Image by Neri Vill from Pixabay
Text on the photo by Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Ed.D.
Month: May 2020
The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America, by Greg Grandin
2020 Pulitzer Prize Winner in General Nonfiction.
Dr. Greg Grandin is the 2020 Pulitzer Prize Winner in General Nonfiction. His book was moved from the history category to the general nonfiction category by the Pulitzer Board.
Here’s my review/summary of the book. The book is well-argued, full of interesting history to back up his points and surprisingly, I found myself mostly agreeing with his arguments.
Basically, the book explains from the American revolution through Donald Trump’s election that American expansionism and our manifest destiny served as a pressure release point with expansionism allowing internal US political pressures to be deflected outwardly as opposed to being dealt with.
He makes his main point by arguing that Trump’s approach to the ordinary people where he argued that the government was not listening to and neglecting their concerns while taking care of themselves. This includes stating that part of the ordinary people not being heard or being taken care of was immigrants (illegal and maybe legal) which caused an upswing or racist nationalism, vocalized anger, and ultimately leads to Donald Trump’s election.
He uses the border was a kind of rallying point and metaphorical gravestone that marks the end of the real American dream of a country for all peoples of all beliefs. This is what he feels made America exceptional over the years and with the election of Trump, it is dead and buried with the wall as its tombstone.
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Seven Thoughts to Help You Hang On
Let’s Hang On
We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. — 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NIV)
Seven Thoughts to Help You Hang On
Is life getting you down? Do you feel like you’re at the end of your rope? Here are seven thoughts from the Bible on how to hang on when you feel like you’re at the end of your rope.
Thought One: God Loves You
- Don’t lose heart! – Therefore, since through God’s mercy, we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. — 2 Corinthians 4:1 (NIV)
- I am what I am – But by the grace of God, I am what I am … — 1 Corinthians 15:10 (NIV)
- It’s not who we are. It’s whose we are! – Remember, our performance does not give us our worth.
- God’s grace gives us the power to start over. –Â Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. — Romans 8:37
Thought Two: Your Character and Integrity Matter
- Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. — 2 Corinthians 4:2 (NIV)
- We must have integrity.
- We must have character.
Thought Three: It’s Not About You
- For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. — 2 Corinthians 4:5 (NIV)
- Your ego will only take you so far.
Thought Four: You Can’t Do It All
- But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. — 2 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV)
- We must pace ourselves.
- Life is a journey, not a sprint.
Thought Five: Love, love, love.
- All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. — 2 Corinthians 4:15 (NIV)
Thought Six: Refresh, Renew, Rest, and Revive.
- Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. — 2 Corinthians 4:16 (NIV)
- By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. –Â Genesis 2:2-3 (NIV)
- Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. – Exodus 20:8-10
- Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” – Mark 6:31 (NIV)
Thought Seven: Keep Your Eye on the Goal.
- For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. — 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NIV)
- I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:14 (NIV)
Remember — You cannot create if you don’t face your troubles and hang on until you reach your goal.
Image by Inna Greenberg Vesnovaty from Pixabay
