A different christmas poem

A Different Christmas Poem
By Michael Marks

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Turkey day has come and gone...

And im still at work. I finnaly finsihed up all the stuff i had to do today and got some loose time.

I caught a whale of a cold cleaning raw water tanks tues and wed so im blowing snot and sneezing my ass off. Aleeve cold and sinus is our freind BTW.

The rents' and grand rents' came out to the plant and had a look around today. They thought it was pretty neat. Usual oohs and ahhs. Just wait till' we get our new plant up and running. that'll make em' crap thier pants.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Thanksgiving. A time for food, festvities and football. Mixed in with a side of car wrecks, argueing families, screaming kids, violent shopping, fistfigts over who gets to buy the popular toys, and another year of my parents bitching that i spend too much time with my wife's family. Aint the holidays grand?

I will be blogging light over most of the holidays. I work 12 on/12 off shifts for alot of it, and that makes for long days and short nights. Christmas greetings to all from SLFWTP.

Making a decision Pt 2

A line in the sand

The views i am about to publish are unpopular. I have been banned from message boards for speaking them. you can make of them what you will.

At some point, we as americans, as christians, and human beings will have to draw a line in the sand. I am reminded of Cpatain Picard in Star Trek: First Contact, "We draw the line here! This far, no farther!" This line will be where we fight no matter what the cost, no matter what the hardship until our goals are realized. Should we fail, the world will fall to darkness and freedom will be a mere footnote to history of a failed idea that was subjugated by the forces of fear and cowardice.

Where this line is drawn is a decision that is up to you to make as an individual. Where do you find reduction of your freedom unacceptable and are you willing to give up your luxury of wealth, your freedom or your very life to defend it? Most will give ground until there is no more to give. When they find themselves at the brink, they falter and fall into line with all others who simply "go with the flow". I am reminded of a quote and I fail to remember its speaker:
"Far greater is it, to dare mighty things and fail, than to take rank among the poor souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Most lack the courage to fight for what they believe. They are the "keyboard commandos" and "armchair patton's" of this world. Our founding fathers called them "fair weather patriots". They see all the options and choose the ones which will affect them the least. I fear many have fallen into this trap of laziness and ease.

There WILL come a day in this country when the choice must be made. No more putting it off till tomorrow, no more thinking about it. Make your choice NOW. You're with us or them. One or the other. No grey area to squabble about, no room for bending the rules. Black and white. When you choose your camp, you must stick to it. No changing horses in midstream. If you lack the courage to make that decision, you will be steamrolled by those that do and you will be lost.

Now back to gods plan. As stated before, god has a plan for each of us. Sometimes we can guess a bit at that plan by the skills and feelings he instills in us. Since i was a small child i have always felt some kind of warrior persona inside me. Not instilled by my praents or my peers, or by any other. Just that gut feeling that you tend to trust your entire life that this is right and this is wrong. I have done brave things and i have done cowardly things. They are part of growing up as a human. I have run up to a burning vehicle to help roll a propane tank away to contain the blaze and i have shirked a simple task because i was tired. All these things help a person learn what right and wrong is.

I know god has a special place in heaven for true warriors. Where war is a memory and those that have fought their battles may be at peace with others who know the harship of a cold foxhole, the sting of hot brass and the acrid odor of gunsmoke and death.

God has instilled a knowledge of weapons in me that is rare in our time. When i was six years old i picked up a handgun for the first time in my life and outshot people who had been doing it for years. I can pick up a totally unfamiliar rifle or SMG and within fifteen seconds i can operate it as well as a trained soldier. If god gave me these skills I believe he wishes me to use them. I don't deign to think i understand gods plan, for that is far above any mortal being. But maybe i can see just a littel bit of my part.

If i am needed to fight for what i believe in, so be it. whether i fight with words or hot lead i will always do my best. I will always lead by example and not word. I will never fear what i cannot control. I will always do what i think is right, regardless of cost or outcome. If you think you can do the same, i welcome your company and your counsel.

Whatever may come in this world, you must have the courage to face it head on and not slink away in fear. I DO NOT fear death in any way. Be it from cancer or a bullet, i have made my peace with god and am comforatble with what i have done in my life. I'm not proud of some of it but when i meet my maker i will stand up straight and say here is my life. I am not ashamed of it. I did my best.

Making a decision Pt 1

Im going to break this up into a couple different parts so bear with me until it is complete and you will follow my reasoning.

A good writer ,fran, over at Eternity road is in a bit of a funk. Read here:
http://www.eternityroad.info/index.php/weblog/single/frans_sunday_ruminations_prophets_jesters_and_destroyers/
Fear not Fran. The silent majority feels your pain. We will be there. THe following is for you.

Many times I have pondered why it is that god revealed himself to us so many years ago. I have come to the conclusion that it is for times such as those we live in now. Where the very fabric of our lives and beliefs is threatened. I subscribe to no particular religion or set form of worship. I consider myself a monotheistic christian. I believe in one god that has an all-reaching, all-seeing plan for us from the day we are born. What we expieience in life and what we make of ourselves is what god has planned for us. Whether we make shoes or drive a dump truck, god has a need for us to be doing exactly what we are.

I have held many jobs. Some for as long as five years, some for two weeks. I have done everything from working in a nursing home mopping floors to an ASE certified auto mechanic, to my current job as a water treatment specialist. I have been in the army and I have spent a night or two in jail. All have been learning expieriences.

My great love in life is my family. I have a good wife and a five month old daughter. I cant complain about either. My other great love is weapons. I have been derided most of my life for my over-riding interest in firearms, blades and all thier accounterments. I have a wee hankering of what may be in store for me in the future with regard to this. we will go over that topic more later.

As to Fran, in his blog he talks about the feeling he has that a great portion of the western world will fall to islam in this century. I think he is correct up to a certain point. Take our history leading up to WWII. Our country did its best to stay out of the fight. We supplied our allies with war materials, ships, planes and guns. Americans volunteered to go fight for another nation with no strings attached. We as a nation tend to avoid conflict whenever possible. the problem is, once we get angered enough to pitch our hat into the fray (IE pearl harbor) we tend to pound our oppenets into mush. When religion becomes involved it makes the situation much more prickly.

I have no hatred for islam. They have thier set of beliefs, i have mine. I dont care if you want to worship allah or bark at the moon. Just dont try to force it on me. When you do, as the koran states all muslims must, we have a problem. Fran states there are three ways this will be resolved. Subjugation to islam, reformation of islam and elimination of islam. Since sujugation is not in any way an acceptable option we are left with the latter two.

I belive that trying to reform islam would be similar to trying to get a spooked cow into a pen. She'll run every which way but the one you want her to go, all the time getting closer and closer to the pasture gate. Then suddenly right when you think you've got her there she bolts around and out she goes. The only realisitic option is the elimination of ilsam as it currently exists.

This option will get VERY VERY UGLY. People tend to get very nasty when you try to force your opinion on them. I am of the firm opinion there will be the modern equivilant of the medieval crusades at some point. Our children know naught of the crusades as it is currently mostly left outof textebooks as "too biased" for young minds to contemplate. Pure shosh. At age eight i read a book about the crusades and why they were fought. I understood both sides of the conflict and why each side fought for what they belived in. fighting for what you belive in is one of the most powerful personal motivations there is.

Jericho...is getting a little off the map

OK First of all i think it is a decent show with good potential but the produceres need to get whats called a TECHNICAL ADVISOR that knows more than he's seen in other movies about guns and explosives.

Last wed. episode was a travesty to gun owners. How many small towns do you know of where the populace would show up with ONE AR-15 to an armed confrontation? Holy crap in teh small town i live in i know of at least 40 or 50 AK-47s and AR-15s and a few CETME's and FALs thrown in as well. Those tards could have wiped "ravenwood" off the map and never thought twice about it. When you have an enemy of that nature surrounded, you eliminate him. otherwise they will come back-with friends.

Also the way they had the bridge wired was a pathetic display of lack of knoweldge. All it would have done is shook things upa bit, not brought the bridge down. Plus they had the clacker wired backwards.

Back to work

Days off are fun (especially when i get to spend them with my daughter) but getting back to work has its benefits. today i got to clean the reclaim tank all by myself. A daunting task but once complete guves a guy a sense of pride at doing something by yourself that usually takes two or three guys to do.

Got in a littel trigger time over the days off too. My .45-70 is breaking in nicely and i got a couple boxes of .22 through my Walther as well. One of the guys i work with is interested in buying my CETME .308 automatic and he took it out to shoot monday night. There is some interest froma guy in alaska as well but i havent gotten an email back from him yet. My server has been on teh fritz and messages seem to dissapear into the mist sometimes.

A day off work...to do other work

Busy day today. Was out this mornign and worked with a shadetree mech on a 96 carvan he was having trouble with. looks like a faulty computer but He'll have to try new one to know for sure. Heading out on the res. this afternoon to look over a caddy that might need a new motor put in to bid the job as well.

A guy i work with is interested in my .308 semi-auto CETME and wants to shoot it after lunch today to see if he wants to buy it. Im trying to get enough dough together to pick up a bushmaster AR in .223 before the new ban comes along. I dont know if ill get it done or not.

Pelosi and John "humpty dumpty" murtha have it in thier 100 hour plan for after the first of the year to put anew ban on the table.

Slow blogging weekend

I wont be blogging much this weekend as i work 2-12hr shifts and i have a maintenance list as long as my arm to complete. Ill try and get on sunday night and post again.

My .45-70 is here. YAY!

It only had to come from ARIZONA. At least ive got a big bore i can shoot for less than a buck a round now. my .375 is beginning to get prohibitivly expensive. I prices bullets for reloading last night and they jumped to $25.40 for 50. Just the lead tips for .51 cents each. Now add a 10 cent primer and 75-80 cents worth of powder and you've got yourself a $1.41 bang.

Well...

That was an interesting election. Watching the repubs throw away everything they've gained in the last 12 years in one night was something to watch.

