May Journal, Memorial Day

Today, Memorial Day, we celebrate Western Civilization and those brave men and women who fought and died to defend our freedoms, our way of life embracing the moral code of Christianity and Judaism. We honor you and we thank you! We will never forget the sacrifices you made for us. Your courage and fortitude are an example to our children and our grandchildren.

And so today I’m pleased to announce that American Christian Fiction Writers has published my post, Visible Virtues: Fearless Fortitude, the second in a four-part series on the Cardinal Virtues, encouraging Christian novelists to tell tales of virtue and create heroes with fortitude who embody the Judeo-Christian ethos, the foundation of Western Civilization.

Fortitude can be found in my own novels (not sure how much I have, but I try), and my sixth novel, The Fire Trail, has now been sent to the ten winners of my recent Goodreads Giveaway. Nearly four thousand readers entered over the thirty day period ending on May 23. As many might recall, this story involves our current cultural threats, the line between barbarism and civilization, and the definition of peace and freedom in our world today. Where is America heading? Set in 2014, the signs were ominous and the need for a cultural renewal in America was urgent. Many today are heeding that call, and throughout the West revivals of faith and freedom are lighting the way. Will the world heed the light or choose the dark?

Today is also a time of population implosion with a spiraling birth rate, and many predict a doomsday scenario given the “birth dearth” recognized, albeit belatedly. Can we turn this depopulation crisis around? Catherine Pakaluk addresses this question from an interesting point of view in her new book, Hannah’s Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth. In this clear analysis (the author holds a doctorate in Economics and is the mother of eight) she considers the motivations of women who have large families, five children or more. The results are stunning – for these mothers are quietly testifying to the joy of giving life and nurturing that life. They see birth as the greatest event of all time (which it is, I would think) and one which they want to be a part of as often as possible, this birthing life. They choose this way of living, indeed, this path of loving shared with children and spouses in the social construct we call the family, the cornerstone of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

I believe it was the Anglican mystic, Evelyn Underhill (highly recommended), who wrote that the family is the school of charity (love), where we learn to love one another unconditionally, to resolve conflicts and encourage civility, to be selfless and not selfish, to finally enter the wide world as adults, graduates of this remarkable school, the family.

And of course these adults carry with them the virtues of that school of love, virtues taught and embodied by their parents in this first social community, the family. They become responsible citizens of a larger community, the town, the state, the nation. They hold the virtues close to their hearts, reinforced by Church and Synagogue – the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity (love), the cardinal virtues of temperance, fortitude, prudence, and justice. They honor the Ten Commandments, the social contract that allows peace and freedom to flourish. They have learned to try and love their neighbor and care for the poor, to celebrate mercy and the sanctity of human life, regardless of race or creed, including the unborn and the aged. These things, these first things, they have been taught in their families, and in the family of God, the Church and Temple.

I give thanks for Catherine Pakaluk and all those who give witness to a better way of living, one tried and true, ordained by our Creator, God Almighty. I give thanks for those men and women who give witness to this way of life and who died protecting it. I give thanks for our national memory, for this Memorial Day when we celebrate these first things, these virtuous things, these living things.

Memorial Day reminds us to remember and to never forget.