Sunset, Moonrise

Tonight's Double Rainbow

"To know that you and the one you love are on the same level of feeling for each other, without the look of the eyes and the touch of the flesh."

After a period of being by himself in captivity, Terry Anderson writes in Den of Lions that he got a roommate, a Frenchman, who was soon released to freedom. Madeleine went to Paris to meet him. He told her the same thing that others told her when they were released: of Terry's love for her, that he has never ceased thinking of her. "The joy that these words can give a woman is extraordinary. To know that you and the one you love are on the same level of feeling for each other, without the look of the eyes and the touch of the flesh. My love for him grew deeper every day!"

Madeleine had maintained her refusal to talk with the media for over three years, because she would not give the kidnappers "the satisfaction of seeing me plead." But, after talking to the Frenchman, she decided to tape a message to send to President Reagan. "With Sulome on my lap, I wanted the president to see the family that Terry had left behind. The daughter who was growing up without her father. The loneliness that surrounded us. I wanted the president to know that the arms-for-hostages deal with Iran had prolonged Terry's captivity, and that he should do something about it now, before anything happened to Terry."

On July 3, 1988 the US Navy cruiser Vincennes shot down an Iranian commercial jet, killing 290 Iranian civilians. There was no reaction from the Lebanese kidnappers, which led Madeleine to believe things weren't cozy between the Iranians and their Lebanese allies. Nevertheless, "fear of mistakes by friends was as great as fear of the captives." They were "completely dependent on other people's actions and reactions." She later realized she was thinking illogically when she made the tape for President Reagan, "because America was dealing with people who were unspeakably evil, and no deal would change that fact."

However, Madel;eine now saw a new pain, the sadness in her daughter's eyes as she discovered her friends and daddys who were in their lives. That made Madeleine "determined to build a shield to protect my daughter from her father's kidnappers, not allowing them to hurt her by keeping him captive."

"I'm scared, not of them, but of myself."

Terry Anderson writes in his book Den of Lions that in March 1987 a state department bureaucrat named Michael Mahoney told Terry's sister, Peg Say, that the hostages were being "devalued." Can you imagine being told that about your loved one? The kidnappers escalated; they began making death threats. A message was sent from Washington to the kidnappers that if a hostage were killed, America would definitely strike. A U.S. Navy task force hovered off Beirut. "The threats died off."

Senator Patrick Moynihan of New York vowed (and made sure it did) that Anderson's name would appear in the Congressional Record every day until he was free. "In Beirut, Lebanese television carried a videotape of Anderson's two-year-old daughter, Sulome, blowing out the candles on her birthday cake. "Our hearts are broken. Where is Daddy," she asked, waving a picture of her father. The Lebanese announcer came back on the screen wiping tears from his eyes. "Madeleine wrote, "It is not easy to be helpless when you know the one you love is suffering."

Terry had thought he was doing well, but one day his emotions just roared to the surface, and he began banging his head against the wall. He had just about stopped asking God for freedom. Now he was asking for strength, patience and acceptance. But this episode of frustration scared him, and he realized that he "might not be able to make it." "I'm scared, not of them, but of myself." The young guards were not often vicious, but always "stupid, lazy, and indifferent."

You know how much I love the sky, if you are one who has put up with my blog photos so frequently. In his seven years in captivity Terry was not allowed to look at the sky after one five minute opportunity in 1985. I cannot imagine.

When you wait until Independence Day to plant annuals, you might as well go with a patriotic theme!

These impatiens plants will do well under the shade of the stairs to the deck.

Chickens and gardens

This rapist has been separated from the hens. The only reason he is still alive is his amazing rendition of cock-a-doodle-do!
These chickens will be on their way to feed the troops in a few weeks.
Cherries!
Formerly the site of the chicken coop, this ground will be nicely fertilized for some veggies!

Can you believe Mr. Workaholic actually took his kids fishing?

Last day at this work location

"If this guy with that camera isn't too bright, I can just freeze here next to this ground that has the same colors as I, then maybe he'll walk away and leave me alone."
Since today was the last day of work at this location, I had to take one more walk down to the pond, and stay for the sunset.

The sunset was warm and peaceful, leaving many good memories and friendships.

Out of darkness, let there be light!

