yet many philosophical and religious traditions have long claimed that rarely, if ever, is a lie permissible. What, then, is the truth about lying? A lie is theft. Lying corrupts the most important quality of my being human: my ability to make free, rational choices. Each lie I tell contradicts the part of me that gives me moral worth. Second, my lies rob others of their freedom to choose rationally. When my lie leads people to decide other than they would had they known the truth, I have harmed their human dignity and autonomy. There is potentially great cost in tolerating lies for vague or subjective reasons, including lies in honor of "the greater good." Lies frequently assume "lives of their own" and result in consequences that people do not intend or fail to predict. Moreover, it is very difficult for a person to be objective in estimating the good and the harm that his or her lies will produce. We have a vested interest in the lies we tell and an equally vested interest in believing that the world will be better if we lie from one instance to the next. For these reasons, critics claim, lying is morally wrong because we cannot accurately measure lies' benefits and harms. Many people believe it is a bigger problem today than it has ever been. A recent Time magazine cover story concluded, "Lies flourish in social uncertainty, when people no longer understand, or agree on, the rules governing their behavior toward one another." |
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