MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, SUICIDE AND BEYOND

Psalmist David wrote it straightforwardly in the Old Testament of the Bible in his 55th Psalm, “Exaudi, Deus”:

“Hear my prayer, O God, do not hide yourself from my petition. Listen to me and answer me. I have no peace because of my cares. I am shaken by the noise of the enemy and by the pressure of the wicked. For they have cast an evil spell on me and are against me in fury. My heart quakes within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling have come over me, and horror overwhelms me. And I said, ‘Oh, that I had wings like a dove. I would fly away and be at rest.’”

In Middleburg, Virginia, a small village where I have lived most of my life from age 12 after moving from England, where there are a lot of wonderful people who've been here for years, some very wealthy people with large horse farms -- not a McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken or 7-Eleven allowed within 20 miles -- but yuppity-uppity vacuous young people have moved in and show themselves off as though they are God's gift to us all. We’ve had two horrible suicides in the past several weeks.

I won’t name those who killed themselves, but you know the problem.

One was a nice young man with earrings, regularly hung out at a local pub, was a disc-jockey at nearby polo games at Great Meadow in The Plains, very popular with lovely local young girls, outwardly cheerful, bragged to us men about his conquests, but it was clear he was hooked on cocaine, depressed, and had no true female friendships until the end, when he had found a beautiful woman with the nicest nature and loveliest blue eyes you’ve ever seen, and who became fond of him.

But his depression and dependence on drugs got him. He tragically shot himself to death in front of his girlfriend on her porch. Such a shame, and understandably sent her running back to her family in the midwest.

I was amazed at the large number of people who came to  the young man's memorial service at the Middleburg Community Center. It was a huge outpouring of sentiment for a young man who offed himself, depressed, hooked on alcohol and drugs, just in his late twenties. Yet he was obviously popular, and the outpouring of grief and sentiment was as much for his girlfriend, a lovely woman in all respects. Such a tragedy for her to have had this suicide occur at her home, and the memory that will not go away for a long time although friends have gathered round to help her move on. Prayers, please, for her in this time of her grief and wounding, and for the repose of the soul of the young man who decided to leave this life in the prime of his life. A true tragedy any way you look at it.

Then there was a tall lanky blonde, probably in her late thirties, early forties, absolutely gorgeous. I saw her walking up the street as I was talking to a friend, she turned and waved as my lady friend mentioned how beautiful she was. I agreed. She was drop-dead gorgeous. It must have been an hour later that she went up to her apartment just a quarter-mile from where John F. Kennedy and wife Jackie lived at Glen Ora Farm during JFK's presidency, and killed herself in the heart of our village.

What is going on? Two suicides of lovely young people in the prime of their lives in this historic village where John Singleton Mosby, the "Grey Ghost" rebel leader of Confederate days, was shot in the shoulder by a Union sniper as he undressed one evening in an upstairs bedroom of the Red Fox Tavern in the middle of the village formed in 1757 by George Washington's first cousin Joseph Chinn?

More than half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. Suicide among young people is an epidemic. Lovely innocent children are the victims of breakups of their parents marriages. The church, its vicars and our culture have failed us.

When we get married, we take a vow blessed by the church celebrant and assembled family and congregation:

“In the name of God, I take you to be my wife [husband], to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. That is my solemn vow.”

Solemn vow? Half of all men and women who make that vow walk away from it and leave lovely innocent children in the wake. Where are we going as a society and culture?

Look again to David, the psalmist, who in his 121st writing, Levavi oculos, wrote:

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh even from the Lord who hath made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved, and he that keepeth thee will not sleep.

“Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord himself is thy keeper. The Lord is thy defence upon thy right hand, so that the sun shall not burn thee by day, neither the moon by night.

“The Lord shall preserve thee from evil, yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time for evermore."

Amen to that.

But something is terribly wrong with our culture, our youth, because of drugs and addiction.

When lovely people prang themselves to get out, as these two young people did -- and it is happening in communities across America and the world -- think about it. Something is terribly wrong.

What are we to do to save our children and grandchildren from the drug monster, drug traffickers, the mafia, and other people who prey on innocents for their own self-gain, and are destroying our values, our culture, our economy, and our politics?

The values George W. Bush has stood for, and Dick Cheney,  one of the best vice presidents in our lifetime, don't look so bad when you look at the cultural and global problems we face. The Bushes and Cheneys have stepped up to the plate. Give them credit. Forget the naysayers. They just want to be in power. What do they have to offer in return? Forget secular humanist self-gaining socialist and regulatory control collectivist politics. The American public has figured out that has dragged our country down. George W. Bush and wife Laura, Dick Cheney and wife Lynn, have stood for better values that have resonated and been accepted by the American people.

So let's move on upward and forward to protect and further the values of liberty and economic opportunity for all people, not collectivism and socialist taxation that rips off creative energetic people and their families only for the benefit of people who have no mettle and energy.

Forget Marxism supported by too many of our socialist politicians -- from each according to his ability to each in need. We're all in need.

I say go for liberty for all, economic opportunity for all, and it's up to each of us to step up to the plate and contribute to the good of the order, not look for handouts. The history of America has proved this to be true.