Ignoring the Mob and Spotlighting the Good Among Us
Taking a welcome break from indoctrinated, wandering, shouting, sign-bearing, who’s-paying-them, mostly white, young sippy-cupped street urchins, in order to salute, for a welcome and needed change, several refreshing examples of good, honorable, caring, loyal citizens who represent the very best attitudes and attributes of true Americans.
First, 17-year-old black Atlanta native, CJ Pearson, reacted to the riots in this way: “I watched so many videos of America burning each and every night and it broke my heart to see it. But it also broke my heart to see black-owned businesses suffering, while people were chanting ‘black lives matter’.” And so, he decided to help. Incredibly, and with a whole lot of motivation and hustle, within a matter of days, CJ had raised over $160,000! With that, he has created a relief fund for small businesses damaged during the destructive mayhem in Atlanta, with at least one $10,000 check already presented. “What I wanted to do is show that conservatives can come together and we can actually help people of color…we’re backing mere words with action and results.” A terrific effort for good by this industrious, caring young man, clearly raised by fine parents.
Next, another young, black, hard-working (and darn smart) young person, this one a graduating teen. Miss Ashanti Palmer lives in Mount Vernon, New York. Just listen to her academic achievements. She graduated as senior-class Valedictorian. She made the Honor Roll every semester since kindergarten. And she had perfect attendance, which no doubt helped pave the way for her academic excellence. Said Ashanti about her attendance record: “It wasn’t something that I sought out. I knew that showing up to school every day was important, because even missing one day can set you back. It wasn’t until 10th grade that I realized I hadn’t missed a day, and then I wanted to keep up the streak.” That streak, by the way, consisted of 4,600 consecutive school attendance days! And, the reward for all of her hard work, especially in high school: $430,000 in college/university scholarship offers! This outstanding young lady plans to attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), located in Troy, New York, majoring in biomedical engineering, on a pre-med academic track. What a remarkable, self-motivated bright-light Ashanti is for America.
The vast majority of law enforcement officers across the country are very good people, working hard every day to help keep those in their respective communities safe. As their motto says: “To Serve and Protect”. Here is but one example. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputy, Cameron Kinsey, was on-duty one day recently, assigned to keep an eye on protests occurring across the street from his position. When, suddenly, he saw two women running toward him, calling for help, with one of the women holding an apparently unconscious, 11-month-old child. Kinsey could tell that immediate help was needed…His! So, he ran toward them, meeting both in a parking lot, having summoned an ambulance while running. After a rapid initial assessment, Kinsey noted that the baby had partially swallowed a coin, which he could see was now blocking the child’s breathing. Reaching back into his training, he employed a “mouth sweep” procedure and managed to turn that coin sideways, so that the infant could breathe again. Medical help arrive and the child was taken to the hospital to get that coin removed! Just one of our nation’s more than 800,000 fine law enforcement personnel working hard among us, there is no question that the well-trained, quick-reactions of Officer Cameron Kinsey saved a child’s life that day.
Respect for all authority, and especially these days, for that of law enforcement, is sadly lacking in too many young minds, likely for lack of teaching/demonstrating it in the home and in the lower grades at school. With all that’s been going on in our streets, and with the persistent bashing and denigrating of police officers by the naïve and misguided, it’s very refreshing to hear a veteran cop speak candidly about his own personal commitment to respect and country. Mr. Brandon Tatum, a black, former long-serving, police officer, expressed his feelings this way: “I will never disrespect my flag. I will never disrespect my country. I love America. America has been good to me. I understand that we’ve had some things in the past that have gone astray, but we have corrected it, we are united. There is no more Jim Crow. There is no slavery. If people would come together and focus on the things that we have been able to accomplish, moving forward, we can be a united country.” Officer Tatum’s heart-felt sentiments are the very kind that our young people should hear, and to do so before some of their thinking goes off the rails. Bottom line: There is no reason for anyone to be mad at America, the overall greatest, freest nation in world history.
Moving next from law enforcement into some positive military deeds. But first, a related brief mention of thanks, for the record, to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. When the President recently requested National Guard assistance to protect Washington. D.C. from the out-of-control protesting mobs, without hesitating. Governor DeSantis, sent up 500 Guardsmen all the way from Florida to help (the combined total from all responding states was about 1,500). When the same request for assistance was made to Virginia, right next door to D.C., its Governor Ralph Northam, to his shame, refused! A compelling and disgusting example of putting personal politics way ahead of country. Today, regrettably, that self-serving politically-driven “disease” seems to be running neck and neck with coronavirus.
