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  1. Catching up with some blog reading today and miss seeing you in our FB group Brenda. I am so sad at all of what is going on in our country and agree that nothing was ever solved by hate. I applaud you for taking a stance here and I fear for the young innocents like your lovely grandson.
    Hugs, Janet

  2. Yes, the neo-nazis and white supremacists are awful. But frankly, the biggest group to be wary of is the media. It has been this way for a long time and has gotten worse. I've witnessed it since I was in journalism school in the 1970s and then as a newspaper reporter. (It took me a long time to catch on, unfortunately.) For me, it is far better to get news from sources that clearly indicate their ideological position, such as left-leaning politico.com and right-leaning breitbart.com (neither of which, I believe, are evil), than to get news from the mainstream sources such as big-city newspapers and network and cable TV news, who try to appear unbiased but really are biased, and cover news in a way that seems designed to provoke outrage from some group or the other – outrage that leads to events such as a registered Democrat voter going to Washington DC in June and shooting at a congressional baseball practice, severely injuring a Republican congressmen and several others, and the events in Charlottesville, in which a registered Republican voter ran his car into a crowd and killed a young woman and wounding many others. Don't just tune into one news source, get news from a lot of sources, and remember that truth and news are not synonymous.

  3. There are 1500 "confederate symbols" in in the South, they are part of our history. They are part of slavery, and the Civil war, a sad time in our history. But we have to stop the VIOLENCE, what happened to civil discourse? Are we going to go to UVA and take down everything related to Thomas Jefferson because he had slaves? Doesn't the good that he did count for something?

    WE are living in sad times, and although many would like to blame Trump this divisiveness has been a part of our country for way longer than 8 months.

    Love seeing your beautiful, innocent grandson. Sounds like you had a wonderful time with hime.

  4. Brenda, I applaud you for taking on a very painful and difficult national issue. I respect the rights of all to speak their opinion. Thoughtful and free speech is NOT what the alt right practices. I believe that Mr. Trump missed an opportunity to be truly Presidential when he did not immediately speak out strongly against white supremacy, civil terrorism, and all the other atrocities we saw on Saturday. I agree with others who have said that his failure to do so evidences his knowledge that many of these folks constitute his voter base and his fear of losing his base.
    We are a better country than this; I am ashamed to my core and truly asking myself when and where I lack the courage to speak up and stand up for what is right.

    Kudos to you, Brenda, and many others who are taking a stand online.

  5. Say what anyone wants but their is actual footage of Trump encouraging and endorsing violence at his campaign rallies… which never seem to end. Both groups are not wrong here and the group in the wrong is the alt right marching in their preppy khaki shorts and white polo shirts I.e. Trump's golf uniform while these young men brandished their tiki torches either borrowed from their moms patios or purchased at Home Depot. These delusional white youth somehow feel slighted like they did not get their share of the pie. To them I say get a job… move if you have to… get a job… get trained in something and quit whining and help make America great again! Trump has blood on his hands since his tacit approval of these alt right groups have crawled out from under rocks and think somehow they are approved of… beyond the law. We have to take our country back and God willing Robert Mueller will help us do that with his investigation into Russia's collusion in our election. God save America !

  6. Very well said, Brenda. Many of us are looking at the lives of our little ones…what a world is is now, so hard to grapple with. And what will our children and grandchildren be up against?

    As former President Obama said…"hate is learned, and so can love.." Let's pray for that.

    Jane x

  7. I am a very conservative Christian (hide the children) and have friends and with which I disagree. We are respectful of each other and the differing opinions we have.
    There is hate on both sides. There is a concerted effort to destroy this country.
    This is your blog and you can write whatever you want to write. You are entitled to your opinion as I am entitled to mine. It is very disappointing to be called names based on my opinions and to be accused of helping someone to illegally hold the office of the president of the United States.
    After reading this post and most of the comments, I have decided my time is better spent on other endeavors.
    I will continue to pray for out great nation and ask the true and living God to have mercy on our nation.
    Blessings to you.

