Elections Have Consequences -- You Own It!

I got this in an email today from my friend Gloria. I have organized it and added to it in a few instances.

Congratulations to those of you who voted for Obama on Election Day!  You own it. 

Voting for revenge instead of love of country, you own it.  

Can't get a job after graduation, you own it.  

Trouble finding good employment, you own it.  

Several part time jobs instead of a good job, you own it.  

Trouble getting good health care, you own it.  

Higher heath insurance costs and health care costs, you own it.  

Trouble getting a loan to buy a house, you own it.  

More dependency on food stamps, you own it.  

Less take home pay and higher living costs ($4,000 per family), you own it.  

Driving a car that looks like a toy, you own it.  

A nuclear Iran, you own it.  

More toleration of extreme and fanatical Islamists, you own it.

More Benghazi situations, you own it

The next terrorist attack, you own it.  

Terrorist attacks called work place incidents, you own it.  

“Flexibility” with Russia (in reducing our nuclear arsenal), you own it.  

A volatile border with Mexico (we gave them guns), you own it.  

China controlling our world trade trampling all over us, you own it.  

Our allies mistrust, you own it.  

No one willing to join the military, you own it.  

Discrediting our greatest institution—an all voluntary military, you own it.

No federal budget passed (for three years), you own it.

More trillions of new debt, you own it.

Another severe recession, you own it.  

Sky rocketing energy prices due to Obama's EPA shutting down the energy producing states, you own it.  

More government corruption and lies, you own it.

A Senate that will not bring any legislation to the table rather it is "Dead on Arrival", you own it.  

An “executive order” government instead of a Constitutional democracy, you own it.  

The UN governing the United States instead of ourselves, you own it.

A World Government, you own it.  

President George Bush is out of it now, and there is not another good man for you to vilify and lie about. In a way I am relieved that another good man will not be blamed when it was impossible to clean up this mess you voted for.  Have a good day.  God bless the United States.

Honoring Our Covenants

A covenant is a sacred and enduring promise between God and His children.

Making covenants—meaning to commit, to promise, to pledge, to vow, to agree, or to contract.

Keeping covenants is an expression of our discipleship as we serve and strengthen one another. “When we realize that we are children of the covenant, we know who we are and what God expects of us,” said Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “His law is written in our hearts. He is our God and we are His people.”

 “As we make and keep sacred covenants, we become instruments in the hands of God; we will be able to articulate our beliefs and strengthen each other’s faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ” (VT Message, October 2012).

From the Scriptures

1 Nephi 14:14; And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.

Mosiah 5:7; And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.

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Baptismal Covenant—Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins is a covenant to keep the commandments of God and take upon us the name of Christ. (Quote) “Those of us who have entered into the waters of baptism and received the gift of the Holy Ghost have covenanted that we are willing to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ and keep His commandments.”

Sacramental Covenant—This ordinance was introduced so that we can renew our covenants to serve Him, to obey Him, and to always remember Him.  (Quote) “The sacrament is the ordinance that replaced the blood sacrifices and burnt offerings of the Mosaic law, and with it came the Savior’s promise: ‘And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost’” (3 Nephi 9:20).

Oath and Covenant of the Melchizedek Priesthood—When a man receives the Melchizedek Priesthood, he enters into the oath and covenant of the priesthood. He covenants to be faithful, magnify his calling, “give diligent heed to the words of eternal life,” and “live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.” Those who keep this covenant will be sanctified by the Spirit and receive “all that [the] Father hath.” (See D&C 84:33-44.)

Endowment Covenant—The endowment is an ordinance performed in our temples. It consists of two parts: first, a series of instructions, and second, promises or covenants that the person receiving the endowment makes—promises to live righteously and comply with the requirements of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Celestial Marriage Covenant—Another temple ordinance is that of celestial marriage, where wife is sealed to husband and husband sealed to wife for eternity.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, General Conference, October 2012—Of Regrets and Resolutions

"Declaring our testimony of the gospel is good, but being a living example of the restored gospel is better.

Wishing to be more faithful to our covenants is good; actually being faithful to sacred covenants—including living a virtuous life, paying our tithes and offerings, keeping the Word of Wisdom, and serving those in need—is much better.

Announcing that we will dedicate more time for family prayer, scripture study, and wholesome family activities is good; but actually doing all these things steadily will bring heavenly blessings to our lives."

Book Review--The Prime Ministers by Yehuda Avner

An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership

I have always been interested in Israel mostly because of my study of the Old Testament and my belief as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called Mormon) that the Jewish people are the “chosen” of the Lord as part of the children of Israel.  I must confess that being raised in Wyoming and now living in Utah, I knew almost nothing of Israel or its history before reading this wonderful book and I am shocked at the anti-Semitism shown by certain individuals and cultures in its pages.

I enjoyed The Prime Ministers more than any book I have read in a long while.  I am in awe of Avner for his meticulous documentation of the events of his observance and work with these men, as well as his voluminous memory and fluent writing style.  After about the first third of the book, I started keeping a list of words that I wasn’t sure of the meanings numbering over 60 words.  So, I not only gained much knowledge of the history of Israel but also I enjoyed the literary excellence of just reading the words.

The book is not an autobiography and we are given only the “bare facts” concerning Avner’s life.  We know he was born in Manchester, England in 1928 (see Avner’s blog) and went to Jerusalem in 1947 with a Jewish youth group where he is thrown into the beginnings of Israel’s War for Independence.  He returns to England, gets married in 1953 and a year later he and his wife move to a Kibbutz in Israel.  A few years later, in 1959, he joins the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At the beginning the author lists all the main characters in the book.  He also lists key events of each time period for all three parts of the book and for the four prime ministers that he serves under (a clue that he is right brained and detail oriented).

Part I (1939-1952) reveals Menachem Begin’s early life as the head of the Irgun National Fighting Organization while the British were still occupying Palestine.  He becomes a wanted man hated by many but desperate for a “Jewish homeland” for all the refugees flowing into the area after WWII.

Part II (1959-1977) chronicles the years of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol (1963-1969). This time includes the six-day war in September 1967.  During this war the Israel Defense Force (IDF) returns a divided Jerusalem to the Jewish people; the entire West Bank was captured from the Jordanians; the entire Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from the Egyptians; and the Golan Heights from the Syrians. 

