You must have noticed. The United States of America is in the midst of a war, initiated by true greed, and real immorality. Under attack is everything that has made your country the best in the world. How much longer can you keep your head down or turn away from what’s happening to YOUR COUNTRY OF AMERICA. How much longer can you NOT become involved, even in the smallest of ways?
There is no question that Americans are being killed for no reason, that their property is being razed. There is no denying that many cities and historic places in America are being demolished. And there is no genuine excuse for any of this–unless you take your head out of the sand and dare to consider the pre-planned steps that have been taken by gluttonous people who care only for themselves, not you, and not America.
Where are the true Patriots?
Are you one of them?
Isn’t it time to stand up for America?
As a rule, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but what is exposed in this fact-based video cannot be denied. We NEED a two party system in America–with both Republican and Democrat representatives who have America’s well-being at heart. Sadly, the present Democrat Party wears only the mask of Patriotism without the heart behind it. Sincere Patriots, for the sake of your country, remember and restore, with YOUR VOTE for AMERICA, the most exemplary republic in human history.
Every person we meet has what it takes to be a character in a novel.
Every person we meet has a propensity to do certain things, and because of this, his/her intellect judges those things as good for them or not good for them, depending upon what their goal is.
Every person, including ourselves, makes choices, knowing what we should do, or should not do; then we play out our choice through action that in some way, always involves another person.
Oh yes, in real life, each of us has a story, too! And that story–our own story–follows us to the end of our days on Earth, taking us to eternal life, or eternal damnation, depending upon the choices we make and the actions we take.
The main characters in novels must change, one way or the other, or there is no novel. Each of us on Earth has the same capability of change in order to achieve our highest end. But not every novel has a happy ending. Not every protagonist wins, same as in human life. However, a novel is based on an author’s chosen standard with which the characters are charged. The world’s greatest novels point to the higher standard, though the characters may never achieve it.
It is the same for us. As human beings, we are charged with certain standards. We are not meant to hate, but to love. We are not meant to lie, but to speak the truth. We are not meant to steal, but to share what we have. We are not meant to kill–not an innocent child in the womb, an enemy, or a neighbor. We know within ourselves what is right and just, but sometimes we do the opposite. Why? Because we choose wrongly when we forget who we are. This is so obvious today.
In the words of one great novelist: If we Americans are to survive it will have to be because we choose and elect and defend to be first of all Americans; to present to the world one homogeneous and unbroken front, whether of white Americans or black ones or purple or blue or green… If we in America have reached that point in our desperate culture when we must murder children, no matter for what reason or what color, we don’t deserve to survive, and probably won’t.– William Faulkner
In a novel, the actions of evil often shine out the good. Struggle or suffering by the protagonist often shows him or her a way to the good because he chooses to make his way through the struggle. Struggle is the way of all life; all of life struggles to be born, and then struggles to stay alive. And all of life yearns for love. We can certainly see this in animals, in our pets that want to be stroked or held. It is obvious that every human life needs love because we all aspire to it.
Each of our life stories has been given to us by the loving God who made us, by the Creator who designed us as innocent children, designed us in His likeness with free will, the ability to imagine, the ability to remember and act on those memories, the capability of loving and accepting love from others, and most of all, the capability of showing mercy, even to those who have hurt us.
A great novelist puts purpose into the words he/she writes. Characters have purpose, settings have purpose, everyday actions and words have purpose. Nothing is insignificant or unimportant to the ultimate novelist. Therefore, I see God as the most perfect and greatest novelist, giving each of His characters everything they need to achieve their end in this great scheme of life, but also the freedom to choose or not to choose HIM. We are all writing the novel of our lives, the only novel for which we alone will be responsible. If presently, it seems to be a novel we are not proud of, we still have time to change it into one that will be pleasing to ourselves, and to God.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. –Psalm 139: 13-18
A sin may, at first, seem a small thing. It may even have a hint of conscience, until it becomes habitual and infectious to everyone around it. Love also begins small, becomes habitual, and infectious as well. Except love is honorable in the human person, while sin degrades his or her soul.
