“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth.“ – William Faulkner
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Thought For the Day: Never Be Afraid To Raise Your Voice For Honesty and Truth and Compassion Against Injustice and Lying and Greed…It Would Change the Earth
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Afraid, Change, Compassion, Greed, Honesty, Injustice, Lyies, Raise, Thought For the Day, Truth, Voice, William Faulkner, World
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A Soldier Thinks On War and Peace
A Soldier Thinks On War and Peace
by Michael Doyle
Santayana told a soldier's life was true,
When in a soliloquy written as if for you,
He reminded us that only the dead have seen war end.
The rest of us? We will fight on, just a little more.
When a soldier loses a rifle, he pays the cost.
But what happens to a general when a war is lost?
The soldier who has fought with valor is demoted.
The politician and his general? They are promoted.
It will do to tell this truth to all within reach,
Be it in a whisper or boldly in a speech.
Like Sherman, I find war's glory to be so much moonshine.
Reaching for my spoonful of glory, I found the blood was mine.
The best of us fight for what we've left behind.
I see this, though my eyes are now blind.
Only war or music happens when language fails
Either way, the rest of us stumble on through Hell.
If, dear brother, you wonder at the inference,
I will hint that most of life is a matter of appearances.
Your silence now makes you neither weak nor strong.
It can be either, but both are simply wrong.
Though we both fought for the necessary and justified,
It feels like a crime for which we were brutally tried.
The verdict is that there is no war to end all wars,
Just a continuing set of ever-revolving doors.
They judge us as among the best with our capability,
As we fight their wars to our best tainted ability.
Now, I watch you die, and I wonder if it wouldn't be better,
If we could only learn, somehow, to live together.
The rulers wage these wars in which we die
And though they call me strong, I sit here and I cry.
What is the good of war? And how can peace be bad?
Those who speak of glory must be slightly mad...
Peace may make for poor reading in history,
But to a soldier who has fought, it's no mystery
To plainly see the sacrifice without a significant return,
And to wonder if mankind will ever truly learn.
This soldier, who has known war, wishes for peace,
And if not the sweetness of peace, my release.
My soul aches for all the misery that I have brought.
Is this truly the victory that we have sought?
(c) September 24, 2925 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Blind, Blood, Cost, Dead, Demoted, Eyes, Fight, General, Glor, Hell, History, Language Fail, Left Behind, Lost, Military, Mine, Moonshine, Poetry and Poems, Promoted, Reach, Rifle, Santayana, Sherman, Soldier, Soliloquy, Speech, Spoonful of Glory, Stumble, Think, Tuth, War, War and Peace, War's End, Whisper
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First Principles: Before Any Man Can Be Considered As A Member of Civil Society, He Must Be Considered As A Subject of the Governor of the Universe
“It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage…Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.” – James Madison
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Any Person, Civil Society, First Principles, Governor, Homage, James Madison, Member, Subject, The Creator, Universe
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Thought For the Day: No Matter What People Tell You, Words and Ideas Can Change the World
“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.” – Robin Williams
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Change, Ideas, No Matter, People, Robin Williams, Thought For the Day, Words, World
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I Am More Than
I Am More Than
by Michael Doyle
Somewhere beneath the scratches and dust
Is the man who has survived life's bust.
Though sometimes coiled up and hissing,
I am well aware of the things I'm missing.
I am more than this collection of bones.
I know that I'm never walking alone.
I feel His comfort in what's left of my soul.
I am giving the Lord all that's out of my control.
Every note that I sing is His song.
My love is home where it belongs.
I know that He'll never fail.
His victory is attested to, and it will prevail.
Lost within the dance of the living water,
I pray my soul be kept by our loving Father.
In all the many troubles that I have seen,
I scratched my way out still a human being.
Sometimes, I was certain there'd be no tomorrow,
The test of time was a testimony to its sorrow.
Battered and bruised, I crawled across the floor.
I have been certain that I could take no more.
Every note that I sing is His song.
My love is home where it belongs.
I know that He'll never fail.
His victory is attested to, and it will prevail.