Golda Meir was Prime Minister from 1969 to 1974.  She was an avid Socialist who sent envoys to Africa to help the new governments and people there.  She was accused of not being prepared for the Yom Kippur War in October of 1973 and resigned in 1974.

Yitzhak Rabin (1974-1977).  Henry Kissinger negotiated with Rabin and Egypt for Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula.  The most interesting event during this time is the Entebbe, Uganda rescue of the Jewish passengers held hostage on a hijacked Air France airplane from Tel Aviv to Paris.  Rabin was elected Prime Minister again in 1992 and was assassinated in 1995 by a Jewish extremist. 

Part III (1977-1983).  Menachem Begin is the real focus and hero of this book.  I love this man.  He is religious—often quoting scripture.  He adhered to a kosher diet; was observant of the Shabbat holy day; was a moral man often preaching to the Knesset or anyone who would listen; was a real patriot of Israel and a fierce negotiator with his friends and enemies.  He met with Anwar Sadat in Jerusalem and later signed the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel.  He professed his belief in God and said, “How else to account for our success in accomplishing the virtually impossible” meaning all that led up to the establishment of the State of Israel.

I can’t help but contrast Begin with Obama.  When Shlomo Argov, the Israeli ambassador was shot in London in 1982 by Palestinian terrorists, PM Begin immediately took revenge.  When the US ambassador in Libya and three others were killed in Bengasi this past September 11^th, we were told it was because of an American video and that an investigation was continuing.  Also, Begin said after he was elected prime minister: “This government has come to serve not to reap.”  Our president has added over 5 trillion new debt in the last four years. Obama has also suggested that Israel return all land to their pre-1967 borders which Israel’s prime ministers have adamantly refused to do.

It’s much more fun to read about these remarkable prime ministers whose words, thoughts and actions were remarkable in themselves, than to dwell on the present.  But, the real champion is Yehuda Avner.  His blog says this book will be made into two movies and another book is in the works.  I can’t imagine it will be any better than this, but we will have to wait and see.

Book of Mormon Stories--Signs of Christ's Crucfixion and Resurrection

Nephi, the keeper of the records, being a just man, began to reckon the time after the signs had been given by Samuel the Lamanite of the birth of Christ, which was now thirty-three years.  And once again, the people began to doubt and dispute among themselves even though many signs had already been given (3 Nephi 8:1-4).

In the thirty-fourth year, in the first month on the fourth day a great storm arose in the land such as had never been seen before.  There were whirlwinds, terrible thunder and lightnings, and the whole earth began to shake.  The great city of Zarahemla was on fire, the city of Moroni was swallowed up into the sea, the city of Moronihah became a great mountain, and the whole face of the land was changed.  Many of the inhabitants were slain and their places “were left desolate” (8:5-16).

Finally, after three hours, the thunderings and lightnings of the storm and the quaking of the earth ceased and a thick darkness covered the land.  There was neither light at all from fire, or candles, or torches nor any light from the sun, the moon or the stars because of the great “mists of darkness” for the “space of three days.”  And the people began to howl, weep, and mourn “because of the darkness and the great destruction which had come upon them.”  They were heard to cry, “O that we had repented before this great and terrible day” and had not killed the prophets “then would our mothers and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared” (8:19-25).

And a voice was heard among the inhabitants of the earth crying: “Wo, wo, wo, unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of the whole earth except they shall repent; for the devil laugheth, and his angels rejoice, because of the slain of my fair sons and daughters of my people; and it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen” (3 Nephi 9:1-2).  The voice of the Lord speaks to them of all the cities and people who have been destroyed.  And “the many great destructions” he caused to come on the land and the people because of their “wickedness and abominations” (9:3-12).

Now, he addresses those who were spared because “ye were more righteous than they” [the wicked who were slain].  And he exhorts “if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life.  Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me” (9:13-14).

Then, he identifies himself, “Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God.  I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.”  He explains that he was “from the beginning” with the Father and has now “come unto my own” [the children of Israel] and they “received me not” [completed his mission].  And he tells them he is “the light and life of the world …Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” and in Him the scriptures concerning his coming are fulfilled and also “in me is the law of Moses fulfilled” (9:15-18).

Thus, the blood sacrifices and burnt offerings are done away and he gives them the “new” sacrifice which is a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  “And whoso cometh unto me [with this sacrifice]...will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost.”  Now our Savior speaks of his purpose, “Behold I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin.”  And he tells them if they will come unto him as a little child, “him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God… and for this purpose have [I] laid down my life, and have taken it up again” [I have been resurrected].  And again he pleads, “therefore, repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved” (9:19-22).

Book of Mormon Stories—Gadianton Wealth Redistribution Epistle

After the signs of the birth of Christ prophesied by Samuel the Lamanite were fulfilled, many of the Nephites repented of their sins, were baptized, and there was peace throughout the land.

Thirteen years later [A.D. 13] there began to be wars and contentions in the land because the Gadianton robbers had become so numerous (3 Nephi 2:11).  This group of outlaws [modern-day terrorists], named for their leader, were experts in murder, robbery and plunder “who had entered into a covenant that no one should know” [reveal] their secret combinations and works (Helaman 2:3-4). 

For the safety of both the Lamanite converts and the Nephites they were forced to unite together [and all were called Nephites] and take up arms against the Gadiantons. They did this for the safety of their lives and their families, to maintain their rights, and the privileges of their church and worship, their freedom and their liberty (3 Nephi 2:12).  War between the robbers and the people of Nephi continued with the Nephites driving the robbers back out of their lands into the mountains and their secret places (2:17).  However, in the sixteenth year from the coming of Christ [A.D. 16] the righteous leader of the Nephites, Lachoneus, the governor of the land, received an epistle from the leader of the Gadiantons (3 Nephi 3:1).

In this letter, (1) the Gadianton leader, Giddianhi, at first flattered Lachoneus by praising him “for the firmness of your people, in maintaining that which ye suppose to be your right and liberty;...as if ye were supported by the hand of god, in the defence of your liberty and your property and your country, or that which ye do call so”—[In other words, what you call yours is really ours] (3 Nephi 3:2).  Next, (2) Giddianhi calls Lachoneus foolish and vain to think that he can stand against “so many brave men” who are anxious for his word to go down and destroy the Nephites because of  “the many wrongs which ye have done unto them” (3:3-4).  Now, (3) this thief and murderer writes his desire “that ye would yield up unto this my people your cities, your lands, and your possessions,” rather than be destroyed by the sword.  And, (4) then “unite with us, become acquainted with our secret works, and become our brethren that ye may be like unto us—not our slaves, but our brethren and partners of all our substance” (3:6-7).

