One More Day Alive

By Chris Benguhe

Approximately 20 percent of the 30,000 suicides in this country each year are committed by veterans. That’s about 18 veterans committing suicide each day!

Sometimes we need to take a break from all of our own problems to talk to someone who needs desperately to be listened to and let the good Lord inspire us with something positive to say in return. Our returning soldiers need an extra heaping of that lovin’ nowadays.

A startling proof of that came a few years ago when I met Robert, a young American soldier who had returned from Iraq a few months earlier after waking up on a pile of rubble with most of his legs gone.  The former U.S. marine got blown up while trying to charge a rocket launcher aimed at a mosque where a rival religion faction was organizing a voter-training meeting.

He was rescued by his comrades in arms and rushed back to a hospital in time to save his life.  Then after a whole lot of surgeries and rehabilitation overseas, he was sent back to the United States and his family. 

Predictably, things weren’t easy for Robert.  His wife left him a few months after he returned, unable to deal with the pain that plagued his body and the darkness that persisted in his heart and head.

Months later in a tiny Irish pub, Robert was sitting, staring pensively at the traditional Celtic band as they played a maudlin musical lament that perfectly illustrated his mood.

While sipping my usual cup of espresso in my favorite booth, I spied Robert looking a bit forlorn to say the least.

“How’s it going?” I shouted over the music.  “Are you havin’ a good time?”

With military precision and conviction he shouted back.  “I’m all messed up,” as he pointed down toward his strapped up legs – two prosthesis, bustling with wires, springs and plastic.  “I’m in the hospital every other day,” he continued.  “I’m in constant pain.  At night I pop pain pills until I pass out.  Then I wake up from the nightmares and pray to God I don’t fall asleep again.”

A bit overwhelmed by his honesty, I was tempted not to pursue the matter further, but my humanity got the better of me, and I walked over to his table to learn more.  I soon discovered that what made Robert’s pain and suffering truly unbearable for him was that he could not be there for the most important person in his life – his six year-old-daughter.  “I’m no good for her now,” he cried.  “Not like this.  I can’t even take care of myself, let alone be a dad.  Seeing me so depressed and down isn’t what she needs right now.”

Because of this he had given up visitation rights to his daughter until he could get his life back on track.  The way he spoke of his daughter lit up the room and my heart as well.

“You love that girl so much that you gave her up for her own good,” I told him.  “Do you realize what a tremendous sacrifice that was? Being aware of your own devotion to her will fuel you to overcome this obstacle so you can get back to her.  You now have a greater reason in your heart than you have ever known to recover!” 

Robert raised his head from its slumber and got a bit of a twinkle in his eye as if a light bulb went off.  “That’s true,” he uttered softly – the military acuteness giving way to a sober serenity. “I’ve really got something to work on now.”

I ran into Robert again a few weeks later, and I realized my words came at the tight time.

“You saved my life,” he whispered as he pulled me closer to give me a huge hug.  “I was ready to swallow a bottle of those pain pills that night.  But you made me realize how much I had to live for.  I wasn’t messed up – I was alright.  And I’m going to kick this all and get back to being a great dad for my little girl.”

Shock, amazement, confusion – I can’t even begin to express what I felt.  I told him thanks for his words of thanks – and to pass on the favor some day. 

Today, I am asking you to pass on the favor. If you know a vet, see one in a restaurant or even pass them on the street, take the time to say thanks and maybe to listen to their story. You just might help them to win the hardest battle of their lives, so we all can win the war we fight every day to make this world a better place. 

Want to help our vets financially? Buy Chris Benguhe’s latest book, “Overcoming Life’s 7 Common Tragedies: Opportunities for Discovering God” this month through his website at http://onemoredayalive.com/buy-the-book/ and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project!

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Here’s a link to my latest TV appearance!

On Friday, July 24th, CatholicTV’s talk show “This is the Day” featured Reverend George Winchester, SJ, and Chris Benguhe. Fr. Winchester is a priest and a hospital chaplain. Chris Benguhe is a Catholic author and columnist for The Catholic Sun, the diocesan newspaper of the Diocese of Phoenix.

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By coming out four square for abortion, Obama is losing the Catholics who supported him.

