| The internet carried the image of the weeping eagle around the world shortly after the bombings of September 11, 2001. There is a photo of the weeping eagle at my pharmacy and in other shops in my area. It's probably in various homes, offices and businesses across America. The first impact of the weeping eagle was that the eaglets, approximately 7,000 of them, died in a senseless terrorist attack on America, and their ashes are mingled with the air, water, and elements, they will never even be buried. The eagle wept. Now the eagle weeps because the eaglets who remain are no longer free. They aren't prisoners of the Taliban, they are prisoners of fear caused by the terrorist attacks. They are fearful of a war they do not understand, of attacks that may be coming in the future, and of a sudden insecurity that shattered the very underpinnings of our American sense of security and trust in our Department of Defense to protect us against all foreign enemies. The eagle weeps because the eaglets are subjects of an overpowering government that cries out for more and more power over its citizens while neglecting to follow up on aliens who remain here illegally, or come here illegally in the first place. The eagle weeps because government is more concerned with the dangers of "outlaws" at Ruby Ridge or Waco, who did nothing, than it is about foreign enemies who have struck a disabling blow to our economy, our families, and our way of life. The eagle weeps because time after time, here in America, our lands, private property, have been grabbed by self-seeking interests with the cooperation or at the initiative of our own government (those folks we elect) and the rightful owners are dispossessed. Witness the now overshadowed plight of the Klamath Falls farmers, the almost-forgotten McGuckin siege at Sagle, Idaho, or the Donald Scott killing at Malibu, California ... all so someone could have the private property of those who refused to sell or whose presence interfered with government plans. Add to this list the loggers of Montana who fell victim to the hyper-environmentalists in our government or who pressure our government, and the useless and unconstitutional "laws" put on our books by the leftist enviro-nuts. The eagle weeps ... the eaglets are not free. Laws restrict the free exercise of religion in contravention of the First Amendment; other laws restrict the ownership of firearms by a misconstruction or misinterpretation of the Second Amendment; privacy is a mockery, not the right guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. As far as the Tenth Amendment, it seems to have been given its first blunt trauma in 1865 and then a mortal blow by 1995, for whatever is to be done, is done by the federal government, whose powers, prescribed by the Constitution and limited by the Bill of Rights, run amok, killing the eaglets at will. The eagle weeps because the nation has not repented of the things of which it is guilty ... gross hedonism and flagrant immorality, horrendous self-indulgence and, up until September 11th, a willingness to allow the name of God to be tossed around for cursing but never uttered in public places or schools in prayer. We have returned to prayer in distress, but have we repented? In World War II scare-prayer was called "bombshelter religion" and God help us if that is what it is now ... a temporary bandaid for a hurting soul, but not a true repentance and seeking after the presence of the Great and Almighty Creator. The eagle weeps; the eaglets are not free and they are not safe; they do not acknowledge their Creator. Those comfortable in the nest, who never look out, don't even know that the vultures are circling because the weeping eagle is wounded. The eaglets that look outside the nest are intimidated by the police state powers against which few have the funds or other means to defend their nest; or they are ridiculed by the mocking birds that echo "radi-CAL ... radddikalll" as they try to come to the aid of the wounded eagle. The eagle weeps in pain, for the eaglets who are not free because their God is dishonored and their Constitution is discarded. Who will rescue the wounded and weeping eagle? Who will rise up to save the eaglets? |
