A Different Set of Eyes

The days leading up to the possible shutdown were wearing on me. I tried to reassure people that even IF it did happen it wouldn't be permanent. That it WOULD be okay in the end. Panic had started to spread and didn't take it long to consume many of the normally sane people I know. I couldn't find the words to help and stressed myself out trying.

My husband posted on facebook the day after the talks in response to all the arguing and panic that he had been hearing. Before you read it I want you to see what his sister said about the same message:

I call him "Turd Breath"...because he is my little brother...and good insults are the foundation of all sibling relationships....but I double-dog-dare anyone else to try to insult, or put him down! Every once in a while he just blows my mind with his eternal capacity to love - and to see the goodness through the darkness.

Enclosed is a message he published about the near-government shut down. I want to share with others the face and the voice of the soldier on the front line serving his country...the man who almost had his pay check withheld while the lawmakers would have continued getting theirs.

I think my brother would do his job for free if it meant completing his objective and seeing that no man was ever left behind. He is everything that is good and right with this country...

Just my 2 cents, although it may not be worth quite that much...

April 9, 2011 at 12:56pm ·

By Mikey Howard

I'm proud of my government. Just imagine - a group of career politicians deliberately walked into a mine field. They faced castigation and ridicule not only from their own country but from the entire world. They reached a near impasse despite the certain knowledge that their future in Washington was riding the ragged edge of disaster due to the repercussions, both real and anticipated, of a government shut-down. They did so because each side believed so strongly in what they were fighting for. There was no complacency here. This is passion. They weren't sipping cognac with their feet up as they discussed issues, they were screaming at each other across tables filled with coffee cups and take-out food in the wee hours of the night. I don't know what all happened in those halls but I do know that I will continue to serve my country in the certain knowledge that it is still the home of the brave and that principles still matter to so many of my countrymen. God bless my aggravating, cantankerous Congress. God bless you. And God bless America.