There are no Americans alive who lived during America’s most violent, brutal and deadly era. None remember the greatest cataclysm in American history that continues to define our nation in its present, and shape its future. Some say there is no racism in America, and that learning about the evils of slavery, oppression and racism threatens the future. They do a great disservice to the memories of the dead who fought an existential struggle to preserve the United States, abolish slavery and rebuild the meaning of freedom. There was no doubt about the cause for which they fought. The most popular ballad of the day, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” made that clear. Julia Ward Howe wrote the lyrics at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC.
There are many people in America who won't be reading this poignant post who should. I truly hope on this day those who are privileged to be citizens of this great Republic will pay more attention to it's preservation, and be more careful in whose hands they place the responsibility of guiding her.
The new thing is now fireworks which sends our surviving vets who served in combat into hiding. With the first firework explosion yesterday we doused the fire pit, went in the house, shut all the windows, turned on the AC and turned on two TVs to drown the explosions. Tis the season to light up the sky and celebrate no work. Something has been lost or never learned.
I've never been in combat and don't believe in past lives, but have hated the sound of fireworks ever since adulthood. Even though l know full well that's not the case, it still makes me feel as if l'm on a battlefield and under artillery attack. As a lifelong student of military history, whose father was combat aircrew aboard a B17 and later a combat correspondent for YANK, attached to Patton's 3rd Army in WWll and told me about his experiences, l like to think l have as much of an understanding of what that might feel like as anyone else who hasn't personally experienced its horror.
Dan, and for anyone interested in Memorial Day remembrance of all those Americans (and so many others) who've died in wars, here is an example of a well-known case of young Bruce Kelly, with phobia of water, who recalled under hypnotherapy being James Johnston, a sailor who drowned on a submarine in WWII.... but took birth again as Bruce K., and his uncovered memories give tremendous hope that people aren't just snuffed out to oblivion at death. The soul lives on.....
Replete with an impressive range of details verified as authentic, this case got good coverage, such as being featured on the widely-watched program Unsolved Mysteries decades ago hosted by Robert Stack.
This link gives some of in-depth case notes of the hypnotherapist Rick Brown who conducted the original investigation and who in 1990 published an entire BOOK on the case (long out of print, the book's contents have been archived at a few websites):
You might find your disbelief in past lives loosening up or vanishing if you read psychiatrist Jim B. Tucker's good summary book Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives (2005), discussing the lifetime work of Prof. Ian Stevenson at U. of Virginia and his global colleagues carefully investigating children who recall details of past lives.
A good follow-up is Jungian psychotherapist Roger Woolger's really excellent book Other Lives, Other Selves (1987; imo, one of the dozen finest works in the history of western psychology) on clinical work with adults, using the Morris Netherton method, which utilizes deep massage and body work to uncover past life memories. (So the usual pseudo-skeptic charge, "the hypnotherapist is asking leading questions and manipulating the client to fabricate memories" doesn't apply.)
Fifty psychotherapists and hypnotherapists back in 1980-1 formed the Association for Past Life Research and Therapies, publishing a journal (two big hardbound books compiled the best articles over the initial dozen+ years). The group has since re-named themselves the SPIRITUAL REGRESSION THERAPY
All of this is worth checking out, since from what you shared you might actually be carrying some battlefield traumatic-memories from a prior life in WWII. It's not at all unusual. Numerous cases like this have been therapeutically resolved by clinicians over the decades.
Life Before Life, but "after," "before" -- as Spirit we're timeless being. 🙃🥰
Kathy, as part of your profession in the mental health field, did you ever do any past-life regression work with clients or did it come up spontaneously with any clients?
I went to the American cemetery in Normandy in 2021, having secured a flight to France the day after Macron lifted the COVID travel ban. I’m not prone to tears, but that day I wept as I apologized to the fallen for their sacrifice. I apologized for the people who reaped the benefits of their courage & used it to bolster the demagogue who sat in the Oval Office just 6 months prior. I apologized for the people who made a mockery of their commitment to fight Nazis by elevating white supremacists. I was ashamed of my countrymen who embrace the twisted philosophy that all of those buried at that cemetery fought to eradicate. I couldn’t guess at how many of the fallen had direct descendants who figuratively spat on their sacrifice, but I knew the number was not zero. As we take some time today to remember and honor the fallen, spend a moment to apologize for those who will use this Memorial Day to undermine the freedoms these soldiers died for while using them as mere props for their fundraising.
Thank you, Steve. You have brought me to the meaning of Memorial Day like I have never felt it. As I wipe the tears from my eyes, once more, I want to say I have not been so moved on this day as I know most will celebrate with families and friends and I supposed that is just as fitting, but a moment of Thankfulness is okay as well. Perhaps there is room for both. Thank you for helping me remember whaty today is really about. God Bless!
The Battle Hymn of the Republic is such an uplifting song, played many times as we marched off to war. Taps which I have been unlucky enough to hear many times is on the other hand, so sad. It's a song of loss, a song of permanent loss. I would like to not hear that song again but know that wish will not be fulfilled in my lifetime.
Incredible tribute to our country and those that defended it. I wish these days were treated with more reverence so that by looking back, we would do better moving forward.
On this solemn day we stop to remember all those who lost their lives in the defense of our great nation. Please let us not forget all those we have lost to gun violence. All the children who will not graduate from grade school, middle school, high school and college. All the parents who will not see their children graduate or walk down the aisle because of gun insanity. Our country deserves better than thoughts and prayers from our Republican leaders in Washington. Lives lost to senseless gun violence, especially children are more tragic than lives lost in defense of our country. The men and women who lost their lives in service are thought of as heroes and deserve the honor. The innocent lives lost to gun violence should be remembered but not as sacrificial lambs on the alters of the NRA lobbyists and gun manufacturers. Give thoughts and prayers to the families of our honored dead. However, stand up and be counted against the gun violence. Raise your voices so every Republican in Congress hears our plea to ban assult weapons and high capacity magazines. It is time to heal the nation and bind up the self inflicted wounds of gun violence. So on this day let us not only remember our heroes but all the innocent lives lost.
Thank you Steve, it’s a beautiful piece and a reminder of the sacrifices that have been made by so many to keep our nation free. It’s especially meaningful to me today; my son has just enlisted in the Army and is is basic training at Fort Moore (formerly Ft Benning).
There are many people in America who won't be reading this poignant post who should. I truly hope on this day those who are privileged to be citizens of this great Republic will pay more attention to it's preservation, and be more careful in whose hands they place the responsibility of guiding her.
I’ve been wondering what percentage of Americans have any idea why this is a holiday for any other reason than for booze, bikinis, and hooliganism.
The new thing is now fireworks which sends our surviving vets who served in combat into hiding. With the first firework explosion yesterday we doused the fire pit, went in the house, shut all the windows, turned on the AC and turned on two TVs to drown the explosions. Tis the season to light up the sky and celebrate no work. Something has been lost or never learned.
This is not a day of celebration this is a day somber remembrance and should be respected as such. This is not a day for fireworks.
Absolutely agree.
I've never been in combat and don't believe in past lives, but have hated the sound of fireworks ever since adulthood. Even though l know full well that's not the case, it still makes me feel as if l'm on a battlefield and under artillery attack. As a lifelong student of military history, whose father was combat aircrew aboard a B17 and later a combat correspondent for YANK, attached to Patton's 3rd Army in WWll and told me about his experiences, l like to think l have as much of an understanding of what that might feel like as anyone else who hasn't personally experienced its horror.
Dan, and for anyone interested in Memorial Day remembrance of all those Americans (and so many others) who've died in wars, here is an example of a well-known case of young Bruce Kelly, with phobia of water, who recalled under hypnotherapy being James Johnston, a sailor who drowned on a submarine in WWII.... but took birth again as Bruce K., and his uncovered memories give tremendous hope that people aren't just snuffed out to oblivion at death. The soul lives on.....
Replete with an impressive range of details verified as authentic, this case got good coverage, such as being featured on the widely-watched program Unsolved Mysteries decades ago hosted by Robert Stack.
This link gives some of in-depth case notes of the hypnotherapist Rick Brown who conducted the original investigation and who in 1990 published an entire BOOK on the case (long out of print, the book's contents have been archived at a few websites):
https://regressionjournal.org/jrt_article/reincarnation-james-submarine-man-rick-brown-is-9/ (Int'l Journal of Regression Therapy)
Dan, thank you for sharing your experience.
You might find your disbelief in past lives loosening up or vanishing if you read psychiatrist Jim B. Tucker's good summary book Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives (2005), discussing the lifetime work of Prof. Ian Stevenson at U. of Virginia and his global colleagues carefully investigating children who recall details of past lives.
A good follow-up is Jungian psychotherapist Roger Woolger's really excellent book Other Lives, Other Selves (1987; imo, one of the dozen finest works in the history of western psychology) on clinical work with adults, using the Morris Netherton method, which utilizes deep massage and body work to uncover past life memories. (So the usual pseudo-skeptic charge, "the hypnotherapist is asking leading questions and manipulating the client to fabricate memories" doesn't apply.)
Fifty psychotherapists and hypnotherapists back in 1980-1 formed the Association for Past Life Research and Therapies, publishing a journal (two big hardbound books compiled the best articles over the initial dozen+ years). The group has since re-named themselves the SPIRITUAL REGRESSION THERAPY
ASSOCIATION (SRTA) https://www.regressionassociation.com/past-life-regression-therapists .
All of this is worth checking out, since from what you shared you might actually be carrying some battlefield traumatic-memories from a prior life in WWII. It's not at all unusual. Numerous cases like this have been therapeutically resolved by clinicians over the decades.
"Life After Life" is a fascinating book, I agree.
Life Before Life, but "after," "before" -- as Spirit we're timeless being. 🙃🥰
Kathy, as part of your profession in the mental health field, did you ever do any past-life regression work with clients or did it come up spontaneously with any clients?
Reading your words brought tears to my eyes. I want to share this far and wide. Beautifully written. Thank you.
Tears to my eyes, too.
Steve you are a national treasure,
because you so eloquently appreciate
what are our nation's true treasures:
goodness, courage, generosity, sacrifice, compassion, love.
✨💎☮️
Among the very best that you’ve written. Thanks.
I went to the American cemetery in Normandy in 2021, having secured a flight to France the day after Macron lifted the COVID travel ban. I’m not prone to tears, but that day I wept as I apologized to the fallen for their sacrifice. I apologized for the people who reaped the benefits of their courage & used it to bolster the demagogue who sat in the Oval Office just 6 months prior. I apologized for the people who made a mockery of their commitment to fight Nazis by elevating white supremacists. I was ashamed of my countrymen who embrace the twisted philosophy that all of those buried at that cemetery fought to eradicate. I couldn’t guess at how many of the fallen had direct descendants who figuratively spat on their sacrifice, but I knew the number was not zero. As we take some time today to remember and honor the fallen, spend a moment to apologize for those who will use this Memorial Day to undermine the freedoms these soldiers died for while using them as mere props for their fundraising.
"just 6 months prior" ???
Trump was still in office 6 months before I went. The J6 insurrection was top of mind still.
Thank you, Steve. You have brought me to the meaning of Memorial Day like I have never felt it. As I wipe the tears from my eyes, once more, I want to say I have not been so moved on this day as I know most will celebrate with families and friends and I supposed that is just as fitting, but a moment of Thankfulness is okay as well. Perhaps there is room for both. Thank you for helping me remember whaty today is really about. God Bless!
The Battle Hymn of the Republic is such an uplifting song, played many times as we marched off to war. Taps which I have been unlucky enough to hear many times is on the other hand, so sad. It's a song of loss, a song of permanent loss. I would like to not hear that song again but know that wish will not be fulfilled in my lifetime.
Thank you- may we never forget
Incredible tribute to our country and those that defended it. I wish these days were treated with more reverence so that by looking back, we would do better moving forward.
No need to try and embellish .. I will share. Thank you for providing such a meaningful gift
Steve, this is beautiful. Thank you.
Thank you.
On this solemn day we stop to remember all those who lost their lives in the defense of our great nation. Please let us not forget all those we have lost to gun violence. All the children who will not graduate from grade school, middle school, high school and college. All the parents who will not see their children graduate or walk down the aisle because of gun insanity. Our country deserves better than thoughts and prayers from our Republican leaders in Washington. Lives lost to senseless gun violence, especially children are more tragic than lives lost in defense of our country. The men and women who lost their lives in service are thought of as heroes and deserve the honor. The innocent lives lost to gun violence should be remembered but not as sacrificial lambs on the alters of the NRA lobbyists and gun manufacturers. Give thoughts and prayers to the families of our honored dead. However, stand up and be counted against the gun violence. Raise your voices so every Republican in Congress hears our plea to ban assult weapons and high capacity magazines. It is time to heal the nation and bind up the self inflicted wounds of gun violence. So on this day let us not only remember our heroes but all the innocent lives lost.
Patrick, thank you so much for what you've written here -so important!
Thank you
Tears came in my eyes reading this. Thank you.
Thank you Steve, it’s a beautiful piece and a reminder of the sacrifices that have been made by so many to keep our nation free. It’s especially meaningful to me today; my son has just enlisted in the Army and is is basic training at Fort Moore (formerly Ft Benning).
Thank to your son for his service and devotion. May he be safe.
Steve Schmidt, you are the best, your grasp gathers in all of it... perhaps you should run for high office... and speak for us all, Sandy
Thank you