There is no joy in Obamaville
By R.J. Godlewski
© March 1, 2009, All Rights Reserved
(Right Truth Exclusive)
One thing that I always liked about Christ was that He always surrounded Himself with the self-employed – carpenters, tax collectors, fishermen, prostitutes – and I have said this on many occasions. It does, however, bear more scrutiny in light of today’s economic stress. He Who came to aid the poor and chastise those in positions of power and “Enlightenment” chose to befriend those who created jobs and managed small businesses. After all, for thirty years he aided his step dad with the family business. The moral of the story, of course, is that Jesus sided with those who created things instead of simply demanding them from others.
There is not a single parable within the whole New Testament that tells of someone receiving something that 1.) they did not earn themselves or 2.) was not given to them by God Himself. Furthermore, when God gave, He did so from His heart; His Gifts did not come based upon our integrity. We can learn much from these parables today, but few of us could really be considered as “Joyful Christians”.
In a way, this is not a religious article. I merely wanted a tie-in to the concept of joy, which isn’t found or discovered or handed out. Joy is God and if He possesses us then we cannot ignore joy for it is within us as He is always within us. What began these thoughts, unfortunately, is entirely political.
Rush Limbaugh has been in the news as of late because he expressed his desire that President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan and other liberal policies fail. Democrats have caricaturized Mr. Limbaugh as unpatriotic for this statement. I would argue that it is Mr. Obama who is unpatriotic for it is his policies that run contrary to American values and our Constitution. I, however, believe that the crux of this argument is not whether Mr. Limbaugh or Mr. Obama is patriotic or not, but whether either is joyful.
I have not listened to Mr. Limbaugh’s radio program since February of 2005. Having said that, whenever I see the man being interviewed on television or giving speeches in public or simply being quoted, I see a person wrapped within joy. No, I do not mean that it is joyful to listen to him. What I mean is that he exudes joy in doing what he does. You cannot listen to his words and not believe that the man truly, honestly, believes in what he says.
One cannot help but imagine Mr. Limbaugh sitting at home, enjoying his cigars, comfortable in the knowledge that he has created something rather unique within this great nation of ours. Even when he battled his alleged OxyContin® addiction, one cannot help but believe in the joy he must have felt when he finally conquered the vice. The same must have gone for his recovery from deafness. Joy is joy. We cannot define it because it simply is.
Someone who I do not see as particularly joyful is our President, Barack Obama. I do not detect the “glow” of joy about him. Never did. And it might have something to do with him not believing a word that he says. Granted, he is the highest elected official in the country and serves during an economic recession, but he does not – ever – reflect the same human glow that his predecessor showed.
The man who preached “Hope” and “Change” during the election cycle now cries “Catastrophe” and stocks his staff with people whose policies were soundly rejected in the 1990’s. Mr. Obama claims to be a Christian, yet after twenty years he could not remember a word his pastor spoke. He claims to be proudly American, but cannot remember the communists and terrorists that he associated with all through his life. He claims to have been born in Hawaii but, for some reason, fears showing the world his birth certificate.
I am almost positive that Mr. Limbaugh knows more about the cigars that he smokes than Mr. Obama knows about the friends that he keeps. Perhaps Mr. Limbaugh simply enjoys his cigars more than our President enjoys his associates. There is a lesson in all of this for the rest of us. Joy is not necessarily what we have, but how we think about what we have.
I have been laid off from work more times within my life than I can remember. I have lost homes, automobiles, and, yes, even my wife to cancer. When I look back upon the past four and a half decades, however, it’s not the material things that I remember. It is the things that I have done within my life that I remember most of all. It is the songs that I’ve composed, the books that I have written, the photographs that I have taken, the jobs that I have created, and the one love that I devoted my entire existence to taking care of. You will kindly note that I have not made any references to fame and/or fortune.
Now that our economy has tanked, I still find joy in the simpler things. I am joyful to be able to live within a free enough society where I can write and publish pretty much anything that comes to my mind. I look now upon the wall of my office/bedroom and feel joy as I observe photographs of two of the Navy ships that I served aboard during the early 1980’s. I feel joy as I stare at the simple oil painting that my late father labored over many, many years ago. I feel joy simply looking at my worn out old dog who I had to crawl into a culvert fourteen years ago this just passed February and rescue. I can still hear Sara’s words quite distinctly, “We are not keeping that damn dog!” Rocky brought more joy into Sara’s life than I can recount here.
Life is never meant to be easy, but that does not exclude joy even many years after the fact. In 1994, Sara and I were left stranded in San Antonio for the weekend with only a buck between the two of us. A whole pantheon of strange events left us without any way of retrieving funds from the trucking company that we drove for and so we were left sharing a Kentucky Fried Chicken® sandwich for the entire weekend. Horrible then. Joyful today. Such are the memories of the deceased.
