QUARANTINE BLOG # 329

February 22, 2021

George Washington was born 289 years ago today.  When he decided he would not seek a third term in the nation’s highest office, he and his longtime friend and protégé, Alexander Hamilton, drafted a farewell address.  Published in the Daily American Advertiser, a Philadelphia newspaper, on September 19, 1796, and later reprinted in papers throughout the country, it took the form of a public letter to the American people.  As he stepped down from the presidency, Washington urged Americans to always place the interests of the nation over their political and regional affiliations.  

After opening with an explanation of his choice not to seek a third term, Washington’s farewell address urged Americans not to put their regional and sectional interests above the interests of the nation as a whole.  “You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together,” Washington declared.  “The Independence and Liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.”

According to Washington, one of the chief dangers of letting regional loyalties dominate loyalty to the nation as a whole was that it would lead to factionalism, or the development of competing political parties.  When Americans voted according to party loyalty, rather than the common interest of the nation, Washington feared it would foster a “spirit of revenge,” and enable the rise of “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men” who would “usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

In a tradition dating back to the years following the Civil War, a member of the U.S. Senate reads Washington’s farewell address aloud each year to observe Washington’s birthday; the reading assignment alternates between members of each political party.

I just wish the ones who read it and listen to the reading would really hear what President Washington said!

👉  Here are a couple more interest facts our research department has uncovered.

In the Californian White Mountains, there are trees as old as history.  These trees, known as Pinus longaeva, have been aged at up to 5,100+ years old!  Written history is believed to have begun roughly 5,000 years ago – back then these magnificent trees would have just been starting out their long lives!

There is a gargoyle with Darth Vader’s head on it on the Washington Cathedral.  It was placed there after a child’s “design a carving” competition was held in the 1980s to decide what character should adorn the Cathedral.

NASA’s internet speed is 91 GB per second!  This means on NASA’s internet you could download a high-quality 1080p movie in mere milliseconds!  Normal household internet speeds average 100 MB per second, which is dwarfed by NASA’s hugely superior internet speeds.

There’s a Big Mac Museum in Pennsylvania.  The world’s favorite monster burger was born in Uniontown, PA, when franchisee Michael Delligatti introduced it as a menu item in August 1967.  Delligatti’s family now owns 18 McDonald’s, and they decided to open their museum on the Big Mac’s 40th anniversary in North Huntingdon, PA, rather than at the birthplace, because this store gets more traffic.  Missing from the museum is a tribute to Don Gotske, the guy who’s eaten over 21,000 Big Macs since 1972.

👉  Here are a couple Sunday funnies panels from two of our favorite comic strips:

👉  Let’s move over from comic strips to cartoons, with an oldie but a goodie, “Mighty Mouse.”  

Mighty Mouse is a superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox.  The character was originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short The Mouse of Tomorrow.  The name was changed to Mighty Mouse in his eighth film, 1944’s The Wreck of the Hesperus, and the character went on to star in 80 theatrical shorts, before going onto star in his own television show. 

Mighty Mouse is known for his catchy theme song, “Mighty Mouse Theme (Here I Come to Save the Day).” 

The character originated in 1942 from an idea by animator Isidore Klein at the Terrytoons studio, who suggested a parody of the popular Superman character, making some sketches of a superhero fly. Paul Terry, the head of the studio, liked the idea of a Superman parody, but suggested a mouse rather than an insect. 

The character was dubbed “Super Mouse,” and his first theatrical short, The Mouse of Tomorrow, debuted on October 16, 1942 (Cat lovers beware: Your feline friends are not the heroes of this movie).

Originally, Mighty Mouse wore Superman’s colors – a blue costume with a red cape – but in the June 16, 1944 cartoon Eliza on the Ice, Mighty Mouse appears for the first time in a yellow costume, with a red cape.

👉  Today’s sermon from the Crawfordville Pulpit is “Nevertheless!”

👉  Reminding Ourselves

“Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past” (Psalm 25:6 – NLT).

An illness lingers.  Our hours on the job have been cut, and our paycheck along with it.  We brought our child up in the way he should go, claiming the promise that when he was old he would not depart, but he has departed and there is no sign of his returning.  Friction in the home threatens until death do us part.

Or it is nothing so serious.  The car has been hard to start, but losing our keys renders the past mute.  An accidental spill has ruined a favorite outfit.  The dishwasher is broken and the repair estimate is more than we paid for it new.  That antique dish now lying broken on the floor had no monetary value, but it was a precious connection to a loved one long dead.  Frivolous occurrences?  Perhaps, but not to the one experiencing them.  The same as the first list of calamities?  No, but nonetheless distressing to the one experiencing them.

We are frequently tempted in difficult times – “major” difficulties or “minor” difficulties – to think that God has forgotten us, or that he has forgotten his usual kindness to us.  When that happens it is time to remind ourselves of all of the times in the past when the Lord God Almighty has showered us with blessings, protection, and provision.

In Psalm 25, one of my personal favorites, David prays, reminding God to remember all of those times when his compassion was so abundant and his unfailing love was so evident.  Maybe David is not reminding God who needs no reminding.  Maybe he is reminding himself of the gracious favors, of the wonderful blessings that he has frequently received through God’s compassion and unfailing love.

Maybe we need to remind ourselves that if the Lord will only do for us in the future what he has done in the past, we will be well-protected, well-fulfilled, well-content.  God’s river of grace never ceases to flow.  His compassion and unfailing love have been shown to us “from long ages past,” the New Living Translation reminds us.  If we could look deeper, we would see the Hebrew text says these blessings and protections from the Lord have been happening longer than that.  They are “from eternity.”

I watch reruns of “Law and Order.”  Frequently the prosecutor or the defense attorney will appeal to legal precedents – because the law meant this then, it should mean this now.  Well, when we accept the invitation to come boldly before the throne of God to find mercy in times of trouble, we can appeal to those divine precedents.  As we appeal to an unchanging God of his changeless mercies, let us remind ourselves of the same provisions from his gracious hand.

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