"Pain's full kin - faith and hope awakening"

More from Terry and Madeleine Anderson's wonderful book, Den of Lions: Pamphlets detailing all of Iran's, Israel's, and America's arms for hostages dealings began to be distributed in Tehran's bazaar, then in Beirut by a pro-Syrian magazine. Then the story was picked up by the liberal American media, and no more American hostages would be released for nearly four years.

Madeleine made the shrewd observation that the captives' families were spending so much time criticizing our president in the media, that it played into the captors' hands. "They just had to keep the captives longer to keep the criticism going." The exact same thing we have witnessed since the beginning of the Iraq war. Before Bush was the designated devil and fool, the media had its Ronald Reagan.

Madeleine had a huge falling out with Terry's sister, Peggy, who was all over the media. Madeleine refused to speak with the media, not wanting to show the kidnappers how desperate she and others were to have their loved ones freed. Madeleine did send videos to all the Beirut television stations on every one of Terry's and Sulome's birthdays, in hopes Terry would see it.

At first Madeleine blamed God for all that had happened. "That made me feel more lonely than anything else." Both Terry and Madeleine fought against depression, anger, and frustration. finally she accepted the friendship of the wife of the new AP Middle East bureau chief, and started going to church with her, and no longer felt so alone.

Terry lived in enormous physical misery and often deep depression. The chains "were a very heavy emotional and psychological burden, as well as a physical one." He prays to God for strength, courage, and, above all, acceptance. Sometimes the acceptance comes, but then the "black misery" returns. "It's always there, in the background of my mind, waiting." One of his poems ends with these words: "I sit chained and trembling, full of pain, and pain's full kin - faith and hope awakening."

Patience

Terry Anderson writes in his book Den of Lions about the patience he had to learn in order to survive mentally seven years of ugly captivity at the hands of Islamic Jihad.

"Patience is not a virtue - it's a necessity, a survival trait, an ever-filling well from which I sip, or gulp, exhausted by the desert of this non-life. My faith surges and recedes; hope sometimes abandons me, leaving only patience. I kick and scream and flail inside my head; patience offers only soft resistance, washing gently at my rage. I know if I dive deeply, I will find patience, hope, and faith emerging from a single source, eternal and unchanging."

Marigolds like it here.

The pond

Obama is not the only president who says one thing and does another.

Terry Anderson writes inDen of Lions that President Reagan authorized arms for hostages negotiations, even though his secretaries of defense and state strongly objected. Reagan absorbed the emotions of the families of the hostages. Colonel Ollie North negotiated the deals. The market price of one American citizen? 300 antitank missiles, or 50 hawks and 200 antitank missiles. Finally, though, after Weinberger and Shultz made one last effort, and Reagan instructed McFarlane to tell the Iranians "the hostages had to come home, and not in exchange for missiles."

McFarlane did as he was told. The Iranian weapons dealer was furious. McFarlane was replaced within days as Reagan's national security adviser by Admiral John Poindexter. Father Jenco was released on July 26. The Iranians got their weapons and spare parts. The Contras in Nicaraugua also got weapons and supplies with the Iranian money.

"No shared view of God or man"

In his book Den of Lions Terry Anderson describes his captors as "hamsters." Tom Sutherland, a former professor at Colorado State University, was chained with Anderson for several years. The "hamsters" thought Sutherland was a spy, since they found in his briefcase a speech explaining the basic concepts of Islam. "Very academic, totally harmless," was Anderson's description of the document he finally got to read. Anderson and David Jacobson (another hostage, who later became the hospital administrator in Durango, Colorado when I lived there) were concerned that the rough treatment the hamsters were giving to their suspected spy, Sutherland, would be too much for Sutherland to take. Anderson offered to be taken down to the "horse stall" with Sutherland. The result was that Sutherland was brought in the room with Jacobson and Anderson, along with Father Jenko and Ben Weir. Five mattresses jammed into one 10 by 12 room, but "we need each other badly. At least I need them. Anything to keep my mind going, to keep me away from myself."

Terry writes this description of America versus the radical Islamists: "The logic is too different; mental language untranslatable. There is no shared view of God or man. Oppressor and oppressed, each sees the other a victim bound and blind."