This is an interesting situation. Lachoneus was astonished at the boldness of Giddianhi and the threats of their “avenging the wrongs of those that had received no wrong, save it were they had wronged themselves” [by joining with the wicked band] (3:11).  It is also interesting to note that the Gadianton robbers lived in the mountains; they produced no food or goods other than meat from wild beasts or game.  Their only other source of sustenance was from robbing, plundering and killing, yet they demanded the Nephites give up everything they built, worked for and possessed so the robbers could redistribute it to all as their “brothers and partners” (3 Nephi 4:5).

The great commander of the Nephite armies was a man of revelation and prophecy named Gidgiddoni (3:18-19).  When the people pleaded with him to let them go to the mountains and the wilderness and destroy the Gadianton robbers in their own lands, he said to them, “If we should go up against them the Lord would deliver us unto their hands.”  Then, he  told them his plan: “We will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies together, and we will...wait till they shall come against us;...as the Lord liveth, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands” (3 Nephi 3:21).  And, for a year they prepared by gathering all their horses, chariots, cattle, flocks, herds, grain and all their substance into the appointed place.  They built fortifications all around them and placed guards to watch day and night.  They made weapons of war of every kind and armor and shields to protect them. “And, a great many thousand people who were called Nephites [gathered] themselves together in this land.”  They repented of all their sins and prayed continually to the Lord their God that he would deliver them when their enemies came against them to battle (3:14-26).

When the robbers came down from the mountains and found the Nephite cities deserted and desolate with nothing left for them to plunder for food, Giddianhi commanded his armies that they go up to battle against the Nephites.  As the battle commenced, it was the greatest slaughter “among all the people of Lehi since he left Jerusalem” (3 Nephi 4:1-11).  But, the Nephites prevailed and pursued the robbers and killed all they found.  Even Giddianhi was overtaken and slain. Eventually, all the Gadianton robbers were surrounded by the Nephites and could not retreat to the wilderness (4:12-30).  All those who surrendered were cast into prison.  There “the word of God was preached to them.”  If they repented of their sins and entered into a covenant of peace [would murder no more], they were set free.  Those who refused were “condemned and punished according to the law” (3 Nephi 5:1-6).

Thus, the wicked, secret, and abominable combinations of the Gadianton robbers finally came to an end.  And, the hearts of the Nephites swelled with joy and many tears were shed “because of the great goodness of God in delivering them out of the hands of their enemies” (3 Nephi 4:33).

Book of Mormon Stories—Samuel the Lamanite Prophet

About 6 B.C., on the American Continent, Samuel the Lamanite prophet preached to the Nephites of the birth of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem.

 

Both the Lamanites and the Nephites were descendents of Lehi who, with his family and others, left Jerusalem about 600 B.C. when the Lord warned them that their city was shortly to be destroyed.  After wandering in the wilderness for eight years, Lehi’s son, Nephi, was directed to build a ship for a voyage to “a choice land.”  After many months on the ocean, they arrived in a land somewhere in the Western Hemisphere.  Nephi was a righteous man but his brothers Laman and Lemuel and their families and followers became a wicked and rebellious people.  Nephi was told by the Lord to take the records they brought with them from Jerusalem, and those written by Lehi and Nephi in the new world, and separate themselves from the wicked Lamanites, and go far away from them into the wilderness, which they did. 

Now, after almost 600 years and many wars between the two nations, the Nephites had become “ripe in iniquity” and the Lamanites had been converted to the Church and were living the commandments of God (Helaman 13:1). 

Samuel was a righteous Lamanite.  He was called to preach to the Nephites in the land of Zarahemela, the seat of their government.  And, for many days he preached repentance to the people, but they wouldn’t listen and they threw him out of their city (Helaman12:2).  As he was about to return to his own land, the voice of the Lord came to him telling him to return again and prophesy whatever was in his heart, but he was barred from the city.  Determined to fill the Lord’s commandment, he jumped upon the high wall and began to cry in a loud voice:

“Behold, I, Samuel, a Lamanite, do speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my heart;…the sword of justice [punishment of the Lord] hangeth over this people” (Helaman 13:5). 

He told them that within 400 years all of their people would be destroyed and nothing would save them except repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, who would shortly come into the world, and be slain for his people.  He said, “An angel of the Lord hath declared it unto me, and he did bring glad tidings to my soul” (13:6-7).  And he told them the Lord would smite them with the sword [wars], famine and pestilence (13:9).  “Ye are cursed because of your riches…because ye have set your hearts upon them, and have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you” (13:20-21).  And Samuel declared unto them, saying, “O ye wicked and ye perverse generation; ye hardened and ye stiffnecked people, how long will ye suppose that the Lord will suffer you?…Yea, how long will ye choose darkness rather than light?” (13:29) and he prophesied of many more things that couldn’t be written (Helaman 14:1).

Because the Lord desires to save these wicked Nephites, he commands Samuel by an angel to prophesy of the signs accompanying his birth.  Samuel said: “Behold, I give unto you a sign; for five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on his name....Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night...and it shall be the night before he is born” (14:3-4).  “And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you” (14:5).  And the Lord told him to “cry unto this people, repent and prepare the way of the Lord” [prepare to let him into their hearts] (14:9). 

Samuel gives them another sign, “a sign of his [the Lord’s] death. (14:14).  There will be no light from the sun, the moon or the stars upon the face of the earth for three days and there will be thunderings and lightnings for many hours. The earth will shake and tremble with mountains laid low and valleys made into mountains.  Cities will become desolate and graves of the saints will be opened and they will appear unto many (14:20-27).

 

He explains that Christ must die “to bring about the resurrection of the dead [temporal death] that thereby [through repentance and the atonement] men may be brought [back] into the presence of the Lord” [spiritual death]—this because of the fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord when he and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden for eating of the forbidden fruit. (14:15-18).

