Good evening friends.

Its nice to be here with everyone tonight on November 16th, 2015.  We hope everyone had a nice Monday.  Tonight we’re going to do just a regular post.  I don’t want to seem cavalier about the events that took place this last week mind you. I just know we’ve all been entrenched with the up to date news by the major networks.

So Lets close with two positive notions and see if we can boost our spirits a little.

1. As long as we are alive anything is possible.

2. Everyday is a gift. We it owe to all those people that have passed not to forget that.

We’ll see you in the morning friends. Scott Smith for Sammy & Family.

Picture is from the FB page of;  “Around the World and then Some“

Good evening friends.

What a unnerving past couple of days this has been. Over the weekend I kept abreast of the news to a level I have not done since 9/11.  Glued to CNN kind of thing.

The terror group ISIS has much more of a reach than the experts had anticipated.  ISIS has been seriously underestimated.

This is an attack on mankind.  Its not a Muslim thing.  These extremists are killing more Muslims than any other kind of people. If people are not on their side they want them dead, period.  That includes Christians, Muslims, Jews, the Western Civilization and so on and so on.

About 24 hours before the Paris Attacks, two suicide bombers killed 43 innocent civilians in Beirut Lebanon.  Their worst bombing attack since 1990.  Also on Thursday, In Baghdad, Iraq, a suicide bomber killed 26 civilians.

A Lebanese Doctor was quoted in the NY Times today and it saddened me. Here’s the quote; “When my people died, no country bothered to light up its landmarks in the colors of their flag,” Elie Fares, a Lebanese doctor, wrote on his blog. “When my people died, they did not send the world into mourning. Their death was but an irrelevant fleck along the international news cycle, something that happens in THOSE parts of the world.”

Sammy & Family prays for all victims of ISIS and other terror organizations.  This is a global problem and we are all in this together.  Its easy to get desensitized when we hear about this kind of violence in the Middle East every week.  But despite mainstream media’s overlook of the two ISIS attacks on Thursday, those victims were part of families that were torn apart by senseless violence.  And They are Not desensitized to that. They lost loved ones like the people in Paris, to people who have zero regard for life. They don’t even regard their own lives, that’s why they’re willing to blow themselves up in the first place.

Four Million Syrian refugees fled Syria since this conflict started two ago.  So many lives are at stake, with no where to go.  I don’t know what these countries will do.  Will they accept some of them ? Will they deny them shelter and safety?  Most of these refugees are innocent people, the problem is if a few extremists slip through the cracks, look at the damage they can do.

Its not an easy decision. Do we put National Security first, or do we put the humanitarian struggles first ? Is there a middle option to give reprieve to both sides of the fence ?  The world is in a very tough spot.  A few of the attackers in Paris were from France. That makes this a much tougher kind of war. It’s hard to identify the enemy.

ISIS takes no prisoners and does not care what your background is, either you’re with them, or we’re all targets.

No lives will go in vain, no pain will go unnoticed.  Amen. Scott Smith for Sammy & Family.

God evening friends.  Tonight We have a Poem by David Ligon;

“For Love, For Paris, For The World.”

Our hearts ache for the City of Light

For news that I found sometime last night

Evil and apathy destroying love and innocence

Creating instead fear and hate and an ambience of dissonance

We are not condoning the fact that they chose to inflict pain

And if our pain for the innocent was the sky, it would be more than heavy doses of rain

But my message to all of you is to not react with intensive rage and hate

For our rage and hate makes us bait

Towards another form of evil, known as: Bigotry

The kind of evil that destroys the human heart, soul, kindness and love’s symmetry

And it will make us forget those who are in actual pain

And the pain of the innocent is their heavy rain

We are all still in pain tonight

And our hearts and prayers go out to the people of the City of Light

But regardless, of race, religion, sexuality, and gender

The hearts, souls, and kindness of the innocent should always be remembered

Because in the end, it isn’t evil, hate, and violence that brings people together

Love and Peace will always help us coexist forever.

 

Goodnight friends.  Thank you David, that was a really nice poem. We’ll see y’all in the morning.