While still in high school, Southern Californian Gabriel Mendez Ramirez dreamed of becoming a United States Marine. There was just one, literally, very big problem: Gabriel weighed 365-pounds! By good fortune, early on, he had met Marine Sergeant Anna Rodrigues, who would end up being a bit of a mentor to Gabriel. He had struggled to lose weight for years, too often bullied about his size by other students. His self-confidence at a low point, one day, without notice, Sgt. Rodrigues came to see him. Remembers Ramirez: “She really put it me in check that day. She told me to stop doubting myself and just put my mind to what I want to accomplish. I was the only one who could make this (Marine dream) happen for me. No one could do it for me.” With that pep talk (order!), Ramirez became far more focused on his goal, and over the next many months, he was able to lose 186-pounds! Truly amazing what some no-nonsense motivation can produce. At that weight, 179-pounds, he was accepted as a Marine recruit and, upon high school graduation, was off to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. A great story and a fine young man, now realizing his life-long dream of service to the nation as a United States Marine. And sincere thanks, of course, to Sergeant Anna Rodrigues for sticking with him, and for the figurative kick in the butt it took to get Gabriel headed in a productive, goal-fulling direction in life.
For eight-years, Mr. Janis Shinwari served as a vital combat translator working with our American troops in Afghanistan. He is credited with saving the lives of at least five American soldiers by shooting dead some attacking enemy forces. That act, and his continuing collaboration with our American troops, earned him a bulls-eye on his back and a price on his head from the Taliban. Shinwari eventually applied for a special immigrant visa which would grant him asylum in the U.S. It took three long years to achieve, all the while remaining an active target on the Taliban’s “death list.” He and his two sons then finally made it to the U.S. And a very happy ending, for him, his family, and for America. Just this past Monday (6/29), Janis Shinwari he was sworn-in as a United States citizen. His dream fulfilled, and a well-deserved repayment for a man who repeatedly risked his life to provide invaluable help to our soldiers in combat, literally saving American lives.
And speaking of helping to save a life, this final story also relates to a member of the United States military. Staff Sergeant Cody Haffly, a full-time Georgia Air National Guardsman, serving with the 165th Airlift Wing (Savannah), was driving to work one morning very recently, when he noticed that several drivers had stopped alongside the road and were looking at something. Haffly’s instinct kicked-in, and sensing that something just wasn’t quite right there, he turned around and headed back there, asking a bystander what was going on. He was told that a car had gone off the road and was partially submerged in the canal with a man apparently trapped inside. A former firefighter, Haffly didn’t hesitate to act. He went down into the chest-high water, and with a pipe from a trucker, he smashed open the rear window, to get a better sense of the situation. Working his way through the water to the driver, he learned that the gentleman was having difficulty breathing. So he stayed there with him, talking with, and comforting, the gentleman and doing his best to calm him down, hopefully helping to ease the breathing issue. Soon, medical help and firefighters arrived, got the driver out of the car and water, and off to the hospital, where, happily, he survived his ordeal. Great credit to Air Guard Staff Sergeant Cody Haffly, who would later reject the idea that he was a hero, saying that he only did “what any other human being would have done.” The difference that say, however, was that while several motorists were standing there looking, our active-duty military member did something to personally assist the situation, making his way thru chest-high water to check on the driver’s condition and keep him reassured that help was on the way. Substituting action for gazing, Cody Haffly was the one who made a definite difference in the life of a distressed gentleman that day. Thank you, sir, for your invaluable assist.
And there you have it. A sampling of recent actions by some really good people to make us all feel better, in these trying times, about the blessing it truly is to be living here in this great land, America.
Pearson quotes via foxnews.com, Julia Musto, 6-20-20; Palmer quote and stats via breitbart.com, Katherine Rodriguez, 6-25-20; Officer Kinsey rescue stats via dailycaller.com, Shelby Talcott, 6-18-20; Officer Tatum quote via dailycaller.com, Scott Morefield, 6-25-20; DeSantis via dailycaller.com, Jordan Lancaster, 6-3-20; Northam via breitbart.com, Joshua Caplan, 6-2-20; Ramirez stats via foxnews.com, Caitlin McFall, 5-23-20; Shinwari stats via foxnews.com, Jennifer Griffen, 6-29-20; Haffly stats via wtoc.com, Sean Evans, 7-1-20).