ASHES TO ASHES

I am reading THE 5000 YEAR LEAP by W. Clean Skousen and am somewhat amazed at how much our Founders supported and felt religion was important. Several tears ago I had read His Excellency: General Washington by Joseph Ellis, and received the impression that Washington was, at best agnostic and a Deist. But so many quotes exist from President Washington and other Founders that it is difficult to believe so much of what modern organizations like the ACLU and Atheists United would have us believe about the Founders and their faith. For example: Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens... Let it be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the ...

“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” Henry David Thoreau It wasn’t until recently that I realized there was still a collection of short stories by Andre Dubus that I hadn’t read. I believe this collection was his last collection of stories. It seems that after his accident when he lost the use of his legs he turned to essays more frequently. By then he was established as a writer. Many famous writers had put a benefit on for him to support him after the tragic event when he had been hit by a car on a Massachusetts highway while saving the life of a Puerto Rican woman whose car was stranded on a dangerous road. Her son had been killed but Dubus managed to push the mother out of the way of the oncoming car as it struck him. A strong and physically active man and former Marine who loved weightlifting and running before it became a fad (as he once put it), the suddenness of that event changed his life forever. His time with the Ma...