Terry's faith in God was difficult to sustain. There was one occasion when he felt touched by God's love. But Terry realized his abduction and captivity were the work of men, not God. The hardest part, though, was accepting God's love, God's help, and to work out some way of understanding what was happening to himself; coming to terms with God, coming to terms with himself, "knowing what we expect of each other."

It was Madeleine's writing that evoked the most tears from me (almost every time she wrote). Terry had written her a letter in November, 1985. It was a wonderful love letter. He urged her to read the Song of Solomon Chapter 4, verses 1-15, and 7, 1-5. "They were written for you," he wrote to Madeleine.

Madeleine wrote, "The year ended with me in bed, with my daughter in my arms and only my tears protecting us from the loneliness surrounding us."

Faith is what you feel when you are alone and find you're not."

(More on the incredible journey of Terry and Madeleine Anderson as written in their book Den of Lions)

On June 7, 1985 Madeleine gave birth to Sulome. Hezbollah terrorists hijacked a TWA airliner. Hopes were raised. Despite President Reagan's often-repeated pledges not to negotiate with terrorists, he extracted Israel's agreement to release several hundred of the Lebanese Shiites it was holding without charges, and the Amal shiites agreed to free the TWA hostages Hezbollah had kidnapped. Reagan had told members of the family of one of Anderson's fellow hostages that "all" the hostages were being released. The seven original hostages were still missing when the 40 Americans on TWA were bussed to freedom.

I remember Peggy Say's indefatigable campaign to get her brother Terry and his fellow hostages released. She wrote a book about it, entitled, Forgotten. In it she writes, "They make deals in private, deny them in public, and then renege on the whole thing; they sit there in their suits or caftans and lie to your face. These are the people running the world. Where do you go to find somebody you can believe, someone you can trust?"

President Reagan "was interested to the point of obsession in gaining release of the American hostages in Lebanon," writes Terry. This led to Iran-Contra and arms-for-hostages in July, 1985.

Anderson, like most journalists, was a liberal democrat, and had lived his life accordingly. He took advantage of an opportunity to confess his sins to fellow hostage Father Martin Jenko. Then, he writes this line in his book: "Faith's what you feel when you're alone and find you're not."

"Suffering the consequences"

Terry and Madeleine Anderson have written a deeply spiritual book, Den of Lions. It is spiritual because after Terry's abduction by Hezbollah thugs, both he and Madeleine wrestle with spiritual questions daily during his seven years in captivity. Both fight internal battles with depression, anger and frustration. Terry does so much introspection. It is a fascinating read. Amazingly, their love for each other just grows and grows. Sometimes I think it is easier for love to grow when people are forced to be apart than it is when people are together! Not that there was anything easy about what Terry and Madeleine experienced.

On March 15, 1985 Anderson was kidnapped. For endless weeks he was chained, blindfolded, and told not to move. "Each small movement brought a curse, a threat, a blow." Often the "vultures gathered around to poke and prod with talon, stick or gun," but Anderson knew that "no thief throws away his booty." He was never to look at his kidnappers: "you see, you dead." "Silly, I'd already seen. Typical militiamen - small, thin, scruffy beard, sharp Arab nose, black hair: completely inseparable from a thousand, ten thousand others."

The terrorists' plan was to swap Anderson for terrorists imprisoned in Kuwait. They dictated letters for Anderson to write, to get Washington to make the deal for the terrorists in Kuwait. Madeleine writes that she had always thought that the American government had the power to find out anything it wanted, and to do anything it wanted. "I learned quickly that we were dealing not only with Lebanese terrorists who were ignorant of the western world, but with Americans who were equally ignorant of Lebanon, and Terry and I and our families were suffering the consequences."

Wash your bags!

People who use reusable bags at grocery stores are so proud of themselves for not using plastic bags. Vince Carroll writes in the June 17 Denver Post, though, that two independent labs recently did a microbiological study which revealed that the reusable bags contained "high levels of bacterial, yeast, mold, and coliform counts, raising worries of food poisoning, skin infections and allergic reactions." Wash your bags people!

Last night's sunset

Will Obama's shrewdness be put to work on behalf of the best interests of our country?

