Page 5 - Florida Sentinel 8-27-21

Editorial/Column
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‘Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death’
ost American histo-
rians recognize for- mer Virginian, Patrick Henry, as a great American patriot, a statesman, politi- cian, great legal mind and a talented orator. During his life time, (May 29, 1736 – June 6, 1799) he was consid- ered one of Virginia’s found- ing fathers and served as its
first and sixth governors.
A lifelong slave owner, who was himself, tired of liv- ing under British colonial subjugation and taxation without representation, he pushed his fellow Virginians to join in rebellion against the mother country, Eng- land. His quest for freedom from British rule led him to give a fiery speech to the 2nd Virginia Convention in which he proclaimed, “Give me lib-
erty or give me death.”
Amid so much contro- versy during these perilous times in which we currently live, I am reminded daily of Mr. Henry’s words. Re- cently, I took my car to a local automobile dealership for service. Because it would take several hours, the serv- ice writer offered to have a
driver take me home. Having had two doses of the Pfizer Vaccine and wearing my trusted face mask, without hesitation and practicing so- cial distancing to the extent possible in a car, I hopped in the back seat. Along the way, the mask-less African Amer- ican driver and I discussed the COVID-19 virus. To my surprise, in his job as a driver for others, he had not been vaccinated. Why? Because he didn’t know what was in it. I asked if he knew what was in all the food he ate, the bever- ages he drank or any medi- cine he took? How did he respond? “I see your point, but I am not taking the vac- cine.” I thought about Mr. Henry’s words.
Reading the news about our Governor’s strong oppo- sition to requiring school children to wear masks at school, reminded me of Mr. Henry’s words. Reading about the many parents who don’t want to be vaccinated or wear masks in public nor want their children to have to wear masks to school, caused me to think about Mr. Henry. Hearing so many
local, state and federal politi- cians, as well as many popu- lar talk show hosts and even some African Americans, speak against taking a vac- cine and/or wearing face masks, reminded me of Mr. Henry.
Many church-going, God- fearing people are also resist- ing. In a recent discussion about the virus with a friend, I asked him what would hap- pen to an atheist who jumped into a pit full of poi- sonous snakes. He rightly an- swered that at best he would become seriously ill from snake bites and at worst he might even die. I then asked him what would happen to a born again Christian who jumped into that same pit. Again, he rightly answered that he would suffer the same fate as the atheist.
The COVID-19 virus is like a poisonous snake pit which can be anywhere. It doesn’t discriminate and it has serious consequences for anyone who might fall in; but, the vaccine and face cov- erings are the antidotes. The Bible tells us not to tempt God with our poor decisions, but some of us do. Each of us has a right to jump into the snake pit; but we don’t have the right to pull others in with us. So, please! Be re- sponsible, take the vaccine and wear face masks when in the public; take care of your- selves, take care of your fam- ilies and please take care of others.
Just Another View.
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Afghanistan: Who Will Be The Last To Speak?
hile much of the world criticizes President Joe
Biden for pulling out of Afghanistan too quickly and leaving the Afghans clamoring to leave their coun- try and the Taliban behind, we applaud President Biden for keeping one of his promises. After all, it has been 10 years since Osama Bin Laden was killed, one of the reasons we entered Afghanistan in 2001. Since that time, the Coalition of Allied and Partner countries lost 3,500 soldiers, 3,000 or more who were American and 20,000 more American soldiers were injured.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) went into Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks on the United States, to make sure Afghanistan does not again become a safe haven for international terrorists to at- tack allied countries.
According to several sources, part of the goal of NATO was to help” the “Afghan government exercise its authority and to build the capacity of the Afghan na- tional security forces” to fight against international ter- rorism. NATO’s mission was to also “train, advise, and assist Afghan security forces and institutions to fight terrorism and secure their country.”
In 2018, the NATO Summit agreed to withdraw in- ternational forces from Afghanistan by May, 2021 and to continue to support the Afghanistan government in other ways - funding, technical support, etc. Thus, Afghanistan and the world should have known for three years, since 2018 that America and other allied coalition nations would be leaving Afghanistan by May, 2021.
NATO left Afghanistan with 300,000 Afghan troops, 22,000 of whom were specifically trained and 38 mil- lion citizens. If after three years notice of NATO’s plans to leave, after 20 years of military training and military resources valued at $2 trillion for the United States, after 69,000 Afghan troop casualties and 3,500 NATO casualties, Afghanistan fell within days. If after spend- ing $50,000 for each Afghan citizen, yet the nation still falls, the question becomes, was Afghanistan a nation
at all?
The answer lies between the fact that Afghanistan is a war-torn nation, and is
populated by countless war lords whose loyalty changes day by day. So, who will have the last word? The answer is obvious. History will be the last to speak.
M
W
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