Teddy and Michelle

I'm confused.

This week, the Democratic National Convention is in Denver. So far, it has been a parade of contradictions. First, we are told that we should support Barack Obama because he is a middle-of-the-road candidate who seeks to unite the country and seek common ground with Republicans. He is a Washington outsider who offers the "hope" of a new kind of politics. And yet, one of the first events of the convention was a video tribute to one of the most liberal politicians of the twentieth century, Edward Kennedy. Teddy has been the face of big-government liberalism for the past forty years, not exactly the centrist image the Obama campaign typically seeks to portray.

Second, we are told to support Barack Obama because he is a champion for "the least among us." We are told that there are millions of Americans who are victims of "country club economics" of President Bush and the Republicans. Apparently, if you are poor and disadvantaged, you need Obama and the Democrats to get elected so that you have a chance to make something of your life. Yet, speaker after speaker came to the podium to proudly announce how he or she had come from a poor family, put himself through college, and worked hard to achieve success. Isn't that what conservatives preach? If success in the America Obama wants to change is for the rich only, how did these people make it?

Third, we are told that America is still racist and sexist. Yet the keynote speech Monday night was given by Michelle Obama (an African-American female) who told her story of how she was raised on Chicago's south side by a poor blue-collar family, yet went on to obtain a law degree from Harvard University and pursue a very successful legal career. (She failed to include the fact that she and Barack managed to pull down over $4 million dollars last year.) Doesn't that beg the question? If America is so racist and sexist, how does this happen?

I told you I was confused. If you're not, let me know. I have some beachfront property in Florida I'd be glad to sell you.

Johnny

"You know, Johnny was in the war."

I heard that phrase many times as a child, but the older I get, the more it means to me. Don't misunderstand, I was a very patriotic kid. I respected my elders, especially those who served their country. I just hadn't lived enough life to really comprehend it.

If you visit the little church in which I was raised, you will meet a man named Johnny. He and his wife Leona are there every week in spite of persistent health issues.

In late 1944, Johnny found himself in a remote forest near the border of Belgium and Germany. He was just a kid, so far from home, still morning the death of his twin brother who had died a few months earlier in France when Adolph Hitler sent his 277th Volksgrenadier Division into the American lines in a last-ditch effort to save his empire.

Johnny was a foot soldier with the 1st Battalion of the 393rd Regiment of the 99th U.S. Infantry Division charged with manning the front line near the German Western Wall. The German attack quickly overwhelmed the American position. Johnny said, "They broke through on our right and on our left. We were surrounded." He and his fellow soldiers spent three terrifying nights behind enemy lines, freezing in the snow and ice.

I recently had the privilege of listening to Johnny share some of his memories of those fearful days. "Thank you" is all I could muster and it didn't begin to convey my gratutude. As he was leaving, he said something I will never stop repeating. He said, "You know, freedom isn't free and the ones who pay for it don't have the priviledge of being around to enjoy it."