Listening to politicians jockeying for position and power brought an appropriate episode to mind from my life as a boy living on the mining claim.

It was summer time and I had been out fishing. It was nearly dark when I got back to the cabin, and my grandparents were away so the lamps had not been lit. I was barefoot as usual, and upon entering the cabin my bare right foot came right smack down on a snake! All I remember is the feel of the reptile’s sudden, muscular jerking coiling under my foot. I don’t remember leaving the cabin, let alone how I went through the door. All I know is I was magically transported outside the cabin instantly.

Once my heart started up again, I gathered my wits and courage and very cautiously and carefully stepped back inside the cabin. Lighting a coal oil lamp I made a careful survey of the place, but the snake was not to be found. Looking back, I know the snake had to have been at least as surprised as I was. But the serpent probably didn’t have the propensity for heart failure.

This world is full of “snakes,” and it behooves us to tread through the often darkness properly shod and light in hand. For many of us, the Gospel is that light by which we make our way through the darkness of this world system.

“And what greater calamity can fall upon a nation than the loss of worship? Then all things go to decay. Genius leaves the temple, to haunt the senate or the market. Literature becomes frivolous. Science is cold. The eye of youth is not lighted by the hope of other worlds, and age is without honor. Society lives to trifles, and when men die we do not mention them.”

Emerson was condemned by many of the clergy of his time because of his transcendental views, his perceived departure from the faith. Yet, in his address to prospective ministers he called attention, as did Benjamin Franklin before him, to the need of worship in a civilized society.

However, both Franklin and Emerson recognized the need of freedom for such worship taking many forms, even Tom Paine affirming this despite his legitimate accusations against the “black coats.” The best minds throughout history have devoted themselves to the support of religious sentiment in various forms, but the best among these invariably with a cautionary word that such sentiment not be given the power of the sword, a condition historically prevailing in Muslim nations that is now threatening civilization and threatening nuclear Armageddon as a consequence.

Of course legitimate blame should be laid upon those like Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld, and these should be held accountable and made to answer for the multitude of their lies and duplicity leading America into the present wars. But the gauntlet has been cast and it seems there is no turning back the clock. No matter the efforts toward world peace, the Prince of Darkness and his followers will have none of it. And whether one subscribes to the theological interpretation of world events or not, the best word to describe the lunacy of world leaders seeming to be marching to Armageddon is “diabolical.”

The snakes are everywhere, and we all need a light of some kind to make our way through the darkness. But it is folly on the part of any here in America to attack our Christian heritage and culture thereby encouraging the enemy of Islam.

Those of us living in the Kern River Valley appreciate the quality of life here, the lake and the beauty of the river, the streams and mountains, the diversity of wildlife, the clean air and the lack of traffic congestion or having to contend with crowds while shopping.

However (isn’t there always?), the need to keep areas around our homes free of weeds due to the ever present fire danger is something we live with as well, and few of us would think we are doing violence to the flora by keeping the areas around our homes weed-free. The old evangelist Billy Sunday preached “Booze has its place, but its place is in hell!” Not a few of us would say the same of weeds.

Of his bean field Henry Thoreau wrote, “Daily the beans saw me come to their rescue armed with a hoe, and thin the ranks of their enemies, filling up the trenches with weedy dead. Many a lusty crest-waving Hector, that towered a whole foot above his crowding comrades, fell before my weapon and rolled in the dust.”

Many of us have had the experience of Henry going out and doing battle with weeds. Whether those who putter in their gardens or those of us who have had the experience of growing fruits and vegetables of necessity, there is something remarkably rewarding to our souls, if you will, about chopping down those weeds that threaten the more noble fruits of the soil.

For those that lacked the experience of growing their own food prior to WWII, the Victory Gardens made such experience a necessity in many cases. Virtually overnight millions of Americans quickly learned the skills of husbandry, to appreciate Henry’s attitude toward weeds, and have taken similar delight in hoeing down those “lusty crest-waving Hectors” with like satisfaction as he did in seeing them roll in the dust.

Remarkably, those of otherwise peaceful disposition, those who would never harm a fly, take great satisfaction in chopping down the weeds in their gardens, “filling up trenches with weedy dead.” Even that most noble of men, Albert Schweitzer, with his doctrine of “reverence for life” was not above using an instrument of violence, a hoe, against the “enemy weeds” in his garden.

One must suppose that the great majority of people, while properly decrying war and violence against Nature, even those like me who count us among “environmentalists” allow an exemption when it comes to weeds. And just so with the “Weeds of Islam.” Whatever blame justly accrues to our own leaders, and no one despises this present “crop” of “leaders” more than I do, whatever blame may be justly laid on Israel this is a war threatening civilization; and it is a war that must be fought to win! The problem is a lack of virtuous leaders qualified to wage such a war on the basis of what is right for the sake of civilization rather than one for greed and power.

But I believe America is much better than our leaders, and it this inherent goodness of the majority of Americans that must be counted on just as it was in WWII. And despite the many critics of such a thing, I have made a donation to Israel as a token of my support for the efforts of that nation against the threatening Weeds of Islam.