In 1983 the atmosphere in Lebanon, which had been friendly to journalists, was changing. Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in Iran, and poured money to Shiites in Lebanon. Marines had been walking patrols through the Shia-inhabited area daily, with unloaded weapons! Then, in April, 1983 63 people were killed after a man in a black pickup truck drove through a light wooden gate at the U.S. Embassy, and detonated his cargo of explosives as he slammed into the building. Included among those murdered were six CIA officials who comprised "virtually the entire Middle East section of the CIA, wiping out our intelligence-gathering capabilities," writes Terry Anderson in Den of Lions.

Then, on October 23, 1983 another suicidal truck bomber "smiled as he drove his truck right into the entrance of the main barracks" for the 1200-man Marine and Navy unit. Anderson, who had served six years in the Marines, became overcome with horror as he rushed to the scene. The attacker was a member of the new coalition of mullahs funded by Iran - Hezbollah - the party of God. Many of its operatives were trained by Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization. You remember Yasser Arafat, the man who guested at the Clinton White House more than any other person? Anderson writes, "Time and again the Palestinians worst enemy was not Israel, but themselves, and their fellow Arabs."

Anderson and Fisk took off for the ancient city of Baalbek, where Hezbollah's leader was headquartered. They interviewed the leader, Mussawi. Anderson realized Mussawi "was evil incarnate, with an almost palpable force of intolerance and fanatacism." Anderson's name and address, from his passport, were entered into the database Iran was funding on all westerners in Lebanon.

The Reagan government in Washington capitulated to the Shia and Druse militiamen who had driven the Lebanese Army out of West Beirut. The remaining Marines were pulled out immediately. "The green flag of Islam was hoisted on the same pole that had, minutes before, carried The Stars and Stripes."

We conservatives venerate Ronald Reagan, but this was anything but his finest moment. We love to criticize Barack Obama, but we should never doubt Obama's shrewdness. I saw how he toppled Queen Hillary. Let's pray that God will grant Obama the wisdom to know how to act in our country's best interests when dealing with the leaders of Iran and North Korea.

Personal Experiences: How Valuable Are they?

In Terry and Madeleine Anderson's book Den of Lions, Madeleine writes about falling in love with Terry. They began planning a life together. She became pregnant. It would be the second marriage for both. Their wonderful dream ended on March 16, 1985, when Terry was kidnapped by Islamic thugs.

"They robbed us of our happiness. They took everything in a blink of an eye, and planted hate instead of love in my heart," writes Madeleine. She knew it was because of her that Terry had requested to be assigned by the AP to Lebanon. Three weeks after his abduction Madeleine was entering her eighth month of pregnancy, and she realized that she had to leave Lebanon. She flew to New York to live with Terry's sister Peggy See, in Batavia, Terry's hometown.

Terry had gone to Lebanon shortly after it was invaded by Israel in 1982. He soon became utterly fascinated by the place. He likens his work there to the high-wire-artist, trying to keep his balance, "risking his life to please the crowd, for fame, the thrill of danger, and the pleasure of performing feats that few can do."

Despite the fact that the "fascination never faded," Anderson was not immune to the pain of others. For him it was the dark, deep eyes of Palestinian and Lebanese children," and the sight of "doctors operating on grievously wounded people." He had enormous respect for the correspondent from the London Times, Robert Fisk, who told him, "There are no good guys (in Lebanon). The gunmen are little fury creatures with yellow teeth and small brains and guns."

Terry writes, "Over strong protests from both the U.S. Embassy and the Marine command, the Reagan administration shifted from peacekeeping to "support of the legitimate government." The problem with that was that the Gemayal government had little to claim to legitimacy and less to governing."

Conservatives have been criticizing President Obama for not supporting Iranians who are protesting the recent election "results." They cite Ronald Reagan's stance in support of Polish workers. It was Reagan's experience as President of the Screen Actors Guild that led him to thoroughly know and understand communists who were attempting to infiltrate the actors' union. He developed convictions, which led to his marvelous stands against communism.

Unfortunately Reagan had no personal experience with the complex world of the Middle East, and he was, therefore, not nearly as competent in dealing with that region of the world. I am having trouble jumping on the knee-jerk conservative bandwagon criticizing Obama for being too cautious. Like Reagan and the communists, Obama does have some personal experience with the Muslim world. Most of the rest of us do not.