There are very few things that I can imagine that I have not personally experienced in some form or another. What I have experienced, however, has shown me through the concept of time to be joyful in the very passing of that time. This is where I believe that President Barack Obama will go down in history as our worst president ever. He simply cannot understand the concept of joy. Neither can his “I have never been proud of my country…” wife. To enjoy life, you must allow the joy which is within you to come flowing out unimpeded.
I enjoy shooting my guns. President Obama wants to deny me of this right. His administration’s latest excuse is that by my owning guns, somehow the Mexicans are in danger. Listen, Mr. President, I have to travel south to get to Canada. I do not think that anything I do affects the drug cartels in Juarez. I enjoy seeing smiles upon little children as they move through stores awed beyond belief by the stuffed animals. Mr. Obama wants to promote abortion as a form of mandated birth control. I enjoy knowing that God chose me to be part of His Church, yet Mr. Obama continually tries to sacrifice my faith in order to appeal to infidels who call me, you’ve guessed it, Infidel in return. I have nothing against Muslims, for example, I just do not believe they will get into Heaven unless they come to know Christ in their own way. What brings me joy is knowing that it is God, not me, who makes that ultimate determination – of who is Christian and who is not.
You simply cannot know joy unless you know God, for God is Joy. Building a barrier between this fact and your attitude isn’t going to make life enjoyable. If anything, it makes you miserable. You can see this everyday – joyless people. They want the Government to make them happy by providing them with someone else’s money. Their arguments usually sound something like “My boss pays me a sorry-assed wage and works me hard so he doesn’t deserve his nice home and car. Give me his money!” These types should be joyful that they haven’t experienced what most self-made people have experienced within life. Others, weighed down from exuberant purchases, want everyone else to pay for their transgressions. Part of my joy is realizing how many errors I’ve experienced in life and knowing that someday, I will be able to pull myself out of these troubles through my own efforts.
There can be thus no separation between Church (Joy) and Will (Happiness) for both come from and represent eternal life with God. Barack Obama cannot grant you joy. Nancy Pelosi cannot grant you joy. Pleasing the Muslims cannot grant you joy. Only giving your entire ‘will’ to God – being content with what He has challenged you with and making something out of it – will bring you a joyful life. Everyone else just wants to bitch and take what is not rightfully his or hers.
To Stanford Matthews from R.J. Godlewski:
You're confusing "Joy" with modernistic happiness, elation, etc. To paraphrase Professor Kreeft's words about faith -- compare our joy not with that of 1980 but of 1280. From my perspective, I've been to a few southern Catholic Masses where even the priest was screaming "Praise the Lord!" to the whoops and hollars of the congregation. That's excitement, not joy. Let me explain it this way: JOY: Seeing your newborn for the first time. HAPPINESS: Seeing your children finally married off. JOY: Staring into your bride's eyes at the altar. HAPPINESS: Staring at your bride's undies on your wedding night.
President Obama may present a large dose of "pride", but "joy" is something that we can't manufacture ourselves, no matter what our thoughts are.
Hope that this helps explain what I meant... ;o)
End Comment.
Posted by: Debbie | March 03, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Maybe it's just me but I rarely if ever would have described the sense of well being or quiet contentment I may enjoy from my belief in God as joy. It may simply be a matter of semantics. I have witnessed others who from time to time seem to be in a state of euphoria over their faith but again, maybe it's just me for not having the same experience.
As far as Barry goes (which is probably too far on his agenda items) regardless of who is in 'the office' I suspect that once one has some time to acclimate themselves they may display more natural reactions to events. However, there seems to be way too much joy in Obama's demeanor for what appears to be the wrong reason. For instance his sound bite 'I won' indicating he feels he can do whatever he likes now that he is there.
I'll be quiet now :-)
Posted by: Stanford Matthews | March 03, 2009 at 07:53 AM
TO: Lowery
From R.J. Godlewski:
Thank you! No, my Patient Evil characters aren't stuck in Italy. I've just been stuck in school. My fault for going back to college at forty-five. ;o) Three of my classes ended on Sunday so expect PE to get back on track next week. Hopefully, I learned a thing or two from my classes which should make the story a bit more interesting. ;o)
My apologies to all!
R.J.
End comment
Posted by: Debbie | March 02, 2009 at 08:41 PM
RJ, another great piece, keep it up! By the way in the P.Evil series your charcaters seem to be stuck in Italy or some other place trying to stop an attack on us in NY. Love your work.
Bill
Posted by: william lowery | March 02, 2009 at 06:21 PM
dont worry we will have stalinist marxist losers bringing us joy!..NOT!!
Posted by: Angel | March 02, 2009 at 05:33 PM
I agree completely. You cannot experience true joy until you have experienced the unconditional love of Jesus Christ. There is no comparison to it in this world.
Obama is a gifted liar and he has succeeded in duping almost every person in this nation, probably including himself, who knows?
But one thing I know for certain he cannot hide from God, and there lies my comfort.
Posted by: Leticia | March 02, 2009 at 03:36 PM