Hey Folks,
Ahh, first, thanks to those who responded re yesterday’s Journal entry. I didn’t mean to sound as if I’m complaining. I’m not. I’m thrilled at my current situation. I think my point was simply that it’s all right to “roll” with life rolls and keep on writing.
In other news, I am constantly amazed by the level of ignorance on display these days. And the humor it spawns within my twisted soul. (grin)
At the moment there’s a massive flap (pun intended) going on about removing “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. In the current flap, the current pledge, minus the words “under God,” is printed on a photo of the US flag. The subtext read “Perhaps it’s time to return our country to its original founding father’s vision.” [punctuation is original… apparently we had only one founding father]
After I commented that I saw nothing wrong with “under God” being in the pledge, a man wrote “Not if you want to change the founding fathers’ intent.” (Umm, the founding fathers had nothing to do with the pledge of allegiance.) And some woman, apparently the current General Manager of the Universe, dropped in to say “That’s because you believe there is a God and you think it’s all right to shove it down other people’s throats.”
Wow. So one guy believes the founding fathers wrote the thing. And one woman believes she knows anything at all about me. Amazing.
Well, that got my attention. I suppose I’m as easily enthralled as I am bored.
So I did a little research. It took me all of five minutes to discover the ACTUAL original Pledge of Allegiance was penned by Colonel George Balch in 1887 (roughly 111 years after the founding fathers did their thing). The original pledge read, in total, “We give our heads and hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one flag!” (The exclamation point isn’t mine.)
Five years later, in August of 1892, a guy named Francis Bellamy wrote a pledge that read, “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
This is at least closer to the “original” pledge these folks are all up in arms wanting to “restore.”
From WikiPedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance) “‘Bellamy noted that, “In later years the words ‘my flag’ were changed to ‘the flag of the United States of America’ because of the large number of foreign children in the schools.” Bellamy disliked the change, as “it did injure the rhythmic balance of the original composition.”‘
How about them apples? (grin)
In case you’re wondering, ‘”The United States Congress officially recognized the Pledge for the first time, in the following form, on June 22, 1942: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
This is the one all those folks want to “restore” as the “original” Pledge (and, erroneously by about 166 years) they believe was put forth by the founding fathers. It was finally amended by Congress to read “under God” in 1954.
And that’s what has all these folks so upset. Sigh.
Well, that was an interesting diversion. And much ado about literally Nothing.
* * *
I’m gonna edit again today, though the fiction bug is pushing. I woke up a little after 2 with a story idea in mind. Good to know those things are still rattling around in there.
An unscheduled 3-hour trip to Sierra Vista, then back to editing. I finished another 69 pages. I’ll finish it tomorrow.
* * *
Yesterday I talked about Life Events. In Dean’s post for today (see below) he wrote “Maybe for a month or six months or a year you won’t find the time [to write] as life beats on you with something special. But if you don’t really have this fear [finishing what you write], you will come back to writing when life gets off your back and you will finish your work.”
How cool is that?
Of Interest
At Dean’s place, check out Failure Must Be An Option (http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/failure-must-be-an-option/). This is a great post.
Some great comments on Blast From The Past To Help With the Future (http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/blast-from-the-past-to-help-with-the-future/#comments).
Today’s Writing
Nothing today. Back tomorrow.
Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 690 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 690
Writing of “”
Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 21254
Total fiction words for the year………… 700948
Total nonfiction words for the month… 14910
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 272810
Total words for the year (fiction and nonfiction)…… 973758
Edit Totals
Day 1…… 51 pages. Total to date…… 51 (+16 in the bank)
Day 2…… 26 pages. Total to date…… 77 (+7)
Day 3…… 41 pages. Total to date…… 118(+13)
Day 4…… 38 pages. Total to date…… 156 (+16)
Day 5…… 73 pages. Total to date…… 229 (+54)
Day 6…… 40 pages. Total to date…… 269 (+59)
Day 7…… 36 pages. Total to date…… 305 (+60)
Day 8…… 00 pages. Total to date…… 305 (+25)
Day 9…… 38 pages. Total to date…… 343 (+28)
Day 10… 37 pages. Total to date…… 380 (+30)
Day 11… 00 pages. Total to date…… 380 (-5)
Day 12… 87 pages. Total to date…… 467 (+47)
Day 13… 00 pages. Total to date…… 467 (+12)
Day 14… 60 pages. Total to date…… 527 (+37)
Day 15… 71 pages. Total to date…… 598 (+73)
Day 16… 69 pages. Total to date…… 667 (+107)