Friday, November 11, 2022

Post No. 323: For Veterans Day, Part 1 — A Sacred Trust


(Image from Wikimedia)

A Sacred Trust

There is A Sacred Trust that "We,
The People" owe to Those Souls who
sacrificed themselves to keep us free
from the time that we are born!

And "We, The People" can know This
Sacred Trust in our hearts—with all
of our heart and mind, body and soul,
we can know This Sacred Trust!

It is A Sacred Trust to support and respect
Our Veterans, who bravely served here
at home and abroad—and especially to
respect Our Veterans who have gone on!

So, if you are Military Personnel, you
know The Sacred Trust absolutely, for
you would truly move Heaven and
Earth to support Our Veterans!

And if you are A Grassroots Patriot, you
know The Sacred Trust completely,
since you would reach across Our
Country in order to say "Thank You!"

And if you are An Everyday Patriot,
you know The Sacred Trust entirely,
because you would give "Thanks From
Everywhere" to support Our Veterans!

For, there is A Sacred Trust that "We,
The People" owe and know in Our Souls:
It is The Sacred Trust to support, respect
and serve Our United States Veterans!

-Paul Whiting
(a.k.a., A Creative Writer)
"I maybe say too much about how life really is!"

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"We have a sacred trust for people who put on the uniform of the United States. They serve us. They're willing to put their lives on the line. And that means when they come back, we've got to serve them." –Barack Obama (September 30th, 2010)

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My Writing Notes:

The reason that I wrote this poem can be summed up with the following statement: "We have a sacred trust for people who put on the uniform of the United States. They serve us. They're willing to put their lives on the line. And that means when they come back, we've got to serve them."

And I also did a rewrite of this poem that I wrote for Memorial Day, which is titled, "A Sacred Respect." (Please see "A Sacred Trust-Style Poem" in labels for the poem.)

And this poem was also published on my "Small All White in the Forest" blog (please see the hyperlink below for the blog), since I feel that the message in this poem applies to the message that I am trying to convey through "Small All White in the Forest."

This poem was written in Portland, Oregon.

-Paulee

https://smallallwhiteintheforest.blogspot.com

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November 11th, 2021 Update Written Sometime After Midnight: I signed up on Charity Navigator yesterday, November 10th, 2021, to make donations for holidays, special occasions, or current issues, to highly-rated charities—including with the intention of making donations for Veterans Day to several highly-rated veterans' charities. However, I started having problems with being able to process the donations! Although, I used a smartphone, so that could be the issue. Anyway, I did attempt to donate to veterans' organizations for Veterans Day, but it's not going to work right now. So, I am going to hold off on donating until I can donate through a personal computer, since I may be having issues donating through my smartphone, if that is what was causing me to not be able to donate... –Paul Whiting (written November 11th, 2021, revised June 15th, 2022, revised November 11th, 2022, revised March 21st, 2023 and revised January 9th, 2024)
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November 11th, 2021 Update, Written Just After 9:00 AM: Success! I tried again later on in the day to donate to veterans' charities for Veterans Day on Charity Navigator and it worked! Plus, I also included a donation to Charity Navigator, because they are a charity too. And I really appreciate being able to utilize Charity Navigator's charity rating system in order to assess which charities receive their 'give with confidence' rating. I also appreciate being able to donate to multiple charities at the same time—all in one convenient transaction, rather than having to process individual donations on each charity's website—which makes supporting veterans' organizations via Charity Navigator that much more worthwhile! –Paul Whiting (written November 11th, 2021, revised June 15th, 2022, revised June 18th, 2022, revised November 11th, 2022, revised March 21st, 2023 and revised January 9th, 2024)
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November 11th, 2021 Update—Summary: I signed up on Charity Navigator yesterday, November 10th, 2021, to make donations for holidays, special occasions, or current issues, to highly-rated charities—including with the intention of making donations for Veterans Day to several highly-rated veterans' charities. However, I started having problems with being able to process the donations! ... But, I tried again later on in the day to donate to veterans' charities for Veterans Day on Charity Navigator and it worked! Plus, I also included a donation to Charity Navigator, because they are a charity too. –Paul Whiting (written November 11th, 2021, revised June 15th, 2022, revised June 18th, 2022, revised November 11th, 2022 and revised March 21st, 2023)