Life lived in a call and response of love,
I put my faith in our Father above.
I know that He saves me from the pit of Hell,
Because of Him, I know that all is well.
Always kept in my struggling heart and mind
Is my belief that He will not leave me behind.
Here in the holiness of this forsaken hour,
I know that I will be healed by His holy power.
Every note that I sing is His song.
My love is home where it belongs.
I know that He'll never fail.
His victory is attested to, and it will prevail.
(c) September 23, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Battered, Belongs, Beneath, Bones, Bruised, Call and Response, Certain, Christianity, Coiled Up, Collection, Comfort, Control, Crawl, Dance, Dust, Every Note, Fail, Faith, Floor, God, Hissing, Home, Human Being, I Am, Jesus, Life, Living Water, Lost, Love, Loving FAther, Man, Missing, More, My Love, No More, Poetry and Poems, Pray, Prevail, Scratcches, Seen, Sing, Sorrow, Soul, Survivor, Test of Time, Testimony, The Lord, Tomorrow, Troubles, Vidtory, Walk Alone
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First Principles: Our Constitution Was Made Only For A Moral and Religious People. It Is Wholly Inadequate To the Government of Any Other
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” – John Adams (1798)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Avarice, Constitutuion, Cords, First Principles, Gallantry, Govenrment, Human Passions, Inadequate, John Adams, Moral and Religious People, Morality, Net, Power, Religion, Revenge, Whale
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Thought For the Day: If I Have Seen Further, It Is By Standing On the Shoulders of Giants
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” – Isaac Newton
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Further, Giants, Isaac Newton, Seen, Shoulders, Stand, Thought For the Day
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Laughing At Life
Laughing At Life
by Michael Doyle
Here I am, sitting on the floor.
I'm lost in numbers, collating the score.
I'm not saying that I need it easy.
But wish for once it would even up to please me.
We're laughing at all of life's dramady,
But to me it feels like straight-up comedy.
We can only tell these truths among family.
It's the kind of meaning that's up to you and me.
You sit there sipping on your ice-cold Coke,
Thinking your thoughts before they're misspoke.
Remember when you and I dreamed a lot?
Or is that something you've long forgot?
Wrap it up as it is in feelings of today,
We know that we've settled for being okay.
In our myths, I'll be a king and you a queen,
But we'll never understand what that would mean.
We'll walk these streets, but we're never alone.
Our backbones have fiber and our hearts are stone.
The songs of yesterday get us through.
I'm not afraid as long as I have you.
All of our stories are hanging in the past.
We still love the glory that didn't last.
Shooting for the stars doesn't always work out.
But isn't it funny that we still don't have a doubt.
... we still don't have a doubt..
Our love had a strange kind of currency.
We swore we'd spend it without urgency.
Dreaming dreams and reaching for hanging stars,
You'd be the writer, and I could play guitar.
(c) September 22, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Afraid, Alone, Backbone, Coke, Comedy, Currency, Doubt, Dramady, Dream, Easy, Family, Feelings, Fiber, Floor, Forgotten, Funny, Glory, Guitar, Hanging Stars, Heart, King, Last, Laugh, Lifee, Love, Mean, Meaning, Misspoke, Myth, Number, Okay, Past, Poetry and Poems, Queen, Remember, Score, Settle, Shoot, Sip, Songs of Yesterday, Spend, Stars, Stone, Stories, Streets, Thoughts, Today, Truth, Understand, Urgency, Walk, Work Out, Wrap It Up, Writer
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First Principles: The Name of American, Which Belongs To You, In Your National Capacity, Must Always Exalt the Just Pride of Patriotism
“The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism.” – George Washington
Posted in First Principles
Tagged American, Exalt, First Principles, George Washington, Name, National Capacity, Patriotism, Pride
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Thought For the Day: No Idleness, No Laziness, No Procrastination: Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do Today
“Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” – Lord Chesterfield
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Enjoy, Idleness, Laziness, Lord Chesterfield, Moment, Procrastination, Seize, Snatch, Thought For Today, Time, Today, Tomorrow, Value
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ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER 