Liberty - To Live or to Die??

Hello everyone,
Almost everyone would agree that the principle of liberty stands as the chief cornerstone of this nation's foundation and has been uncompromisingly fought for and upheld ever since the birth of this nation. It's almost impossible to imagine America with its citizens robbed of their liberty, and for liberty's cause many have laid down their lives. Yet, a couple of incidents that happened in the last week have brought to light the different (or changing) notions people have about liberty.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 majority voted to provide legal protection to doctors who participate in the medically assisted suicides of patients with illnesses that are determined to be severe or "terminal". The verdict was interpreted by many as an act of protection of personal liberty, and was greeted with great excitement and fist-pumping by many, including hundreds of elderly sick citizens. I asked myself, "This wonderful tenet of liberty, whose wonder and power the nation's founding fathers grasped inimitably and traveled thousands of miles on the sea, weathering the ravages of nature, to found a nation that was built on it, could it serve as a key to death?? If liberty could produce death, was this the liberty that our fathers strove hard (and many died) to establish and promote??" If the answer to either of these is "Yes", it leads to a conclusion that would shake the nobility of the foremost foundational principle of this nation. Thank God, the answer is not "Yes".

How good is a fruit if its juice is sucked out?? Liberty is not really liberty if God is taken out of the picture. Liberty without God produces a culture of death for it fails to recognize the giver of life.

Now, is there a right to do whatever one wants in life?? Absolutely! The placard of one of the celebrators of the above-mentioned Supreme Court verdict read, "My Life, My Death, My Choice". I said to myself that he could have also added "My Hell". There is a right to do anything, but, before we exercise our rights, wouldn't it make sense to think about where it would take us??

Oh! That the world may see, acknowledge, and embrace the one and only Liberator, from whom alone comes the true liberty, which leads to life.

Thanks to everyone who has commented on my earlier blogs! Bye for now!


- Wes

Integrity at the heart of Governance

Friends,

I had originally intended to have the title as "Integrity at the heart of Politics". But because of the manner in which politics is carried out in different parts of the world and the negative impression it has created in the minds of people, I decided to drop that title, for to some such a title might sound as paradoxical as "Sun at the heart of a black hole".

It has been surprising, shocking, disheartening, and above all, painful to read about the recent corruption scandals involving several U.S. lawmakers and political lobbyists. Even though there are lawmakers from both the parties who have been involved in the corrupt dealings, the sad (to me) fact is that more Republicans than Democrats have tainted themselves with the filthy lucre. Some of these tainted lawmakers have a very good conservative view on several other moral issues. This raises the question in my mind, "Why have those who have very good conservative views and are bold enough to put themselves in battle array against the marauding forces of wicked moral liberalism succumbed to the allures of money and wealth??". The answer points to something at the core of the human nature. We humans do not have a well-built inherent defense against pride and the allure of power (snares of the devil). A gentleman once mentioned that one of the big reasons why God sometimes doesn't do mighty things through many of us is the pride that will grip us and our inability to deal with the "power" element.

Aren't we who know the Lord duty-bound to pray for our lawmakers that those who boldly take the name of Jesus to stand up against the evil forces of moral liberalism may also be, by His Grace, equipped with very high standards of wholesome integrity??

Bye for now!

- Wes

Hearings of the Supreme Court Nominee

Hello everyone,

I’m not sure how many of you have been following the hearings of the U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito. I wish I was able to take three days off my work and had watched the hearings live. Inasmuch as I’d love to have watched it, I find that some parts of it were sickening, particularly the attitude and reasoning shown by some of the liberal senators in the panel. Isn’t it astonishing and shameful that some of the senators would hold a nominee’s stance on the murder of unborn babies as a litmus test in a destructive manner, almost equating pro-life statements to blasphemy and seeking to use them as grounds for automatic disqualification?? Even though I wasn’t able to watch the hearings live, I did manage to watch some of the video recordings online. As I watched, I couldn’t help but contrast the current proceedings with what might have transpired when the founding fathers gathered together to discuss national issues they knew would have a big impact on the country’s future. It’s very painful to see some of the liberal lawmakers trying to chip away at some of the very principles on which this nation was founded.

But, thank God, not everything is gloomy yet. There is still hope for what is right and what is good. I’m glad that Judge Alito’s nomination is likely to get through the Senate albeit through a close party-line vote. I feel that Judge Alito displayed a very good level of intellect and discretion in answering all the questions – on the President’s Executive power, the constitutionality of Congressional laws, social and religious discrimination etc.

I hope we’ll soon have a court with the right-minded judges who will take the right (correct) decision on the various issues they will be faced with.

Bye for now. Thanks for reading!

- Wes

First Hello

Folks,
Welcome to my cyber-corner! This is my first experience with blogging. I am not familiar with the conventional styles and norms associated with blogging, if there are any, and hence, it is very much possible that one may find my style and manner of writing here rather strange or out of place.

Here you’ll find some of my reflections on a variety of matters – spiritual, political, current affairs, social, and so on. Depending on how things go, I may also use this as a platform to convey a bit of personal news as and when I deem necessary.

Many of you may have been in situations where there were a group of people around you discussing an issue in which the majority opinion was different from yours, and there was none in the group whose views aligned with yours. Because of the lack of any conceivable support to your way of thinking and on account of the necessity to maintain the pleasantness of the group atmosphere, you might have chosen to keep your mouth shut even though your mind was breeding an overflow of thoughts and counter-points to what the people around you were saying. I’ve been in many such situations. The motivating idea behind setting up this blog is to provide myself a platform to post my views and thoughts on several issues and matters, however strictly or loosely constructed they be. This also gives you a window through which you can see certain parts of me (my understanding). To those who are (or at some point have been) in some sort of association with me, this may reveal things of me that may have not been so expressly seen hitherto in my association with you. Some of you may be surprised at my take on some matters and some of you may be not. But I hope you enjoy reading my blogs and I look forward to getting responses in the form of feedbacks and counter-arguments from you.

With this, I’ll close my introductory message. See you all soon here!

- Wes

A Test Message

Well Folks,
This is just a test message to see for myself how the posting of messages works.

-Wes