Finally, Samuel tells them if they believe, they can be saved but those who will not believe, “bring upon themselves their own condemnation.”  He reminds them that they are free to choose; “ye are permitted to act for yourselves....He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you” (14:30-31).

Many of those who heard the words of Samuel believed on his word and went to find Nephi the third, a prophet of the Lord, confessing their sins and desiring to be baptized.  Those who refused to hear and believe grew angry and threw stones and shot arrows at him upon the wall.  However, the Lord was with Samuel so that the stones and arrows could not hit him.  This caused many more to be converted and they were also baptized by Nephi.  But more did not believe.  As they tried to capture him, Samuel escaped from the wall and went back to preach to his own people and was never heard of again among the Nephites (Helaman 16:1-8).

Samuel has prophesied that “for five years more” the signs of the birth of Jesus Christ would be given.  But the majority of the people became “more hardened in iniquity” and argued that there was no such being as a Christ which “is a wicked tradition” to keep them in ignorance.  And they discounted the many signs, wonders and miracles that had already been given to the people (16:13-21).  Some began to say “the time was past for the words to be fulfilled, which were spoken by Samuel, the Lamanite.”  But the righteous saints watched for the sign of a day and night and day in which there was no darkness that their faith “had not been in vain” (3 Nephi 1:4-8).  Now the unbelievers set apart a day that all those who believed in Samuel’s prophecy would be put to death “except the sign should come to pass.”  As the day drew near, Nephi prayed mightily to the Lord on behalf of his people, (3 Nephi 1:9-12) and the voice of the Lord came to him saying:

“Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world” (3 Nephi 1:13).

And that night there was no darkness and a new star appeared in the sky.  Now the people knew that the prophecy was about to be fulfilled and the Lord would be born the next day.   “And the more part of the people did believe, and were converted unto the Lord....And thus the people began again to have peace in the land” (3 Nephi 1:19, 21-23).

Movie Review--The Words

Interesting and thought provoking but not a classic

This movie gave me a headache, although I mostly enjoyed it at the time.  On reflection, however, I didn’t understand it all that well.  How can that be?

First, it’s three stories in one with three flashbacks (a little hard to follow). 

Second, it’s written in the modern genre of letting the audience fill in the blanks.

Third, the characters aren’t developed to the point where we know or care about them (maybe except for Rory’s teary, blood-shot blue eyes).

It begins with a mature man, Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid), before a large audience reading from his latest book titled “The Words.” 

Flashback to a young Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper) receiving an award for writing his successful first novel “The Window Tears.”  Flashback to a couple of young lovers just out of college, Rory and Dora (Zoe Saldana) moving a mattress on to the floor of their loft where they can live happily after—Rory writing and Dora loving him—except it takes two years to finish his book.  The book is good, but not publishable according to those who publish books, partly because he is a new, unknown author.

Rory is forced to get a job with a publisher delivering interoffice mail.  He and Dora get married and go on a honeymoon to Paris (just a little trite).  While there they visit the former abode of Ernest Hemingway and explore a shop that sells artifacts from the period.  Rory finds an old and worn (but interesting) leather briefcase and Dora buys it for him.  Later at home, Rory still unable to write discovers an old manuscript hidden behind a flap in the briefcase.  This is the catalyst for the rest of the movie.

After the book is published, “an Old Man” (Jeremy Irons) sits next to Rory on a park bench and tells him his story.  Another flashback to just after WWII when a young American soldier falls in love with a French girl (Ben Barnes and Nora Arnezeder) in Paris and they eventually marry.  Their story is compelling but not all that different from what many others experience in their own lives (in my opinion).  However, the choices made by the couple are regrettable which is also true of the moral choice made by Rory. 

Clay Hammond (Quaid) is the puzzle of this movie although there are many clues to his identity.  He adds little to the plot especially when a “young, spoiled, American” girl, Daniella, (Olivia Wilde) is thrown into the mix.  Her purpose is one of the “blanks” that is nebulous to say the least.  Her only importance appears to be when she asks Clay if he wants “fiction or (real) life.”  I suppose that is about Truth.

If you want to be entertained on a long afternoon in a movie theater, expecting nothing and happy for something that is both interesting and thought provoking, this movie is for you.  If not, stick to the classics. 

Book Review--A Sunless Sea by Anne Perry

A Sunless Sea—Imagery at it’s best

Anne Perry masterfully links the name of this book, A Sunless Sea, with the poem Kubla Kahn written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1797 as she did with The Sins of the Wolf and Dante’s Inferno.  Coleridge was a known opium user in England when the drug was totally unregulated which is also the main focus of this book. 

As opium addiction is described by the author, the image of a sunless sea is a place where there is no light—only darkness, no hope—only despair, and no life—only death. 

The book opens with Monk, commander of the Thames River Police at Wapping Station, and Orme, his right-hand man, rowing together in a boat on the river about 20 feet from the Limehouse Pier, when they hear a blood-curdling scream coming from someone standing on the pier.  As they dock the boat and run up the stairs, the person points to what looks like “a heap of rubbage” but is soon found to be the body of a woman who has been murdered and disemboweled.  As Monk and Orme begin their investigation to determine who the woman was, they assume maybe she was a prostitute who put herself in harms way.  As they search a neighborhood “about a quarter of a mile from the river” they soon discover her name is Zenia Gadney. 

All who knew of Zenia say she lived a quiet life with no visitors except for one man who came only once a month but hadn’t been around for two months.  No one seems to know who he is.  Monk deduces that the man probably comes by hansom cab which turns out to be the case.  With a little detective work, he learns the man is Dr. Joel Lambourn.  When he visits the Lambourn home, the beautiful Dinah, his wife, tells Monk her husband is two-months dead, ruled a suicide by the police, but she doesn’t believe it.  She also says she knew about her husband and Zenia for many years. 

The mystery deepens when Monk discovers that Dr. Lambourn had written a report for the government on the dangerous unregulated use of opium as a reference for passage of a proposed Pharmacy Act regulating its use.  The report was rejected and destroyed by those he gave it to, including his brother-in-law, Barclay Herne, whose wife was the sister of Dr. Lambourn.  The police determined that Dr. Lambourn's despair and embarrassment at the rejection of his work led him to commit suicide.

