“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

“If our life is poured out in useless words, we will never hear anything, never become anything, and in the end, because we have said everything before we had anything to say, we shall be left speechless at the moment of our greatest decision.”

“When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is held together by a violent and abusive authority. But when men are violently deprived of the solitude and freedom which are their due, then society in which they live becomes putrid, it festers with servility, resentment and hate.”

“Violence is not completely fatal until it ceases to disturb us.”

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Traditionally ascribed to King Solomon who would have written it in the 10th century BC, but believed by a significant group of biblical scholars to date much later, up to the third century BC

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late

Pete Seeger: A plea for world peace because of the closing line: "a time for peace, I swear it's not too late." This line and the title phrase "Turn! Turn! Turn!" are the only parts of the lyric he wrote.

[video:https://youtu.be/D8By_F5bQdg]

His mouth still wired shut, teenager Gage Smock returned to work this week at a barbecue restaurant in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. It's been 34 days since he was shot in the face at Marshall County High School about 10 miles away in Benton. And 34 days since he lost his girlfriend, 15-year-old Bailey Holt, and classmate, 15-year-old Preston Cope.

In Assassin, each player receives an assignment on a card, or sometimes via text. That assignment will be the name of one other player in the Assassin game. The goal of the game is to eliminate that player, either directly or indirectly, with your Nerf gun.

I'm nearly speechless. But as we speak I am trying my hand at peacemaking by posting the comment below as part of a VIGOROUS on line conversation discussion of gun violence in schools We all do what we can, don't we?

When it comes to gun violence, or any other issue that matters, joining together with others who already agree with our favorite "talking points" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_point is a quick and relatively easy way out. Go ahead, pick a side. I suspect that most all of us have long since made our choice. As Laura Roberts has pointed out, my "belligerent" position is no secret.

In case you have not decided:

Follow this link to enlist in the National Rifle Association
Follow this link to enlist in Moms Demand Action

Now, please, pause long enough to ask yourself, "How has the THEM VERSUS US strategy worked out?" Have shootings stopped, or even slowed down since these mass death events

Charles Whitman at the University of Texas tower

At Columbine High School

At Luby’s Cafeteria

At Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church

In Las Vegas ????

Maybe, just maybe, we should stop shouting past each other and try listening to each other instead. I have previously described the TALKING STICK concept

Feel free to suggest another way.

I explained how it might work

Interested members agree to meet on a regular and frequent schedule ... in order to do some genuine listening. There will not be a bunch of rules. Only two: members would commit to attend (and to not quit the group because they don't agree what another member says); member also agree to only speak when it is their turn to hold THE TALKING STICK

The first session would be to get to know each other by sharing, one-at-a-time memorable experiences which have influenced our thinking about firearms. No arguing. No replying. Just listening.

The following sessions would be a matter of continuing to pass the TALKING STICK around. Questions and comments, when holding THE STICK are now allowed.

I am not a psychologist. I am not an expert at this kind of thing. But I am convinced that need to learn to listen ... ESPECIALLY TO PERSONS WHO DO NOT AGREE WITH US.

If only group members who agree with me meet, it becomes another political party or lobbying group. Why bother? If only group members who DISagree with me meet, it becomes another political party or lobbying group. Why bother?

1922 - The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed on this day. The right of women to vote (as well as the right of women to engage in many other activities) was declared constitutional by all of the members of the U.S. Supreme Court. It took seventy years of fighting and petitioning to make this women's suffrage legislation a reality. Women and men both were advocating equal rights for women as far back as in the early 19th Century.

1973 : More than 200 members from the American Indian Movement moved in to take the reservation area of Wounded Knee by force beginning an occupation that lasted until May.

1997 : New legislation banning most handguns in Britain went into effect helping to make the strictest gun legislation in the world with self-defence not considered a valid reason to own a gun.

2007 : The former Vice-President Al Gore is accused of hypocrisy for 'guzzling energy' while he lectures the world on climate change. A Tennessee-based free market think-tank said that Gore's home used more than twenty times the national average of gas and electricity. A spokeswoman for Mr. Gore said he was trying to reduce his carbon emissions by using sustainable energy sources. His climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth won an Oscar.

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All my life's a circle;
Sunrise and sundown;
Moon rolls thru the nighttime;
Till the daybreak comes around.

All my life's a circle;
But I can't tell you why;
Season's spinning round again;
The years keep rollin' by.

It seems like I've been here before;
I can't remember when;
But I have this funny feeling;
That we'll all be together again.
No straight lines make up my life;
And all my roads have bends;
There's no clear-cut beginnings;
And so far no dead-ends.

I found you a thousand times;
I guess you done the same;
But then we lose each other;
It's like a children's game;

As I find you here again;
A thought runs through my mind;
Our love is like a circle;
Let's go 'round one more time.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQqyN2DnZH4&feature=youtu.be&t=1]
Harry Chapin will always be remembered for "Cats in the Cradle", a heartbreaking story song about a man who misses his child's most important moments. Chapin's catalog of music was rivaled only by his charitable desire to make the world a better place.