Dear President Obama,

How could you look thousands of young and impressionable, innocent and idealistic Notre Dame Catholic graduates in the eyes and purposely mislead them?

When our new president first took office a few months back, I wrote a column offering my heartfelt support of the man I hoped would bring America together for a unified, common mission of respect for all mankind. I recommended that my readers do the same, and I received more than a few angry responses because of it.

But President Obama has made it difficult for me to keep supporting him, not just because of his views, but also because of his refusal to state them honestly, instead trying to dupe those who disagree with him into believing he shares THEIR view, while his actions say exactly the opposite.

Specifically, I am speaking of his actions on abortion and his treatment of the pro-life movement, to which he has been graciously extending one hand with his words while punching them in the face with his actions. He has gone out of his way to oppose any and all bills or government action that would in any way, shape or form show respect or even humane concern for the life of the unborn.

Let me be clear here. I am a political independent who acknowledges that debate between very thoughtful people might arise when trying to reconcile the rights of the mother with the rights of the child, especially for instance in the case of endangerment to the mother’s life.

But though many laudable moderate politicians on both side of the aisle have refrained from calling for the criminalization of abortion because of those complexities (for instance former President George W. Bush), at least they have made a genuine effort to clamp down on the widespread use of and government endorsement of abortion.

But Mr. Obama has rallied lock, stock and barrel against any such controlling legislation on the issue whatsoever. Quite contrarily he has opened the flood gates on abortion governmentally, in EVERY form, essentially using the Bully Pulpit to promote abortion as a sensible form of birth control!

Meanwhile, in his commencement speech at Notre Dame, while speaking to these young, enterprising and up and coming Catholics – all important voters sin 2012 – he posed as a moderate on the issue, truly adding insult to injury.

While these zealous youth looked to him for leadership, he had the audacity to call for “Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words. It’s a way of life that always has been the Notre Dame traditions,” exclaimed President Obama.

Noble words, but this is a man who has gone out of his way NOT to be open-minded or fair.

Illinois State Senator Obama and then U.S. Senator Obama repeatedly refused to vote against the vile and reprehensible act of aborting LIVE babies through partial birth abortion, an act which as bad it sounds, is worse in actuality, performed by strangling or suffocating a child once it has been delivered!

While a U.S Senator he voted AGAINST legislation that would make it illegal for a minor to be transported across the state line to obtain an abortion; it was specifically written to prevent nefarious influencers such as those who incestuously impregnated the youths from getting rid of their evidence. The bill went out of its way to stipulate that the act WOULD NOT be illegal if the minor’s life was in danger, but still it was of no interest to Mr. Obama.

He refused to vote against a bill that would stop funneling U.S. taxpayer money to groups that supported worldwide programs that FORCED abortions and mandatory sterilizations.

And most recently his proposed budget will cut virtually ALL funding for any programs that teach abstinence, while only a few moths earlier he reversed a Bush policy that would hold back money from international agencies that promoted abortion.

Is that being “open minded” on the issue?

If President Obama wants an open and honest dialogue on this issue, then he should start off by being honest himself, telling us all what he ACTUALLY believes and what policies he intends to support.

Then all those students that listened to him with open hearts, along with the rest of the American public, can decide whether they want to re-elect a man who supports radical policies that will allow society to extinguish life whenever it is “inconvenient.” Because the ramifications of that type of agenda may extend far beyond the topic of abortion!

Chris Benguhe is a columnist for the Catholic Sun and Author of “Overcoming Life’s 7 Common Tragedies: Opportunities for Discovering God” available at Amazon.com

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What do greedy union bosses and Wall Street tycoons have in common? Could it be Old Scratch – the guy with the horns and the bifurcated tail?

Greedy Union bosses refusing to accept salary modifications bring down the auto bailout in the United States Senate on the same day a long time Wall Street powerbroker is arrested after confessing to a massive fraud scheme that will cost investors $50 million bucks! Who is behind all of this? As former SNL cutup Dana Carvey would say, “Could it be – Satan?”

OK, so maybe we don’t have actual photographs of Satan lurking in the shadows, but America cannot extricate itself from its overwhelming economic crisis until it accepts this is not just an economic problem, nor is it a regulatory problem, nor even a problem with too little or too much government – it’s an ethical problem. And we need an ethical policy to get us back on track?

Over the course of the last several decades we have seen Wall Street artificially inflate he market, and corporate executives break the law and the trust of their stockholders in order to maximize personal wealth regardless of the effects on thousands of stockholders. We have watched politicians, banks, and mortgage companies promote and protect fraud and deceit in order to boost their bottom line in the short run.

We have seen everyday people lie about income and make promises to pay that many knew were illegitimate, so they could have more than they could afford or need. Add to that a bunch of self-motivated oil speculators who drove the price of oil through the roof until a sabotaged economy brought it down, and a nation of people seemingly obsessed with having more, bigger and better stuff.

Finally, now we have Wall Street financiers and Big Business bosses looking for government bailout packages, unions refusing to negotiate wages for the good of ALL the employees and the nation, and everyday folks all looking for tax breaks and what their country can do for them, instead of the other way around. (Then there is that little deal over in Illinois where a sitting governor tried to sell our incoming president’s senate seat to the highest bidder.)

What do all these things have in common? They are all SELFISH AND IMMORAL!

This is a wake up call to realize that we cannot find success and prosperity through self-centered indulgence. That’s not how America was built. But somewhere along the line, some crazy idiot convinced a bunch of modern Americans that capitalism was based on greed and self-service.

Not so says the founder of capitalism, Adam Smith. Most unethical opportunists today point to Smith’s claims in his famous “Wealth of Nations” that self-interests alone are what make capitalism work. But Smith wrote another book that most people have not read. In his “Theory of Moral Sentiments,” he clarifies his theory of capitalism arguing that sympathy for others is a prerequisite for success both in the individual and in society.

Smith categorically disapproves of selfishness as inappropriate, if not immoral. He explains that true “self-interest” includes the interest of the rest of society, since the social acceptance, status, and support of all affects the interests of the individual that is a member of that society. He argues only a society which values social justice achieved through community and moral obligations can achieve prosperity.

So unless we are going to return to the principles of community responsibility, social integrity and the work ethic that worked once upon a time to make America great, we might as well sell the shop and move back to the old country!

But how on earth can we find those principles again? Religion may be the saving grace that gives all of us — even the non-religious — the wisdom and fortitude to find our way amidst a barrage of national and global challenges because religion is where we got it in the first place.

Since the United States of America was founded on the divinely ordained innate value of humanity and our responsibility to respect it, as derived from the Judeo Christian Bible— old-time religion might be what we are looking for. It’s a pretty good start for anyone looking for some pointers on doing the “right” thing.

But if religion is not your thing, then you better find some other absolute, moral gyroscope that centers your purpose and being in something other than yourself, one that is not relativistic, and that will allow all of us as a nation to make very real economic, political and possibly mortal sacrifices for the good of others.

Otherwise – Satan is ready and willing to be our next Chairman of the Federal Reserve!

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Despite differences Catholics and Christians might have with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, they must be respected. However, it is the duty of believers to fight for their beliefs in the public square.

Now that the most expensive election in U.S. history is behind us, let me echo the gracious words of former presidential candidate and senator John McCain to say that
now we must all support our president-elect, Barack Obama.

He not only deserves our respect, but also our prayers and suggestions for how he can be the best president possible. Remember that the passing of another presidential election means we are celebrating another proof that this is a
government of the people, by the people and for the people. And plenty of those people are Catholics.

One Catholic who has jump started that process is Florida Bishop John J. Ricard, SSJ, who is asking Vice President-elect Joseph Biden to think a little bit more
about his position on abortion before accepting Holy Communion.

Whether or not Biden, a man who has been committed to keeping abortion legal for more than 30 years, will ever be swayed is dubious at best, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try, and it doesn’t mean we can’t have an effect.

After all, politics is at its heart a game of compromise, and though the sad truth is that we must sometimes accept compromises on our values in the political world, it also means that we can get those who oppose our moral values to compromise a bit on theirs.

Case in point: the argument against gay marriage, and Barack Obama’s shifting stand on the subject.

