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Tag(s): Poetry; Prayers
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May 31, 2007 at 13:58:44

Response From A Reader

by Lawrence R. Velvel Page 2 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two -- one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this -- keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

"You have heard your servant's prayer -- the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it -- that part which the pastor -- and also you in your hearts -- fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. the *whole* of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory--*must* follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it -- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

(*After a pause.*) "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!"

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.

Twain apparently dictated it around 1904-05; it was rejected by his publisher, and was found after his death among his unpublished manuscripts. It was first published in 1923 in Albert Bigelow Paine's anthology, Europe and Elsewhere.

The story is in response to a particular war, namely the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902, which Twain opposed. See Jim Zwick's page "Mark Twain on the Philippines" for more of Twain's writings on the subject.

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http://velvelonnationalaffairs.com/

Lawrence R. Velvel is the Dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, which educates the working class, mid-life people, minorities and immigrants. He is the editor of a journal called The Long Term View, hosts an hour-long TV book show called Books of Our Time, which appears in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states on Comcast's CN8 and is streamed on the internet, and hosts a radio program called What The Media Doesn’t Tell You. The radio program, which is carried on World Radio Network and is streamed on the internet, discusses important matters which the media doesn’t disclose (or insufficiently discloses) and the reasons for the nondisclosure.

Velvel wrote a 1970 book on the constitutionality of the Viet Nam War and civil disobedience, and a recent quartet called Thine Alabaster Cities Gleam, comprised of: Misfit In America; Trail of Tears; The Hopes and Fears of Future Years: Loss and Creation; and The Hopes and Fears of Future Years: Defeat and Victory.

Velvel blogs at velvelonnationalaffairs.com. His 2004 and 2005 posts have been published in Blogs From the Liberal Standpoint: 2004-2005.

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2 comments

A writer is a rogue goose. All other gees fly in a flock formation; every goose knows his place and time for honking. The rogue goose is undisciplined. He leaves the formation indiscriminately to have a look at it from aside. He roams back and forth, takes a peep at the leader, honks a little bit from behind, distracts everyone and writes on what he sees. Time passes and as he wants to return back to his place he discovers someone else there. Thus he either has to wait until they land for rest...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Mark SashineA writer is a rogue goose. All other gees fly in a flock formation; every goose knows his place and time for honking. The rogue goose is undisciplined. He leaves the formation indiscriminately to have a look at it from aside. He roams back and forth, takes a peep at the leader, honks a little bit from behind, distracts everyone and writes on what he sees. Time passes and as he wants to return back to his place he discovers someone else there. Thus he either has to wait until they land for rest...

to see more of bio, click on member name

I want to add my put from 2005

http: //www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=299

It is called 'I am talking to Colonel Sherborn' ( delete two spaces after http:)

by Mark Sashine (51 articles, 19 quicklinks, 244 diaries, 3454 comments) on Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 2:13:32 PM

I am a simple man of eclectic interests and tastes with no particular academic credentials. I still perceive, think, read and write somewhat. Writing music is a hobby of mine

banned for abusive email to an editor
"Hoss" David P.I am a simple man of eclectic interests and tastes with no particular academic credentials. I still perceive, think, read and write somewhat. Writing music is a hobby of mine

banned for abusive email to an editor

Evolution

There must be no Evolution for the masses. Or if there is, it is very very slow. Over one hundred years later this poem has not grown outdated one single word, not one iota.

If there is supposed to be an evolution of the masses, it's time to take a good hard look at what is holding it back or down.

Tell me you haven't heard the words uttered somewhere in the last six years, "Only Good Muslim is a dead Muslim!"

Clearly no one is thinking, feeling, realizing, actualizing independent critical analyisis

Just Rats in a maze. But the Maze is man made. Think about that. WAR CULTURE comes down to the masses from the priviledged, enlightened few who should know better. WAR CULTURE is programmed into the masses as they go through our institutions of "learning" and Yes, "Religion"

Perhaps there is a compassionate reason for all this that my present personal evolution does not understand.

WAR CULTURE seems to be only for the further enrichment of these priviledged, enlightened few who should know better.

Perhaps in the end, enlightenment means total lack of morality.

As in, Morality is only for the suckers.

by "Hoss" David P. (51 articles, 5 quicklinks, 14 diaries, 338 comments) on Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 3:58:05 PM