[video:https://youtu.be/1yjxWfyxpqY?list=RD1yjxWfyxpqY&t=6]

The words and music of Harry Chapin take us out.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D981eb5sBsg&feature=view_all&list=PLD354...
From 1974's "Verities & Balderdash". On December 7, 1987, on what would have been his 45th birthday, Harry was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his tireless charity efforts, particularly in the name of hunger. He was a key player in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977 (the only member who attended every meeting) and the inspiration for USA for Africa and Hands Across America, which were organized by Ken Kragen, who had been Chapin's manager. "It's hard to overestimate the amount of good he did. There are a huge number of people who probably have no idea who he is. All they know is they got fed because of him and they wouldn't have otherwise, both in this country and abroad." ~ Sen. Patrick Leahy

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y5t-dAa6UA&feature=view_all&list=PLD354A...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one Special education before it was cool. Harry made 14 appearances on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" and this one apparently garnered the most letters. From teachers mainly, but it struck a chord with parents, too. Another song left Johnny and Ed speechless ... but that's still to come

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDw9gunJ80g&feature=view_all&list=PLD354A...
I was much too late
To be the first to make you a woman
But you were the one
Who made my mother's son a man Not exactly radio-friendly back then! From 1975's "Portrait Gallery".

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMz2EyNvdfg&feature=view_all&list=PLD354A...
What a thing to do to a young man in love
And what a thing to do to your daughter From 1976's "On The Road To Kingdom Come". Lying politicians, not much has changed.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1TUgWGuKM8&feature=view_all&list=PLD354A...
Sometimes I get this crazy dream
That I just drive off in my car
But you can travel on ten thousand miles and still stay where you are An aging disk jockey comes to terms with his life. From 1974's "Short Stories", this performance is from 1975's PBS Soundstage. A minor success on the charts, it's said to be one of the inspirations for the hit '70s show, "WKRP in Cincinnati".

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpY-aPrhhMQ&feature=view_all&list=PLD354A...
Now sometimes words can serve me well
Sometimes words can go to hell
For all that they do Haven't we all asked ourselves, "Where's my magic story of a life?". From 1980's "Sequel", the last album released before his death.

[video:https://youtu.be/PM0HnUVl3LQ]
If you want me to come with you
Then that's all right with me
'Cause I know I'm going nowhere
And anywhere's a better place to be The story of a rotund waitress and a midnight watchman that will rip your black heart out. From 1972's "Sniper & Other Love Songs", the video is from his last concert in Hamilton in 1981.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqZ-rkuUGKE&feature=view_all&list=PLD354A...
Can't you see my Corey's coming
No more sad stories coming
My midnight-moonlight-morning-glory's coming, aren't you girl? From 1976's "On The Road To Kingdom Come", the link is live audio from 1979's "Legends of the Lost and Found". I can't sing-along without crying.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDkmqmHFJtM&feature=view_all&list=PLD354A...
But music was his life, it was not his livelihood
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good
and he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul
he did not know how well he sang
it just made him whole The heart-breaking story of Martin Tanner, a local launderer from Dayton, Ohio, whose dreams of singing are dashed by so-called critics. Based on a review Harry read in The New York Times of Martin Tubridy.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHYPZBpxeZE&feature=view_all&list=PLD354A...
And something's burning somewhere
Does anybody care?!
Is anybody there?! From 1974's "Verities & Balderdash", the clip is from 1975's PBS Soundstage. On the surface, it's just a song about a fire. But, underneath, it's a rallying call to all Americans to just stand up and give a damn.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLNfmxn5jt4&feature=view_all&list=PLD354A...
Well he came on through like a knife through butter
Or a scythe sweeping through the grass
Or to say it like the man would have said it himself:
"Just a big black bastard kicking ass!" From 1975's "Portrait Gallery". A must-hear for anyone involved with the military. Some people are born for it, some have it thrust upon them. Based on the life of Dwight Johnson (with some poetic liberties).

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YWGTMC3u5o&feature=view_all&list=PLD354A...
And she said, "How are you, Harry?"
I said, "How are you, Sue?
Through the too many miles
and the too little smiles
I still remember you." From 1972's "Heads & Tales", this is the original promo film for Harry's biggest hit. His last concert in Hamilton in 1981 saw him perform this one, of course, and the newly released Sequel.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etundhQa724&feature=view_all&list=PLD354A...

"Son, I'm proud of you, can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said, with a smile
"What I'd really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys
See ya later, can I have them please?" The anthem for dead-beat Dads. From 1974's "Verities & Balderdash", the clip is from 1998's "Behind the Music" with his widow Sandy and son Josh (along with a '70s concert performance).

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT1cxP3JT0c]

He laid out the rifles, he loaded the shotgun,
He stacked up the cartridges along the wall
He knew he would need them for his conversation
If it went as he planned, then he might use them all From 1972's "Sniper & Other Love Songs", the clip is from 1975's PBS Soundstage. This is the one that left Johnny and Ed speechless when he performed it. Doc Severinsen had to announce the commercial break. Personally speaking, I think this one blows everything else he ever recorded right off the map. A brilliant look inside the mind of a madman. If played on the radio today, this would mark him as the genius he was.