But, who killed Zenia and what was her connection to Dr. Lambourn?  Monk has found the only person with knowledge, access and motive is Dinah Lambourn who is shortly arrested for the murder.  She asks Monk if he will request that Oliver Rathbone represent her, which Oliver agrees to even though he has no evidence that she didn’t do it.  The courtroom drama plays an important part in this story.  The judge, the prosecutor, and the witnesses all pull the reader toward the anticipated conclusion.

 Britain finally passed the Opium Act in1878. 

Book Review--Dark Assassin by Anne Perry

Dark Assassin is indeed too “Dark”

Dark Assassin is the eighth of Anne Perry’s William Monk series books I have read.  I am also posting my review of “The Sunless Sea”—my number nine.

Anne Perry is a wonderful writer.  I am amazed at her depth of knowledge, her large vocabulary, her writing ability and her prolific writing history.  Her books are always worthwhile and a good read.

(Here comes the however) however, as I grow older and see more of the dark and sinister things of our world, the less I enjoy reading about them even if it is in Victorian times.  This book was too “dark” for me.  While I enjoyed most of the details of the story above the ground, the descriptions of the vast, filthy, rat-filled, pitch dark, damp, and dangerous underground sewer tunnels where people live, grub, struggle, are maimed, and die, is not enjoyable to me. 

At this time, William Monk is a newly-appointed Thames River senior officer policeman.  While patrolling on the river with his crew, he witnesses a young couple on the Waterloo Bridge who appear to be arguing when they fall into the water and drown.   They are quickly found and identified as Mary Havilland and Toby Argyll.   

As Monk tries to determine whether it was a suicide or an accident he discovers Mary’s father was thought to have committed suicide just two months earlier and that Toby Argyll is her ex-fiancé.  Mary’s father was an engineer working for Alan Argyll, Toby’s wealthy older brother who was drilling tunnels underground with big machines for London’s new sewer system.  The mystery unfolds as Monk and his old adversary, Superintendent Runcorn, work together to uncover what actually happened to Mary’s father and why, and what the Argyll’s had to do with it.  Also, what really happened on the Waterloo Bridge.

As always, the courtroom scenes with Oliver Rathborn are brilliant.  Ms. Perry knows how to develop the dialog and descriptions of non-verbal facial and bodily movements skillfully—making you feel as if you are actually there; (another however), I have learned after eight Monk books that Perry’s endings are often a let down.  Like other authors, they seem to have become somewhat the same—fade away into ______? (you fill in the blank).

Nevertheless, I will give this book five stars because all of Perry’s books are good.  I just didn’t enjoy the darkness of this particular subject.

Book Review--Raquela, A Woman of Israel

Raquela, A Woman of Israel
by Ruth Gruber

Of the 39 book reviews of this book on Amazon, 38 give Raquela 5 stars—one is 4 stars.

This is, first of all, a true story.  When Ruth Gruber, a foreign correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune set out in Israel to find one woman whose life “would define what it means to be a woman of Israel” (Gruber, Raquela, Forward), she found many candidates.  When she heard of a ninth-generation Jerusalemite, whose family settled in Jerusalem in 1650 from Spain, who was a nurse and midwife who had delivered babies in the camps at Athlit and Cyprus for the Jewish illegal immigrants who flocked to their promised land after World War II, she knew she had found her subject.

The book begins in Jerusalem in 1929 when Raquela (the Sephardic, [meaning Spanish,] version of Rachel) was five years old.  Her family lived in Bet Hakerem three miles from the center of Jerusalem, described as a “neighborhood [that] was founded in 1922 as one of six garden cities developed in Jerusalem during the days of the British Mandate for Palestine” (wikipedia.com).  The Arabs from the village of Colonia rose up and murdered the people of Motza, a nearby Jewish village, then looted and burned their houses. The book explains that this was the second riot since the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, which stated, “His Majesty’s Government (the British) views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”  And, while the British police did nothing, the Arab terrorists went to Hebron, where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their wives Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah were buried, and murdered all the prominent Jewish families.  When the British police finally came, they rounded up the rest of the Jews of Hebron (not the Arabs) and locked them up in the police station “for their own protection.” These people were never allowed to return to their homes which were ransacked by the Arabs.

From this time forward, there was no peace in Palestine.  The book takes us through the time when Raquela was twelve years old and she and her mother were on a bus traveling downtown to go shopping for her Bat Mitzvah. The bus was attacked by Arabs with guns and a hand grenade that miraculously exploded before it could be thrown in the bus.  On January 31, 1943 Raquela enrolled in the Hadassah (Hebrew name for Queen Esther, see Jeremiah 8:22) Henrietta Szold School of Nursing where she studied nursing and midwifery under her mentor, the renowned obstetrician Dr. Aron Brezezinski.  Raquela Levy graduated as a nurse/midwife on February 7, 1946 and was selected “the outstanding student” in her class.

Politically, because of The White Paper of 1939 issued by the British government under Neville Chamberlain, Palestine was partitioned into an independent Arab state and a Jewish state “in proportion to their population numbers in 1939”—which meant Palestine was virtually controlled by the greater number of Arabs.  Jewish immigration was limited to 75,000 over a five-year period from1940 to 1944—then all immigration would depend on the permission of the Arab majority.  During this time the Holy Land “became a police state.”  The British brought in “one hundred thousand soldiers …to keep order.”  Jerusalem was a mass of barriers and “rusted coils of barbed wire” where tanks and armored cars patrolled the streets.

The stamina, courage, industry, and determination of the Jewish people is obvious in this book.  If you are one of those who knows little of the history of Israel, you will be enlightened, but also entertained with the story of the remarkable life Raquela.  The facts of how Israel became an independent nation with all the hardships and wars for independence are the rest of the story.  Gruber weaves the heroic deeds of a woman of Israel into the compelling narrative of birth—not only of babies born in horrible conditions in British refugee camps—but also the inevitable and difficult birth of the State of Israel. 

Movie Review--2016: Obama's America

This movie has been reviewed hundreds, maybe even thousands, of times and published on the Internet.  Bloggers of some of these reviews call the writer/ director, Dinesh D’Souza, John Sullivan, and producer Gerald Molen liars, racists, and bigots and compare the movie to the propaganda put out by the Nazis before and during WWII.  Patricia Russell from West Hollywood, CA states in a comment on a review, “since this ‘movie’ was paid for and distributed by Mormons, I just consider the source” and she cites wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_R._Molen as her source.  After looking at the cited article on Wikipedia, I found no such reference to anything Mormon.  It’s a shame that so many reviewers are unable to critique the movie without being vicious, degrading, and insulting. 