    1. Kudos to you, Sylvia! I, too, am so tired and disheartened to hear such nasty comments about our President… how about respecting the office, ladies? How about not being so quick to jump on the bandwagon of hate (you can deny but the comments are definitely not compassionate in the least), how about if we set the example for both sides??? Not every conservative is a ws, KKK or Nazi and not every liberal is Antifa or BLM. For goodness sake, let us all STOP blaming the other person and take responsibility for our own thoughts, words and actions. I voted 2 xs for President Obama…what a disappointment for our family of cops ( my husband, daughter, son in law & brother) and what a disappointment for the racial divide that I thought he would be able to improve. Now I give President Trump the chance. He may not be as eloquent as our 44th President, but then eloquence did not improve the relationships in our country. Maybe good old fashioned plain speaking will. Don't be so quick to believe any of the media…listen and read several, watch what is going on in the world and make your own opinion. I have read this blog for years but I come here for relaxation & friendship. Some of the comments have been so terrible and I would rather not be part of a group who spouts such hateful thoughts. I, too, will be spending my blog time elsewhere. Be safe & stay healthy, ladies. I will continue to pray for Brenda and all who read and comment on her blog.

  8. So well said, Brenda. With tears in my eyes I say "amen" to everything you have written here. I so understand your feelings for wishing you could rewind back to the moments on the playground bench.
    The collage near the end of your post made it all hit home. So very tragic to think of those who lost their lives and were injured on this sad day.

  9. That poor beautiful young woman who died while fighting for others against injustice. Bless her and all who fight fearlessly for peace.

  10. Brenda, Well written. Maya Angelou's quote says it all, Hate causes a lot of problems and never solves one. So very sad.

  11. Seeing Andrew at the park at this age reminded me of my grandson a few years ago 🙂

    And back then Barack Obama was our president and I didn't live in shock, awe and fear every day . Nor did I feel a cringing, a national embarrassment sort of feeling on behalf of our country before the world.

  12. oh, Brenda- I'm struggling with a post on this very thing. Well said, Brenda. Ugh, what a mess.. and for what? 🙁

  13. Brenda,

    Thank you for your post. Your grandson is beautiful and to be cherished. Hopefully he will not know the hate that is in the world today.

    My husband was a counter protestor in Charlottesville and I couldn't be more proud of him as he stood for what we believe in for where our daughter lives and works. The news doesn't show the clergy, middle aged and elderly who were also part of the counter protest. The people of Cville are strong.

    Other stories to mention are:

    Deandre Harris who was ruthlessly beaten in the parking garage on Saturday. Evil permeates from these white supremisist terrorists. Fortunately, they will be identified through social media.

    Jason Kessler's news conference that was a failure on Sunday. I applaud the woman who took him down at the end. She is my hero. The picture of her shows determination and such bravery to take a flying leap like she did.

    Kudos to Airbnb and GoDaddy for sticking to their policies.

    I think it is an upside down world that hopefully will turn soon. Not sure how much we can all take but we will keep fighting for the cause of no hatred.

    1. I appreciate the strength and clarity of your facts in the face of a lot of emotionally driven reactions. The truth matters and our current President is psychologically and morally unfit to lead our country. This has become obvious to majority of our nation. No, our problems did not 'start' with Trump (who said this?!). Yes we've had racial divide for years….which I might add, was actually made worse by the 'birtherism' movement led by Donald Trump and directed at our first black President— however… The truth is that Donald Trump is NOT a leader with moral character and and deep wisdom that our country desperately needs right now. People who can't read or listen objectively to these kind of concerns about our President–even in comments on this post–are part of the problem. I really believe we need to put our the good of our country before our politics. By the way—thank you Blue Cottage for your comment on my blog too. 🙂
      xo
      Leslie

  14. Oh, that dear little boy! He does indeed look like you.

    Your words are so poignant, Brenda. Living in Virginia, not too awfully far from C'ville, I can tell you our hearts are broken. That this beautiful, historical, college town has been so marred by hatefulness is just sickening.

