Looking forward, not behind....

Ok, I need to get something off my chest. This is really starting to bug me. The negativity that has become the norm. In supposed leaders or wanna-be leaders of our country, in the media, and in day to day conversations. I dont want a leader that looks at a war that our military men and women are engaged in and hear him say...oops looks bad, we are gonna lose. Geesh. What kind of leader is that???? Im sick and tired of hearing belly aching from the congress and the senate and the daily dips reporting it all over the place. All Ive heard is a lot of negativity and defeatist attitude.

One of the early lessons I learned in life was not to give up, no matter how hard it got. I had rheumatic fever as a young child. I was bed ridden for a year. I missed the first grade. Now my mother and father could have said poor poor you....dont worry. They could have let me feel sorry for myself. They could have felt sorry for me. But thats not the way it was. My mother taught me to do my lessons. I had homework. I had to learn my math and my reading. I learned to deal with not even being able to walk to a bathroom eight feet away. I learned how to keep myself occupied. I became an addicted reader. Alot of my better qualities that I have used through life, I can trace back to having learned them during that time. Whats my point here? My point is I wasnt given the option of negativity. I had a choice ...and that was to make the best of the situation and overcome the limitations.( By the way, I tested at the school to be enrolled the following year and because my test scores were higher than the kids that actually went to first grade, they passed me onto second grade. Kudos to my mom for that. I lost no ground...I in fact did even better.)

So enough is enough....we are engaged in a battle for our lives and our liberty. Enough naysayers. Enough all is bad. Enough crybabying. Enough passing the buck. Enough crippling of our military morale. Enough watching terrorists attack children, chopping off innocent peoples heads, bombing innocents traveling in car bombings. ENOUGH. ARE YOU LISTENING WORLD LEADERS? Terrorism is a very bad thing...evil....and its time we all pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps and started to yell....WE ARENT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE.
Whew..thanks I needed that..(really that rant doesnt go too far away from the premise of this blog....its about substituting positive proactive and offense for negativite defeatism and nonreaction and defensiveness)......now for the good news....

I want to go back to the blog about Iraq. Spirit of America. http://www.spiritofamerica.net/index.html
These men and women are doing good things for Iraq. No moaning and complaining ...only positive proactivity. They've brought clean usable water to the Iraqi people with Water Barrels for rural Iraq. They've supplied school supplies, toys, sports equipment for the children of Iraq. They have even brought music back to the children in Kurdish villages in northern Iraq.
Their work is important to the stabilization of this worthy country. And they need volunteers.

Volunteer!We're looking for volunteers in these areas:
Outreach and Publicity - Help us get the word out about the requests we receive to your local media and organizations and Web sites and blogs that you know. We would like volunteers to commit 3-4 hours a week.
Local PR Research - Help our requestors by researching media contacts (newspaper, Web sites, radio) in their hometowns and home base locations.
Corporate Donor Outreach - Research and contact potential corporate donors. Our goal is to build relationships with companies that can make donations of requested goods or offer their products at a reduced price. We're especially interested in these product categories: school supplies & equipment, sports equipment, children's apparel and musical instruments and related music equipment. We would like volunteers to have experience in dealing with the marketing departments of corporations. If you have knowledge of the industries noted above, even better. We would like volunteers to commit 6 to 8 hours a week for 4 to 6 weeks.
If you're interested in volunteering, please email us at staff@spiritofamerica.net.

So next time you find yourself wanting to bemoan the state we are in....or want to criticize the position we have taken in Iraq....I ask you to put your money where your mouth is. Do something...Change something....contribute to its success and lets together light up that corner of the world. And maybe just maybe, we can all rejoice in its victory.
Thanks and God bless us all.
One more thing....from the pages of the TF 1-18 IN Regiment...
http://www.1id.army.mil/118/index.htm
men and women not only fighting in Iraq but going a step farther, and bringing aid and relief and education and encouragement...applause, applause and prayers for all of the brave and honorable soldiers of this fine unit. You make us proud to be American. Thank you. This quote can be found on their website, (and you know by now how I love a good quote), it is one that we all should read everyday.
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."--Theodore Roosevelt; US President
A big AMEN to that.