This movie is actually about the facts that are Obama.  These are the facts that were seldom or never told during the 2008 election due to the euphoria by the media that surrounded the first “black” presidential candidate. It is a story about the miracle of an unknown man who became President with only two years experience in the Illinois state house, and two years as a U.S. Senator.  It’s the story of how President Obama became the person he is without any excuse or hesitation in achieving his goals.  The movie lets you be the judge of where he wants to take us as a nation by 2016 should he be re-elected.

Dinesh D’Souza is an immigrant from India, a conservative, a former staff member for President Reagan, the author of a book “The Roots of Obama’s Rage” on which this movie is based, and currently the president of King’s College in New York.  He methodically uncovers the history of Barack’s childhood, his relationship with his mother and the influence of his absent Kenyan father.  Much of Obama’s young life was spent in Indonesia with his mother and step-father, Lolo Soetoro.  Later he was sent back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents.  Many excerpts of his child and young adulthood are taken from Obama’s first autobiography, “Dreams from My Father.”

Some of those who had the most influence on Obama D’Souza calls “Obama’s Founding Fathers.”  Among them are Frank Marshall Davis, an avowed Communist, who became his mentor; Bill Ayers, former Weather Underground unrepentant terrorist; academic Edward Said, an anti-Israel activist; a Harvard Communist professor and Brazilian, Roberto Unger; and finally Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s religious Black Liberation Theology pastor and friend for 20 years.  All these men helped to define Obama’s anti-colonial worldview of America as a power that could (should) be neutralized.  All the incidents pertinent to this assessment of Obama are carefully enumerated, expounded, and documented on the screen. 

According to Matthew May, in his review, “Dinesh D’Souza asks viewers whether we will pursue the American dream or Barack Obama’s dream. That dream, as D’Souza argues, is the defeat [emphasis added] of oppressive colonialism that manifested itself in the rise of the United States as the dominant world power at the expense of the third world.” (American Thinker blog, August 26, 2012.) 

Finally, go to this movie!  It is enlightening and is not a vendetta against Obama.  It merely states those things about him that no one bothered to find out earlier.  It could have changed history then and maybe it will now.

Personal note: I realize that anyone who disagrees with Obama is subject to being called a racist.  I’m tired of that.  I was raised in Wyoming.  We had one black student in our class who was (as far as I know) accepted and treated the same as anyone else.  I never heard a harsh word said about him.  I lived in Texas for five years and never saw any instance of racism around anyone even though the area I lived in had lots of people of diverse ethnicity.  Calling a person a racist is easy but hard to defend.  So, let’s stop it and agree that to disagree with someone of another race is OK and does not mean they are racist.

Republican Women's Voices

—excerpts from talks given at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, August 28-30, 2012

 

 ●Mia Love, Mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah and a Republican candidate for Congress

The American Dream “Mr. President I am here to tell you – we are not buying what you are selling in 2012.  Why?  Because we know that the American dream is not just my story, and it is not just your story, it is our story.  It is a story of human struggle – of standing up and striving for more.  It’s been told for over 200 years with small steps and giant leaps: from a woman on a bus to a man with a dream; from the bravery of the greatest generation to the entrepreneurs of today.  This is our story – this is the America we know because we built it.” 
           

●Kelly Ayotte, Senator from New Hampshire, Live Free or Die - New Hampshire’s motto 
Small Business “Under this Administration, the regulations are up—and the job creation is down.  President Obama’s view is clear: he actually believes that as a family business grows, the federal government should take a larger share of its earnings.  That’s punishment for expanding and creating more jobs.  I call it a “success tax.”

“That’s why Mitt Romney is running for president.  He’ll get the federal government out of the business of small business.  He’ll fight to lower and simplify taxes.  He’ll work to eliminate job-killing red tape.  And he will roll back Obamacare starting on Day One!”

●Nikki Haley, Governor of South Carolina 

Illegal Immigration “South Carolina recently passed one of the most innovative illegal immigration laws in the country.  What did this president—who has failed to secure our borders and address this issue in any meaningful way—do?  He sued us”

Voter ID  “We said in South Carolina that if you have to show a picture ID to buy Sudafed and you have to show a picture ID to set foot on an airplane, then you should have to show a picture ID to protect one of the most valuable, most central, most sacred rights we are blessed with in American—the right to vote.  And what happened?  President Obama stopped us.”

Mitt Romney “This is a man at peace with who he is, with the challenges he faces, and with what he intends to accomplish. This is a man who is not just a candidate looking to win an election, but a leader yearning to return our nation to its greatest potential.”

●Susana Martinez, Governor of New Mexico

Success  “Success, [my parents] taught me is built on the foundation of courage, hard work and individual responsibility.  Despite what some would have us believe, success in not built on resentment and fear.”

“[The promise of America] is success and success is the American dream, and that success is not something to be ashamed of or to demonize.”

I’ll be damned we’re Republicans “I was a Democrat for many years, so were my parents.  Before I ran for district attorney, two Republicans invited my husband and me to lunch, and I knew a party switch was exactly what they wanted.  So, I told Chuck, ‘We’ll be polite, enjoy a free lunch, and then say good-bye.’  But we talked about issues—they never used the words Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal.  We talked about many issues, like welfare, is it the way of life or hand up?  Talked about size of government, how much should it tax families and small businesses?  And when we left that lunch, we got in the car and I looked over at Chuck and said, 'I’ll be damned, we’re Republicans.'"

●Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State now teaching at Stanford University

American Exceptionalism “After all, when the world looks to America, They look to us because we are the most successful political and economic experiment in human history.  That is the true basis of “American Exceptionalism.”  The essence of America—that which really unites us—is not ethnicity or nationality or religion—it is an idea—and what an idea it is:  That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things.  That it doesn’t matter where you came from but where you are going”

Class warfare “Ours has never been a narrative of grievance and entitlement.  We have not believed that I am doing poorly because you are doing well.  We have not been envious of one another and jealous of each other’s success.  Ours has been a belief in opportunity and a constant battle—long and hard—to extend the benefits of the American dream to all—without regard to circumstance of birth.