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November 11th, 2022 Update, Written On November 11th, 2023: I made one-time donations for Veterans Day to Veterans of Foreign Wars, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and Wounded Warrior Project (WWP). –Paul Whiting (written December 7th, 2022 and turned into an 'update' from my 'July 7th, 2022 Update, Written On July 11th, 2022—Follow-Up No. 5, Written On December 7th, 2022' from my "Poet, Artist and Philosopher" blog on November 11th, 2023)

P.S.: I feel like I need to clarify why I didn't write an 'update' for Veterans Day 2022! You see, creative writing takes a lot of time and energy—and I was really busy with blogging toward the end of 2022, because of the Midterm Elections. Now, I did manage to create a "My Writing About Donating To Veterans' Charities On Veterans Day (for 2022)" for my "Thank You For Your Service!" post on both of my "Small All White in the Forest" and "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" blogs. However, I didn't manage to write an 'update' about my Veterans Day donations for 2022! And I did not notice this error until I was searching for a "November 11th, 2022 Update," which I assumed would be available for me to utilize as a basis for my "November 11th, 2023 Update." Thus, I did find a reference to the donations that I made for Veterans Day 2022 on my 'July 7th, 2022 Update, Written On July 11th, 2022—Follow-Up No. 5, Written On December 7th, 2022' from my "Poet, Artist and Philosopher" blog, so that is why I turned that reference into my 'update' for Veterans Day 2022. (I hope that makes sense!)

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October 24th, 2023 Update No. 7 [My Writing About How I Have Changed The Way That I Label My Blog Posts 'Updates' For Any Additional 'Updates' That I Write, After The First 'Update,' By Using A Simple Numbering System, Which Starts With The First 'Update' (Originally From My Blog Post Titled, "I Am No Longer Being An Activist In The Same Way That I Was," Which Is On My "Poet, Artist and Philosopher" Blog)]:

I have changed the way I label the blog post 'updates' that I write because I oftentimes write more than one 'update' per day!

And in the past, I have labeled the second, third, fourth and fifth 'update' with the following extensions—on the days that I write more than 'update'—to differentiate any additional 'updates' from the first one, as follows:

[1st] Month Day, Year Update
[2nd] Month Day, Year Update—Continued
[3rd] Month Day, Year Update—Continued Further
[4th] Month Day, Year Update—Continued Further Some More
[5th] Month Day, Year Update—Continued Further Some More Than Before

However today, October 24th, 2023, I actually had more than five 'updates' to write, so I decided to change how I differentiate any additional 'updates,' from the first 'update,' by using a simple numbering system, which actually starts with the first 'update' that I write, as follows:

Month Day, Year Update No. 1
Month Day, Year Update No. 2
Month Day, Year Update No. 3
Month Day, Year Update No. 4
Month Day, Year Update No. 5
Month Day, Year Update No. 6
Month Day, Year Update No. 7

Therefore, that is why this 'update' is the seventh one for today! –Paul Whiting (written October 24th, 2023 and revised October 28th, 2023)

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November 11th, 2023 Update No. 1: In order to respect and honor the many sacrifices made by those who served their country in the U.S. Military, I made one-time donations for Veterans Day to Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and Wounded Warrior Project (WWP). –Paul Whiting (November 11th, 2023)

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November 6th, 2024 Update No. 1 [My Writing About No Longer Being An 'Online Activist' In Any Way, Shape Or Form]: Due to Donald Trump winning the 2024 Presidential Election—and until further notice—I am no longer being an 'Online Activist' in any way, shape or form, which includes no longer signing petitions from political, social, environmental and charitable organizations, and no longer sending letters to my Representative and Senators in Congress, as well as no longer making donations to political, social, environmental and charitable causes. Full stop! I am also unsubscribing from any of the emails that I used to receive from political, social, environmental and charitable organizations. In fact, I am even cancelling all of my monthly political donations to the main Democratic fundraising and coordinating organizations, as well as to the USO (United Service Organizations), in addition to cancelling all of my monthly news organization subscriptions, or news organization donations, because I am absolutely terrified of this second Trump administration. And I fully expect that democracy in America as we know will be over! So, I am choosing to not engage in any 'activism' whatsoever—plus, I am not even sure that I will be exercising my 'civic duty' by voting in any upcoming elections because, as a (formerly) donating and a (potentially former) voting Democrat, I totally fear the retribution of President Donald J. Trump. Full stop! –Paul Whiting (written November 6th, 2024 and revised November 7th, 2024)

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This "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" Post No. 323 was edited on November 7th, 2024.

"Poetry is using the fewest words possible in order to describe all that is possible to describe." –Paul Whiting [June 1st, 2022]