The gun forums are abuzz with talk of new assault weapon bans, new handgun bans and excessive taxes on ammunition. Maybe a little tinfoil hattish but not unwarrated.

Im wondering how long it will take before Iran decides we likely wont back up israel if they do something and attack them? Either that or we drop our protest of iran's nuclear program and they advance to the point where a nuke gets onto our soil.

Stick a fork in er'

...she's done. The democraps hold control of the house and possibly the senate as of 2:30 AM central. I don't usually point fingers and lay blame because thats not the person i am. I am pointing my finger at BUSH and laying blame at his doorstep. Piss poor performance in iraq cost us the election and possibly the country. F'ing rope-dick cowboy. Even the great state of south dakota can't even apss a bill banning abortion. What the hell is this country coming to? Screw it. i'm going to spend tommorow loading ammo. A little range time always makes me feel better.

THANK GOD

The F'ing election is going to be done tomorrow. Im tired to death of some volunteer jerk-off harrasing me to vote for his cantidate or issue. Ive been working graveyard shift for the last week and a half and ive been awoken no less than three times a day to answer the phone, only to find it either a computer message or some retard pollster or someone stumping for a cantidate. For the last time
I DON'T VOTE AND I DON'T INTEND TO.
I have stopped beliving change can be made with the ballot box. Call it disenfanchisement of the worst kind if you want. That's your right. Its also my right to not waste my time choosing between the lesser of two evils.

Heroscape

While it takes a while to master the details, IT ROCKS! The only bad part is i have like 150 bucks invested in a board game. Oh well. i got the castle expansion set this weeekend and set it up last night before i came to work. It ads a whole different dimension to the game. You now have a defensible position with only one destructible part to gain entrance. If you can keep a bunch of archers or ranged defenders on the battlements its almost impregnable. mixed in with the bridge and tree expansion set and some river tiles you've got a good battle going. Me and Jason played one map for like 2 hours last evening before i came to work. Im having a hard time finding the volcano expansion set cause the only place ot get it is toys r us and we dont have one close so im trying to run one down online.

Three day weekends

They are nice but the seven day stretches that follow suck. I'll work five graveyard shifts and then two 12 hour day shifts. Then i get another three days off. Not too bad but the overnight transition from graveyard to day is pretty hard.

I'm dreamin'...

..of a bushmaster carbon 15 pistol. Come on now you didn't think id fall in to the cliched' line did you?

http://www.bushmaster.com/shopping/Carbon15/az-c15p21s.asp

at a cold grand it aint cheap either. For that kind of dough i could have a pair of AKSU krinkovs. But hey, you wanna play you gotta pay right?

Bit by bit, the ragheads are getting thier way-and what we will do

Yes i said RAGHEAD. I could also call you a variety of more profane names, but thats not my style. I was reading over at conservative beach girl (http://politicalbeachgirl.blogspot.com/) and her response to a muslim comment on her blog got me thinking. You dont realize just how close they are getting to having thier way here. The whole Samoli taxi driver bit, the lawyers trying to get pork abolished from school menu's, ad nauseum. Bit by bit they will try to get thier "sharia" law in effect here. I challenge you to try that in South Dakota. Us "good ol' boys" have a bit more backbone than we let show on a regular basis. We generally let things slide until they get to the point where you say you're smarter or better or try to force your way on us. That's the point where we turn and tear you to bits.

I really feel they are misjudging us. They watch CNN and FOXNEWS and see us bickering about politics and the race baiting that goes on and think we're a weak lapdog ready to roll over. What they dont realize is we, as amercians, like drama and we fight with each other for entertainment. Watch survivor or and other "reality" TV and you'll understand. When someone else sticks thier nose into it, the first thing we do is come together as americans and punch them in the snoot. We in america don't care what color you are, what god you worship or whether or not you eat relish on your hot dogs. You piss in our wheaties and we will pound you into the ground like a fence post.

Open mouth, insert foot, bite down

I was rolling on the floor after this one.

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/8828/skerryuy0.jpg

Can that guy be a bigger idiot?

Last day of work this week/ Office polititcs blow

I took off thursday and friday this week to get some time with my daughter. The wife is working PTA meetings at her school on thursday night so i have to watch Lil all by myself.

We're cleaning clearwells at work this week. Thank goodness i'm on nights. I helped clean the first one and it sucked major balls. the other guys on shift set evrything up by the time i got htere and i helped clean the interior of the tank and then they bailed and left em to do all the cleanup by myself. I was a bit pissed but oh well.

Then monday night when i get to work there is nasty note from my manager saying i missed a bunch of stuff and how many times did he have to tell me to do this and that? One of the other operator bitched that i wasnt doing enough on my shift and i got in trouble for not doing what i was never told to do. then when i asked about it, i got shot down by "this is going in you personnel file for review" BS and if they cut out my raise im likely going to quit. they're already shorting us overtime (no time and a half jusr straight comp time) and the last guy that complained about it got canned within a week.

Office politics blows.