Danger of failure at home “But the American ideal is indeed endangered today.  There is no country, no not even a rising China, that can do more harm to us than we can do to ourselves if we fail to accomplish the tasks before us here at home.”

Leadership “Yes, America has a way of making the impossible seem inevitable in retrospect.  But of course it has never been inevitable—it has taken leadership, courage and an unwavering faith in our values.  Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have the experience and the integrity and the vision to lead us—they know who we are, what we want to be and what we offer the world.”

●Ann Romney, wife and mother

About Mitt Romney

“You many not agree with Mitt’s positions on issues or his politics.  Massachusetts is only 13% Republican, so it’s not like that’s a shock. But let me say this to every American who is thinking about who should be our next president:  No one will work harder. No one will care more.  No one will move heaven and earth like Mitt Romney to make this country a better place to live!”

“…as his partner on this amazing journey, I can tell you Mitt Romney was not handed success.  He built it.”

“Mitt doesn’t like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point.”

“This man will not fail.  This man will not let us down.  This man will lift up America!”

Once in a Blue Moon

No, I’m not talking about the nomination of a Mormon, Mitt Romney, for the President of the United States.  I’m talking about a phenomenon that won’t occur again until July 2015— a Blue Moon.  I have been interested in astronomy and the phases of the moon since I was a little girl growing up in the clear, clean air and blue skies at the end of the prairie in Laramie, Wyoming.  

While perusing Glenn Beck’s theblaze.com —I found an interesting reference to Friday, August 31, 2012.  It seems on this night a second full moon in the same month will fill the sky. Why this particular moon is called “blue” you can find out for yourself on farmersalamac.com by searching for what-is-a-blue-moon.  Hint: it’s not because it’s made of blue cheese.  

And, by coincidence, the funeral for Neil Armstrong, an American hero and the first man to walk on the moon, is on the same day as this "Blue Moon," August 31, 2012. When you are "gazing at the moon" on this night, think of this man, this pioneer astronaut who has been laid to rest under a celestial object on which he has walked. 

Movie Review update--The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Last night (and I mean at 9:30 p.m.) my friend, Letty, and I went to see the "Marigold Hotel" movie again.  And, I must say, "It was better the second time."  I listened closely to the dialog and I think I finally got Sonny's quote right.  He said,

"Everything's alright in the end; and if it's not alright, it's not the end."

I don't know why I have had such a hard time remembering the exact words--and this may still not be the exact quote but--Whatever!!

Why Mitt Romney is Unlikable! (not really)

This post came to me in an email from my son Jay in Houston.

A lot is being said in the media about Mitt Romney not being "likable" or that he doesn't "relate well" to people. Frankly, we struggled to understand why. So after much research, we have come up with a Top Ten List to explain this "unlikability."

Top Ten Reasons To Dislike Mitt Romney:

 

1. Drop-dead, collar-ad handsome with gracious, statesmanlike aura. Looks like every central casting's #1 choice for Commander-in-Chief.

2. Been married to ONE woman his entire life, and has been faithful to her, including through her bouts with breast cancer and MS.

3. No scandals or skeletons in his closet. (How boring is that?)

4. Can't speak in a fake, southern, "black preacher voice" when necessary.

5. Highly intelligent. Graduated cum laude from both Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School (at the same time)...and by the way, his academic records are NOT sealed.

6. Doesn't smoke or drink alcohol, and has never done drugs, not even in the counter-culture age when he went to college. Too square for today's America ?

7. Represents an America of "yesterday”…when  people believed in God, went to Church, didn't screw around, worked hard, and became a SUCCESS!

8. Has a family of five great sons....and none of them have police records or are in drug rehab. (but of course, they were raised by a stay-at-home mom, and that "choice" deserves America 's scorn).

9. Oh yes.....he's a MORMON. We need to be very afraid of that very strange religion that teaches members to be clean-living, patriotic, fiscally conservative, charitable, self-reliant, and honest.

10. And one more point... pundits say because of his wealth, he can't relate to ordinary Americans. I guess that's because he made that money HIMSELF...as opposed to marrying it or inheriting it from Dad. Apparently, he didn't understand that actually working at a job and earning your own money made you unable to relate to Americans.

My goodness, it's a strange world, isn't it?

Book of Mormon Stories--Helaman's Stripling Warriors

Helaman was a prophet, a military commander, a keeper of the sacred records, and the leader of the stripling warriors.  He lived around 90 to 57 B.C. somewhere in the Western Hemisphere.  But, this story begins many, many years earlier in Jerusalem with another prophet named Lehi.

About 600 B.C. the people have become wicked.  Many prophets warned of the destruction of their city if they did not repent.  While praying to the Lord, Lehi has a vision of the destruction of Jerusalem (1 Nephi 1:6-13).  But the people mock him when he testifies of their wickedness and their destruction.  Because they seek to kill him, the Lord appears to Lehi in a dream and commands him to take his family, his wife Sariah, sons Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi and depart into the wilderness, which he does (1 Nephi 2:1-5).  Later they are joined by Zoram, a servant of Laban from whom Nephi took the Plates of Brass (the sacred records) (1 Nephi 4:35), and the family of Ishmael and his household which includes daughters and sons (1 Nephi 7:6).

After eight difficult years in the wilderness, they are led to the seashore and commanded to build a ship (1 Nephi 17:4-6, 8).  During the journey in the ship Laman and Lemuel rebel against Nephi and bind him with cords. By the power of God, Laman and Lemuel repent and unbind Nephi and he guides the ship to the promised land in the Western Hemisphere (1 Nephi 18:21-23).

Some years later the Lamanites (followers of Laman and Lemuel) have become so wicked that they seek to slay Nephi but the Lord warns him and he takes his family, his righteous followers, and all the records of his fathers and flees into the wilderness.  After many days they stop, and in that place they build buildings of fine workmanship and call the land Nephi.  And they began to “prosper exceedingly” (2 Nephi 5:1-17).  However, the Lamanites, because of their iniquity and hardened hearts are cursed by God and become an “idle people, full of mischief and subtlety” (2 Nephi 5:20-25).