    Claire, I respect your opinion, but I don't believe the group protesting the hate "showed their ignorance". On the contrary, I think they wanted to demonstrate that hate was not welcome here and that's not ignorant. I don't entirely blame Trump, but I do think he's given hate groups a license to do evil. And that's MY opinion. 😉 Let's be kind to one another. We're all we've got.

  15. Unfortunately, the U.S. has been a divided nation for many years now. My husband has been saying for years that the division will cause another Civil War. I also believe it hasn't helped that we have turned our backs on the Creator of the universe.

  16. So true!! It seems the "good" people are dying faster than the "bad" people–the future is scary!

  17. Andrew is adorable! Right at that age where he still has the very-young-cuteness, but is getting to look like a little boy instead of a baby, if that makes sense? It melts my heart!

  18. It's a fact of life that no leader can satisfy everyone.. but yes both groups are equally at fault. The majority of Americans don't understand how these groups of people think. And I'm so thankful for that.

  19. So sad that Kim is so full of hate for President Trump. I voted for him and don't think he bullied any more than our other choice, Hillary. He certainly did not cheat his way into the White House-he won it fairly according to the law.You will see that he will help America and Americans during his presidency.

  20. It would just be really nice to have a leader who would inspire goodness, tolerance and nonviolent means to express ourselves and solve problems. I love the Maya Angelou quote – so true! Andrew is so sweet, I always love seeing pictures of him.

  21. seemingly 'freedom of speech' has actually turned into freedom to openly hate and harm others these days.
    it's frightening and sickening.
    our civilization is going backward rather than forward. what on earth did all the wars teach us?
    and…
    that Andrew of yours is so adorable Brenda. and yes. he looks like you so much!
    his beautiful innocence and the enjoyment of his simple little pleasures… it helps us to endure the ugliness of the hatred we see otherwise. bless all the children inheriting this mess.

  22. If Kim thinks she can blame President Trump for the hate in our country, she needs to think again. That is the most ridiculous statement I've ever read. I voted for President Trump and while I don't agree with what these young men believe in I do believe in their right to speak. The fact that they are willing to show everyone just how misguided they are is their privilege. If what I heard on the news is correct the trouble started when another group came there and showed their ignorance too. I didn't like it when Hillary Clinton called us a basketful of deplorables and I don't like being accused of helping someone to bully and cheat to win an election.

    1. Surely you don't equate the two groups. At any rate, everyone has a right to their own opinion.

    2. Claire, Hundreds of white supremacists threatening to burn a small group of activists with tiki torches on the UVA lawn Friday night and mowing down and murdering 1 and maiming innocents does not deserve the right of freedom of speech. They are terrorists.

  23. Children are born into the world with no knowledge of hate. It is taught. Shame on parents who teach the evil of prejudice. I would be mortified if my children turned into such scum as those nazis. So much so that I would disown them. I live in the south and I'm afraid.

  24. Hi Brenda, your little Andrew is such a precious little guy, so vulnerable, so malleable at that age. Time with his family is so important to keep kiddos grounded and on track. Breitbart isn't the place to look for explanations and unbiased explanations for the Alt Right movement, as they are one of the main protaganists and support groups for all this far right thinking. They are one of the original platforms for the disgrace and junk going on in Charlottesville.

  25. Thank tRump for stirring the pot of hate. He called upone these very people to help him bully and cheat his way into the White House. Ironically, these are also the people he will hurt as he tears down America. There is a great anger spreading its way across America and apparently more hate filled people willing to take it to the streets, looking for somebody to take it out on. Makes my heart sad.

  26. I taught the littles, preschool through first grade for many years and they all played happily together, just like Andrew and his friends at the park. They only saw friends…and by the way, he looks just like you! Adorable!

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