The Myth of the Square Knot

There is a myth circulating on the Internet that is actually dangerous if people believe it. It is the Myth of the Square Knot.

There is a prevailing myth that because the Boy Scouts adopted the square knot as an icon, it is the strongest and best knot to use. This if FALSE. 

The square knot is a first-aid knot. It is designed to be used to hold a bandage in place until the person can receive medical help. It will hold tightly as long as tensile pressure is steady on the ends of the both ropes. But, if you take the ends of the same rope, and pull them apart, the knot falls apart. This is intentional. This way a doctor can easily and quickly remove the bandage to inspect and treat the wound.

"There have probably been more lives lost as a result of using a Square Knot as a bend (to tie two ropes together) than from the failure of any other half dozen knots combined." (The Ashley Book of Knots, page 258).

The picture at the left shows how easily a stack of square knots, which looks very secure, will collapse when both ends of the red rope are pulled apart. The square knot has a specific purpose and if you use it for any other purpose, the results can be deadly.

There are several other knots that are strong and don't come apart under pressure. The best one to tie two ropes together, used by rock climbers, is the Figure 8 Bend. It only looks complicated, but is actually quite simple to tie.

To make a loop in the end of a rope, the best know is the bowline. It is the knot recommended to secure a person when you are lifting them up a cliff or to make sure your boat or horse are still there when you return.

One of the best sites to learn how to tie any knot is Animated Knots by Grog. There are videos with step by step directions that are easy to follow. Learn the basic knots that will help you tie down a load on a trailer, tie up your boat, tie 2 short ropes together to make a longer one, etc. and be prepared and safe.

All knot photos courtesy of: http://www.animatedknots.com/
Arrow of Light Knot courtesy of: http://www.boyscouttrail.com/square-knots.asp#aol

Immigration, The New World Crisis

Immigration will likely be the paramount issue in the next Presidential Election. It is the rocket that Donald Trump is riding on toward the White House. It is the next chasm growing among Americans.

As Ann Coulter pointed out in her recent article, "When the Third World Attacks", ISIS isn't responsible for most of the bloodshed, carnage, and mayhem that is happening throughout the world. It is the unfettered access of criminals and misfits posing as refugees that has swept along with the flood of immigrants around the world.

Let me be clear that I am not against immigration. My family came to this country from all over northern Europe. By the beginning of the Revolutionary War, all but one of my family lines were already in America. The first, John Huntly, arrived in Massachusetts in the 1650's. Andreas Meffert, my paternal ancestor, arrived in Philadelphia in 1754. All of them were required to pledge allegiance to the King of England, the then current leader of this land. They helped fight the Revolutionary War and founded, what was to become the greatest nation on earth based on the principles of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. These rights were guaranteed by the Rule of Law. The posterity of these early Americans now reside in every State in the Union and are productive citizens.

Immigration was what made this country what it is. People with a strong belief in the Judeo-Christian values of hard work, the rule of law, honesty, integrity, independence, chastity, and fidelity created a nation that was willing to not only protect itself from aggressors, but generously give time, treasure, and lives if need be, to protect other people from aggressors within or without. Others who came later also embraced these standards in their lives and because prosperous and productive.

Now we are faced with the collapse of governments all across Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. These ruling parties are based on greed, corruption, and theft for personal aggrandizement. They achieve these nefarious goals with violence and coercion. Whether it is Cartels in Mexico and Central America, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, the PLO, ISIS in the Middle East, or Boko Haram or other warlords in Africa, the result of their political goals is all the same, the collapse of their economies and the abuse and enslavement of their people. This is the reason for the massive exodus from these countries to Europe and the United States.

Compassion from freedom loving people has tried to take in millions of these homeless refugees, but the sheer number of them is straining the reserves of the host countries. Most of these refugees do not want to come to France, Germany, England or the US because they want to become citizens and live peacefully in Western Civilization, they want to come to get away from the horrors of their homeland and rebuild their lives and culture in the midst of these strange countries. Most of them have no interest or desire to assimilate because their culture abhors the lifestyles and beliefs of the Western civilizations.

There are too many non-Muslims who are demanding bans any Muslims refugees into their countries. This is the continuation of a myth that started with the destruction of the World Trade Center. There is a big difference between Muslims blowing up the Towers and the Towers being destroyed by people who were Muslim.

There are hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees who do not want to annihilate the infidels, they just want a place to raise their families in peace. These travelers need help. And we can and should help. It would be better for their countries to become stable so they could stay there, but presently, that is a very unlikely proposition. There are too many people profiting from the unrest for a peaceful solution to emerge before people starve and freeze this winter.

Here are some suggestions that should be implemented for all refugees, regardless of their religion or country of origin.

1. All immigrants need to be properly vetted before they enter the country.
2. Criminals or political opponents of the host country would be denied entrance.
3. This would require the establishments of refugee camps, preferably in their country of origin.
4. All immigrants would be required to swear allegiance to the country they were entering and disavow the violence and corruption of the country they left.
5. Allegiance would include:
1. Adherence to the Rule of Law and the Constitution.
2. Willingness for their personal or religious convictions to be second to the law of the land.
3. A pledge to obey and uphold the laws of the land.
4. Recognition that any assistance they receive would be temporary and they would be required to become self-sustaining or they could forfeit their stay.
5. Violation would be grounds for immediate return to their country of origin.

These steps are not perfect, but without them, the flood of refugees will drown the culture, resources and good will of the hosts, creating a country just like the one the refugees left.

Paris Bombing photo courtesy of Human Events
World Trade Center photo courtesy of: www.conmilit.com

What Makes America Great?

I am sick and tired of listening to all the negative rhetoric blasting America and Americans for being what they are. Everyone, at home and abroad, has been trying for the last 40 years to make us feel guilty for being born, being independent, for raising the standard of living for the world, in short, for becoming what they all wish they were.

Other countries complain, criticize, and  caterwaul, and yet, if given the chance, they would almost to a person, trade places with us at the drop of a hat.

The problems the world are feeling, stem not from our oppressive foreign policy, (which has had it’s moments of weakness), not from the fact that we have colonized the world and bled resources from defenseless territories, (even though the principle of Manifest Destiny did needlessly trample and destroy many people and places.) No, the real reason for the disdain, is jealousy; unadulterated, green-eyed jealousy.

And so, like adolescent children, instead of trying to beat us at our own game, they belittle, condemn, and conspire to pull us down rather than try to lift themselves up. They tear away at the fabric that make us what we are, never dreaming that if these threads were woven into themselves, they would realize their own dreams.

So, what is it that makes America great? What are the components of our success? Listen as a Son of the Revolution, a product of the culture, explains the spirit of success. 

My family came to America from the Germany to Philadelphia in the 1750’s and fought in the Revolution, the Civil War, and all the wars since. They also moved west from Pennsylvania and settled Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas, Texas, California, Oregon, and Idaho. But the spirit of success had never been limited to those who crossed the Appalachians or forded the Missouri. It lives in the hearts of the Irish, the English, the Russian, the Poles, the Asians, and Arabs who came to this country searching for opportunity. It is the spirit of responsibility. The responsibility for not only your actions, but more importantly, responsibility for your destiny. It is the force that pushes you out of bed each morning to try again. It is the motivation that compels you to do your best so your family and posterity may benefit.  It is the power that has made and keeps this country great.

We do not believe in the Divine Right of Kings nor the natural right of anyone else to lead. The right to leadership is based on your ability, not your lineage. It explains our passion for winners. We are drawn to those who accomplish although we too often worship those who succeed. We follow our leaders when they lead the direction we are going, and when they deviate, we replace them.

We believe that families are important, that they are the building blocks of any nation. But when families lie, steal, cheat, or expect us to do the same to protect them, it is imperative that the laws of the land are honored.All people, even our family members, must pay the consequences for their unlawful actions or the rule of law dissolves and anarchy ensues.

We make mistakes. But we try to learn from them. At times it seems we learn very slow, but it’s hard to turn 300 million people on a dime. Some changes have taken generations, and others will take several more. But we live in a country of people who not only chose to come here, but few ever choose to leave. We have border patrols to keep people out, not to keep our population in.  How many other countries can say that. Eldrege Cleaver, an outspoken critic and terrorist of the US in the 1960’s, left for twenty years to live abroad among the communistic countries he idolized, but chose to return to the land of his birth and face prison for his mistakes, because incarceration in this free land was better than citizenship in a dictatorship.

The voices of condemnation and dissent, whether at home or abroad, those who espouse Socialism, Communism, Maoism, or any other brand of Totalitarianism, have missed the mark. Those who want government or Big Brother to watch over and take care of us do not understand the nature of our success. The success and continued existence of the United States of America is based on the constant and vigilant maintenance of responsibility for self, for family, for country, and for those in need. Fortunately most of our citizens still harbor this flame of self-reliance as evidenced by the overwhelming outpouring of compassion, labor, and cash that poured into New York from across the country since the World Trade Center Collapse as well as in the aftermath of other recent calamities.

We have our failings, but we are blessed with greater strengths. Our faith in God and in ourselves will continue to preserve and sustain us. We are faced with a deadly, faceless foe bent on our annihilation. They not only want to topple us from our place of leadership in the world, but they want to destroy our way of life, convert us to their theology and enslave us for their prosperity. The threat is not new. It is the same challenge we faced from King George to Bismarck to Hitler to Kruchev. Their goal is to empower themselves by enslaving others. Abraham Lincoln stated, “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master”. We as free people, need to reach out, to teach, expound, and exhort others to accept that there is a reason for every man’s condition, but there is no excuse for them to remain that way.

Image courtesy: Joshua Hardin http://www.viewfindermedia.com/images/rockies/slides/rockies77.htm

Why am I Still a Mormon?

I have spent the greater part of my life not only studying the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (the Mormon Church), but also in reading all the anti-Mormon literature I come across. 

In doing so, I have waded through some really interesting stuff. Stories of gold digging, séances, magic mushrooms, plagiarism, men on the moon, collusion,  polygamy justifying adultery, narcissistic behavior, piles of arrests, imprisonment, etc. These fables continue to be expanded and embellished with each telling. He said, she said, she said, he said, accusations abound from every quarter.

From my observation, the only consistent facts that continue to rise to the top are: 

1. Those who would slander and malign Joseph Smith and the Mormon Church generally have a spirit of anger, hatred and lack of reverence for both the commandments of God and the laws of man.
2. Those who support or sustain Joseph Smith and the Mormon Church generally are more even tempered, compassionate, and live lives that tend to be in harmony with the laws of God and the land.

But, I digress, back to the accusations of corruption, collusion, and deception.

No, wait a minute, there is no way for me to untangle the jumbled web of contradiction, innuendos, and implied falsehoods. I wasn’t there when Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. I wasn’t there when Joseph received any revelations or taught the principle of polygamy. I was not to know if he was a gold digger. I was not there to know if Joseph was an adulterer.

So, if I can’t unravel, expose, and document the truth or error of the Restoration, why am I still a Mormon? If I can’t prove it, why do I still believe and live it?

There is a simple answer. The Holy Ghost continues to tell me it is true.

Well, the intellectual readers just left.

You see, when I am kind, thoughtful, generous, and compassionate, I feel the Spirit confirm to me again that it is true. Whenever I am angry, rebellions, selfish, and depressed, doubts arise.

Then, if I begin to believe my doubts; I cease to pray, I don’t read the scriptures, and I stop serving others. But when my testimony is strong; I seek guidance from God through the Spirit, I have hope in the Atonement of Christ, I find joy in reading God’s word, and depression flees. I am aware of those around me who need love and encouragement. Serving God by serving others brings immense joy to my life. Those around me are ignited by the Spirit I bring, they are happier, more fun to be with, and they brighten my day even more.

When I believe it is true and exercise my faith that it is, the Holy Spirit confirms to me that it is true, and I am filled with indescribable joy. This happens all the time and it is not restricted to just me. Anyone can do it. Jesus said that if any man would do his will he would know of the doctrine, whether it was of God or whether it was of man.

I am still a Mormon because I prefer happiness and joy over depression and despair, direction and confidence over apathy and doubt.