At the time of Helaman's warriors (about 74 B.C.), many wars have been fought between the Lamanites and the Nephites.  But Nephite missionaries—Alma and the sons of Mosiah—have gone to preach to the Lamanites.  In seven lands and seven cities among the Lamanites, thousands are converted to the gospel of the soon-to-come Christ.  They become a righteous people; they bury their weapons of war in the ground, and call themselves Anti-Nephi-Lehies (anti, meaning joined with, later called the people of Ammon or Ammonites). 

When the wicked Lamanites come upon them again, these righteous souls, who have made an oath with God not to shed blood in war, prostrate themselves on the ground and begin to “call on the name of the Lord” (Alma 24:21).  One thousand and five of them are killed “and we know they are blessed, for they have gone to dwell with their God” (24:22).  When the warring Lamanites see the slaughter their hearts swell, they stop and throw down their weapons, and repent of their sins.  In this way, more than a thousand of those Lamanites were joined with the righteous and brought to the knowledge of the truth of God (see Alma 24).  And the wicked Lamanites did not attempt to slay the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi again at that time (Alma 25:1).

The Lord commands Ammon (one of the sons of Mosiah) to take the Anti-Nephi-Lehies to safety in the Nephite land of Zarahemla where they are given the land of Jershon.  And the Nephites send their armies to guard them from their enemies.  There they become a zealous and beloved people, a highly favored people of the Lord (Alma 27:22, 30).

Now, ten years later preparations for war with the Lamanites and other “ites” are happening again (Alma 53:4).  And the people of Ammon have kept their oath “that they never would shed blood more” (Alma 53:11).  But because of compassion for the Nephites who protect them, they desire to take up arms in defense of their country. When Helaman perceives their desire he persuades them not to break the oath (covenant) “lest…they should lose their souls” (53:15).  But they have many young sons who have not taken the oath and these two thousand young men make a covenant to fight for the liberty of the Nephites, to protect the land even unto death, and to protect the Nephites and their people from bondage (53:16-18).  And, they want Helaman to be their leader.

These stripling (meaning young) warriors—these men of Ammon—were descendents of Laman, the eldest son of father Lehi (56:3).  They were exceedingly strong, active, courageous and valiant—“they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.  They were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” (Alma 53:20-21).  Helaman took his young sons (as he called them) and joined them with the army which had been reduced because so many had been slain.  And Helaman said, “Never had I seen such courage, nay not amongst all the Nephites” (Alma 56:45).  And they said to Helaman, “Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall” (Alma 56:46).  Though these young men had never fought, they did not fear death.  They thought more about the liberty of their fathers than they did their own lives.  “Yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them” (Alma 56:47). 

When Helaman with his two thousand came upon the rear of the Lamanite army and began to slay them, the Lamanites halted and viciously turned on them. This allowed the Nephite army to surround them on the other sides and the Lamanites were defeated and forced to give up their weapons of war.  With fear, Helaman numbered all those of his stripling warriors and, to his great joy, not one soul of them had been lost.  “They had fought as if with the strength of God…and with such mighty power” (Alma 56:52-56).  Later, sixty more of the sons on Ammon joined the two thousand.  They obeyed and performed every word of command with exactness and much faith, and remembered the words their mothers had taught them (Alma 57:21).  And they fought for their cities; nevertheless the Nephites suffered great losses.  Many of the stripling warriors lost much blood and fainted, and all suffered many wounds but not one soul did perish because of their exceeding faith in what they had been taught to believe—“that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power” (Alma 57:25-26). 

After the wars were over, Helaman and his brethren went among the Nephites with power to declare the word of God and to convince the people of their wickedness.  Many repented of their sins and were baptized into the Church.  Now, the people began to prosper again in the land.  In spite of their riches they were not prideful nor slow to remember the Lord their God; “but did humble themselves exceedingly before him” (Alma 62:49).  And Helaman died about the year 57 B.C.— probably in his forties—one of the mighty men of the Book of Mormon.  (See Alma 31 through 62.)

Movie Review--The Odd Life of Timothy Green

Movie Review—The Odd Life of Timothy Green

Shortly after the beginning of the movie, we are taken to a scene in a doctor’s office where Cindy (Jennifer Garner) and Jim Green (Joel Edgerton) are told that even though they have been trying, they might never be able to conceive a child.  Fast forward and we see them seated in front of adoption agency officials telling them the story of their son, 10-year-old Timothy (CJ Adams). They are explaining to a younger man and a middle-aged woman “it may be hard to believe....but”—flash back to the story.

Cindy Green is devastated by the news from the doctor.  At home she goes into her room and weeps.  Jim knocks on the door and together they decide to confront their problem by drinking wine and imagining all the best qualities their son would surely have.  They write down all the things on little pieces of paper and put them in a wooden box.  In a terrible rain storm with lots of thunder and lightning, they bury the box in the garden. 

During the night Jim wakes up and instead of Cindy in the bed, he finds dirt.  Puzzled, he calls the police because he thinks someone has been in the house while they slept.  He refers to the storm the night before, but they tell him there was no storm.  It seems it was only at their house.  Shortly, they find a small boy covered with dirt in the house playing with some things packed in a box. Though surprised, they get him scrubbed up and discover he has leaves growing from the bottom of his legs.

In the morning Cindy's sister, Brenda Best, (Rosemarie DeWitt) shows up at the front door with her family.  Jim and Cindy hurriedly put socks over his legs and calmly introduce Timothy to everyone. The development of the plot involves all the good qualities that they imagined their son would have—though he is different and even odd.  He befriends a girl (Odeya Rush) who is self-conscious because she has a birthmark, he changes Jim’s intimidating father (David Morse), he shows his musical talent by beating a rhythm on a coconut shell, and he frequently throws out his arms with his face to the sun.  And, always the leaves, both on his legs and on the trees are part of the story.

Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Garner are flawless as Timothy’s playful and protecting parents, but CJ Adams (Timothy) carries the story.  The setting is the small town of Stanleyville, somewhere in the Midwest (actually filmed in Albany, Georgia). The main industry is a pencil factory where most of the people work.  The movie has a range of emotional issues such as father/son relationships, sibling rivalry (Cindy and her sister Brenda Best—her name is appropriate), bullying, competition, love and sadness.  Part of the movie is a fantasy (who “finds” a child from the garden?) and part is reality (infertility, difficult people, work problems, etc.).  It is perfect for children and enjoyable and entertaining for adults--maybe not Disney’s best, but still worth seeing.