Of course, sin is all around us. It surely happens in politics since it is made up of many people with ambition, people who ignore goodness if it interferes with their political goals. A few examples of some politicians ignoring of goodness are these: the taking of a human life in the womb, the mistaken confusion that we can change our own gender, or the misrepresentation of what marriage truthfully is. These acts demean us as human beings created by God. And yet, each one of us can choose to agree, and even do, any of them.
This is why we use other human beings for our own ends, ignoring their God-given value. This is why the truthful family, based upon the sacrament of marriage, is being negatively affected. This is why the deep responsibility to guide children who come from that marriage is being overlooked. This is why it is imperative to look upward to God for guidance, rather than looking around at the temporary world we live in. Except, genuine love isn’t easy, has never been easy, and will never be easy.
Taking the easy way out through wrong behaviors, decays not only ourselves, but also, spreads like a virus to others.
In my new Southern Gothic novel, ABSENCE, This is what happens to James Greene, a southern farmer who will do whatever he has to do, even if it is evil, to keep the farm he sees as his legacy from disappearing. This is also what happens to us when we forget who we really are, and who we come from. Just as James Greene, in the floods and droughts of life, we listen to false voices, swallow false precepts, and fall into corruption rather than goodness. We lose the ones we love, and find ourselves suffering, totally lost, and miserable. Can we recoup? In our loneliness, are there people who can show us the way back? And could those people possibly be the ones we have hurt?
ABSENCE is foremost the story of love’s restoration between James Greene and his wife of many years, and between James’s son, William, and his new, second wife. In the mix, is Cecilia, the daughter and sister they maligned, who disappeared from their view, but will not let go of their minds. It is also the story of innocence in the persons of two children who strive to keep the entirety of their family in tact.
Here are some reviews:
High Caliber fiction. The characters are superbly drawn, though at times, I didn’t like some of them very much—just as it is in real life. And yet, I pulled for these characters, especially James Greene. It is a story about losing one’s soul, and finding it again. A great read.
Renewed love is a theme in this novel, along with the struggle between human nature and the nature of the world. Discord in a family of farmers, comes when floods and droughts drastically affect their livelihood. But when James Greene actually buys a baby to replace his still-born child, then presents it to his unknowing wife, Katy, as her own, he is caught in a web in which despicable havoc ensues.
Moves fast enough to keep your interest, but slow enough to savor the significance between the lines. The Greene family is beset with problems stemming from the heart of each character. The question is, will they solve those problems?
From Joseph Pearce, the author of numerous literary works. Visit his website at jpearce.co.~Those who have read Kaye Park Hinckley’s earlier novels will know that she is one of the most exciting and gifted writers of contemporary faith-inspired fiction. This latest offering does not disappoint. Absence will further establish Mrs. Hinckley’s hard-earned reputation as a teller of gritty and gripping stories infused with subtle hints of the redemptive power of grace.
From Dena Hunt, author of award-winning novels, Treason and The Lion’s Heart~Hinckley does it again. Absence put me in mind of Faulkner as a generation-transcending saga set in the South. But unlike Faulkner, Hinckley does not leave the reader feeling burdened by the tragic consequences of the sins of the fathers visited upon their children. Instead, Hinckley enlightens, revealing the indissolubility of love and truth, and restoring love and life. A terrific read.
From Meggie Daly, author of Bead by Bead ~”Absence” is the sixth book by Kaye Park Hinckley that I have read and loved. “Absence” and the “Wind that Shakes the Corn” are my all-time favorites. While reading “Absence,” I forced myself to go slowly to savor her sentences like an excellent meal that I didn’t want to end. The author “paints” compelling personifications of good and evil as three generations of characters battle internal demons and nature. The plot in “Absence” is intricate, layered, and surprising up until the last page. Themes of longing, abandonment, forgiveness, callousness, regret, unconditional love, and mercy will stay with the reader long after finishing the book. I can’t recommend this book highly enough—a masterpiece!
Because there is no novel with better themes of human sin, contrition, and love’s restoration than Victor Hugo’s Les Miserable, portrayed beautifully in the musical production.
Translating a World on the Edge 