“We the people, elect leaders not to rule but to serve.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
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First Principles: We the People, Elect Leaders Not To Rule But To Serve
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Dwight D. Eisenhower, Elect, First Principles, Leaders, Not To Rule, Serve, The People, We
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Thought For the Day: The One Who Plants Trees, Knowing That He Will Never Sit In Their Shade, Has At Least Started To Understand the Meaning of Life
“The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life.” – Rabindranath Tagore
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Know, Plant, Rabindranath Tagore, Shade, The Meaning of Life, Thought For the Day, Trees, Understand
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Contamination of Life and Thought
Contamination of Life and Thought
by Michael Doyle
As a small child, often alone, I usually read
The kinds of books that put thoughts in my head.
About lives well lived in their grand nobility,
These were filled with love and remarkable purity.
To be fair, my beliefs developed from this reference.
I had no way of genuinely knowing by any real inference
That what I saw as truths were just ideals, often legendary.
Those oppressed by these truths held them incendiary.
Still, I believe in and love my golden country.
I find it beautiful and filled with true dignity.
I remember the kindnesses of so many along the way,
And I know this is as true today as it was yesterday.
Getting older, I wondered about my life's contamination.
Soiling the fabric of life lived symbolically in my nation.
I was told that my belief in patriotism crossed the line.
Despite my belief, nothing was sacred or any kind of divine.
I have become alienated by the growing sense of danger.
What was a world filled with friends has become one of strangers.
Each has been taught to seek after only their own good,
It has filled my heart with sorrow as it's come to be understood.
Still, I believe in and love my golden country.
I find it beautiful and filled with true dignity.
I remember the kindnesses of so many along the way,
And I know this is as true today as it was yesterday.
I feel as jaded as the broken strings of old violins
Moving through life at the pace of slow violence.
My disbelief at how my country has changed is corrosive.
Strip-mined of substance until becoming explosive
My love has lost its way before a wash abrasive fear.
A fear of those once waited on as friends, it's now clear.
That so few are free from the chains of the sins within.
The beast has clawed its way up to bring us to the end.
Still, I believe in and love my golden country.
I find it beautiful and filled with true dignity.
I remember the kindnesses of so many along the way,
And I know this is as true today as it was yesterday.
(c) May 6, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Beautiful, Beliefs, Bible, Books, Christianity, Contamination, Dignity, Faith, Golden Country, Ideal, Incendiary, Inference, Kindness, Legendary, Life, Life and Thought, Love, Nobility, Poetry and Poems, Purity, Read, Reference, Small Child, Today, Truths, Yesterday
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First Principles: Give Me the Liberty To Know, To Utter, and To Argue Freely According To Conscience, Above All Liberties
“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” – John Milton
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Above All Liberties, Argue, Conscience, First Principles, John Milton, Know, Liberty, Utter
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Thought For the Day: When People Accept Breaking the Law As Normal, Something Happens To the Whole Society
“When people accept breaking the law as normal, something happens to the whole society.” – Orson Welles
(Hear this, Democrats? Think before you support Antifa, BLM, the Anti-Semites on College Campuses, what’s been uncovered by DOGE, the threats made by your Congressional ‘leaders’, etc.)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Accept, Breaking the Law, Happens, Normal, Orson Welles, People, Thought For the Day, Whole Society
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Revisiting Paul Revere’s Ride
Revisiting Paul Revere's Ride
by Michael Doyle
When Longfellow wrote of Revere's ride
He didn't mean to capture it stride for stride,
But to create something of a heroic memory
Put on paper for the sake of American history.
It was a clarion call for courage to hear it.
It was a reminder of our Revolution's spirit.
As sure as history's wind comes as it flows,
There are times when bravery comes and goes.
250 years have passed, and we still survive.
The birth of America needs to be kept alive.
So, listen my children for a chance to hear
About our heroes like the great Paul Revere.
Some words of history are needed to be kept alive
If our great country is to remain and survive.
Courage is a way of life that Americans embrace.
Let us always be remembered embedded in our traces.
(c) May 5, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
First Principles: Christianity, By Introducing Into Europe the Truest Principles of Humanity, Universal Benevolence, and Brotherly Love, Had Happily Abolished Civil Slavery
“Christianity, by introducing into Europe the truest principles of humanity, universal benevolence, and brotherly love, had happily abolished civil slavery. Let us who profess the same religion practice its precepts… by agreeing to this duty.” – Richard Henry Lee
Thought For the Day: The Wound Is the Place Where the Light Enters You
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” – Rumi
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Entrance, Light, Place, Rumi, Thought For the Day, Where, Wound
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I’ve Come To Understand
I've Come To Understand
by Michael Doyle
Entombed in my shame,
I was lost in my blame.
I was afraid to show my face,
Until I learned of God's grace.
I thought I knew my place,
Hiding in the darkness.
I was afraid to show my face,
Mine was a life of harshness.
Orphaned in my circumstances,
Until God called my name.
I was afraid to take a chance
That I could rise above my blame.
There is so much that I've done wrong.
There was no place to belong.
I was broken in my despairing heart
And without a clue of where to start.
I was lost and wounded in my soul.
My life had lost all control.
Until the touch of His healing hand,
In my redemption, that I've come to understand.
(c) May 4, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Afraid, Belong, Blame, Broken, Call, Change, Circumstances, Control, Darkness, Despair, Done Wrong, Entombed, Face, God, God's Grace, Harshness, Healing Hand, Heart, Hide, Lost, Lost and Wounded, My Place, Orphaned, Poetry and Poem, Redemption, Shame, Show, Soul, Touch, Understand
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Thought For the Day: Faith and Repentance Are the Same; They Are Not Two Separate Decisions. One Cannot Trust Christ As Savior Without Repenting
“Faith and repentance are the same; they are not two separate decisions. One cannot trust Christ as Savior without repenting or changing his mind. The very fact that he trusts Christ for salvation shows that he has changed his mind regarding sin, salvation, and God.” – Curtis Hutson
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Christ, Curtis Hutson, Faith, Repentance, Repenting, Same, Savior, Separate Decisions, Thought For the Day, Trust
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