A year before the election, Sen. Obama was clearly a proponent of it, but fast forward to his presidential campaign, and he was against it. Then, when pushed to say whether he supported constitutional amendments against it at the state or national level, he appeared a little less convicted.

Though some pundits accused him of flip-flopping and capitulating in order to get votes (presumably those pundits who were in favor of gay marriage), another way of looking at this is that he responded to the will of a huge sector of society that wants to protect the integrity of this historically established institution.

Brilliant balance

The fact that three separate states, the overwhelmingly liberal California included, recently voted to approve an amendment to keep marriage between one man and one woman is more than just a little proof that support for same-sex marriage is not as widespread as the mainstream media might have us believe. President-elect Obama may have realized that.

Therein lies the amazing potential of our democracy in America – it is a brilliant balance between responsible elitism and populism – whereby we elect leaders who must and should strike their own balance between deciding what they believe is right and responding to the wishes of the electorate.

That means that our job has just begun with the election of our new president.

The Bible tells us that ordained leaders are to be respected – at least until they betray that trust, at which point we have the right to remove them by peaceful
democratic means in America.

But as Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver explains in his recently released book “Render Unto Caesar,” American democracy depends on citizens, especially religious
believers, fighting for their beliefs in the public square – respectfully but aggressively and unapologetically.

Let us all remember that Democrats were once the leading party of segregation, yet clearly with our most recent election, we have seen the completion of a diametric journey on that party’s behalf. Who is to say what other monumental shifts might occur in that party and our recently elected president.

It is our duty and our responsibility to let our leaders know what we value. After all, they are there to serve us, and we are here to help them do that as best as they can.

After that, it’s all in God’s hands – and the next election.

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The horse race is on again — that chaotic, contentious and glorious phenomenon known as the American presidential campaign. And for the first time in my life, I am inspired by the madness.

While many pundits and critics castigate the field of candidates as less than lackluster, it’s still “anybody’s guess” who will take home the nomination of their parties, let alone who will be president. I find that quite reassuring.

I don’t see voters lamenting a field of contenders that offers no real obvious choice for commander-in-chief, implying that maybe this nation is running out of ideas and leaders with ideas. On the contrary, it’s obvious that for the first time in a long time, the nation is free of the polarizing manipulation of too few choices.

This time around there are not one or two powerful special interest groups dominating the equation, propping up their pick for president while the bulk of the middle class is ignored or simply pacified.

I once wrote a column about how the nation was not polarized, but only the politicians were. In other words they were playing to the extremes, the polarized and usually hateful special interest groups on one side of the aisle or the other because they knew that these tightly knit, politically committed special interest groups could be depended on to get out the vote, and get them elected, even if they ignored the rest of the electorate.

This time around those special interest groups are split and not as powerful.

With several candidates still vying for our votes and splitting up these usually solidified groups, suddenly the whole of the American public is being courted for its vote. For the first time in a long time, every vote really matters, and the politicians need all of us.

Without an obvious winner being shoved down our throat, it leaves us much more capable of criticism and choice. In other words, we can look at the whole field and evaluate what they stand for, what they are proposing for America’s future and how they plan to pull it off.

If you think about it, we haven’t heard such an array of disagreements among candidates within the same party in a long time.

That’s good for the everyday people who can now be heard even more.

And we can all be proud of helping to bring this about. Because as the politicians became increasingly more polarized over the last few decades, we became more independent — all the voters, that is. In Arizona, for instance, a record 28 percent of the electorate now claims no allegiance to either party.

That’s especially good for us Catholics.

That’s because we make up the largest swing vote in the United States (25 percent of the population and 29 percent of U.S. voters). Unlike other blocs, we “swing” either way, Democrat or Republican, depending on the issues at hand.

That’s because we tend to vote our conscience rather than a party. What a concept.

This year, with no one of the candidates firmly securing those large special interest groups, the concept of going simply to their base has been replaced by the need to secure more of the swing voters, like Catholics.

So let’s savor this opportunity and use it as a chance to be heard and to listen and learn about all these candidates.

If you are not sure whom to vote for, then do a little homework. Go to the candidates’ Web sites and read their policy papers. Send their campaigns an e-mail or give them a phone call if you want to know more — and for goodness sake vote in November.

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