Sometimes the knights in shining armor appear as crews’ wearing jeans, overalls and steel toed boots.
It doesn’t take an emergency beacon to activate them, just a need… and they come. Purposefully, without condition, ready to move, activate and respond. They throw the gear bags, kiss the ladies & babies, and head out. The rest is figured out upon arrival.
Superior Construction, came from Jacksonville, Ajax Paving from Fort Myers, Honc from the Cape and trucks with subs from just about everywhere. There’s both a unity and similarity that flows when callouses are clasped and the melding of purpose comes together. Few words are needed, because it’s a task centered outlook, let’s git r’ done – no quit.
I asked Richard to put this together. {Direct Ruble Link} The drone video is from FAI photography. The song is by Lucy Thomas. The message, well, given all of the critics who say America’s best days are behind, perhaps they need to pause a little bit and remind themselves what we are capable of. Enjoy:
.
What has been accomplished in two weeks of 24/7 reconstruction is nothing short of remarkable. Then again, this is the Christian America we know well. The truckers, pullers, spreaders, drivers, welders, machinists, heavy equipment operators, tugboat operators, barge haulers, diggers, pumpers, tradesmen, all of them, just people.
Damn good people at that.
People who represent what makes our nation unique. The invisible, salty, mostly scruffy and beautifully comfortable about it, yet critical network of blue-collar crews that keeps it all operating. God, how I cherish them so.
At the core of our American purpose is a decency and unity. Critics don’t like to talk about it, but American workers are fundamentally good. When something seems impossible, for blue-collar Americans ‘impossible‘ is just another starting point, if you get out of the way. Don’t lose sight of that.
No other nation on earth was ever conceived on the principle of allowing people to manifest their own destiny, while keeping government out of their lives. The vision, the premise and the purpose, was to allow you the freedom to determine your place in life; and even, at any time, change that determination and strike off in an entirely new direction.
Our labor and aspirations would not be pre-determined by caste, tier, creed or social status; but rather by our personal vision for our own future. The right of self-determination.
This election is a time to reflect on the value of work; the great personal benefit of endeavors achieved; the pride in accomplishment -regardless of scale- amid this thing we call life; and all of these considerations have absolutely nothing, not-one-thing, to do with the money we assemble in the process.
What is the current value of a former seed that became a tree nurtured toward its continued maturity over decades? What was that seed worth at the time it was planted? We can only see the value in hindsight many years later. What value lay in the blood at Fort McHenry?
The job, per se’, was simple. Hold the flagpole in place. Keep that representative flag held high, no matter the cost. And yet, that cost, my God THAT COST, could it ever be quantified appropriately? A simple yet consequential task that expressed the fullest measure of devotion to the underlying premise, freedom.
America!
Several years ago, Florida Power and Light won the prestigious international Edward Demming Award for excellence in multi-platform engineering, efficiency, superiority and total quality in the process of energy management.
However, the scruffy rednecks did not blow every PhD intellectual out of the water with slide rules, CAD programs, articulated and quantified quality improvement processes and engineering acumen. They did it with hard hats and dirty fingernails.
Because they lost the award, the jaw-agape Japanese spent 6 months visiting and reviewing FPL and later published a 1,000-page study essentially saying FPL “wasn’t really good, they were just lucky.”
You see, the reviewers couldn’t actually quantify the reason why the Florida-based energy company was so successful. In response the FPL field leadership laughed, took out magic markers and wrote on the back of their hard hats: “WE’RE NOT GOOD, WE’RE RUCKY.”
A few years later, every single Kuwaiti oil field was blown up by Saddam Hussein. Global analysts and think-tanks proclaimed it would take 5 years to cap them all off and restart the Kuwait oil pumping industry. Well, the Kuwaiti’s and Saudi’s called Texans, who had them all capped and back in working order in 6 months.
We are a nation that knows how to get shit done.
A few more years pass, and the Northern Chile mine workers were trapped two miles underground. The eyes of the world began to tear as the word spread. Most began to whisper no one could save them. Who did they call for help? A bunch of hick miners from USA coal country who went down there, worked on the fly, engineered the rescue equipment on site, and saved every one of them.
Yup, that’s our America. Ingenuity born from freedom.
Across the pond a half-breed Islamic whack job, armed with an AK-47 and a goal to meet his virgins, began opening fire on a train in France. The scruffneck Americans on board didn’t run to the nearest safe room and hide themselves amid baguettes and brie. They said, “let’s go”, and beat the stuffing out of that little nut with a death wish.
Legion d’Honneur or not, that’s us. That’s just how we roll.
Lady Liberty can stroll along the Champs-Elysées with a swagger befitting Mae West because without her arrival, they’d be speaking German in the Louvre.
Yet, for the better part of the past decade, a group of intellectual leftists have been teaching our children that it’s better to be sitting around a campfire eating sustainable algae cakes and picking parasites off each other; because ‘save the planet’, or something similarly minded. It would appear, they hate the outcomes and inequities from freedom.
So, we get to today, and right now those who wish to “fundamentally change” our nation are waging a full-frontal assault against our constitutional republic. The bombardment seems overwhelming.
Leftist city and state leaders have abandoned rule of law in favor of supporting a mob effort to destroy our sense of national unity. Political activists, left-wing ideologues under the guise of democrats, and a host of media allies are conducting information warfare on behalf of their objective. Big tech social media companies are attempting to remove the voices of those who are fighting back.
There is a great deal of purposefully driven anxiety and fear amid our nation as this multi-faceted internal war takes place. However, there is a primary element to this effort that each person can shield themselves from, and act to counter. We are, yet again, in Fort McHenry.
Do not let your sense of self succumb to this assault. Do not let them win the battle for your peace of mind.
It might, heck, -check that- it does seem overwhelming at times. But that is the nature of this collectivist strategy. That is the purpose of this bombardment. We must hold strong and push back against their lies and manipulations. If you look closely at their attack, it is weak and much of it is psychological bait. Do not fall into the trap of despair.
When we share the message, “live your best life”, it is not without purpose.
Every moment that we allow the onslaught to deter us from living our dreams, is a moment those who oppose our nation view as us taking a knee. Do not allow this effort to succeed.
You might ask yourself how I can, one person, a flea looking into a furnace, retain an optimistic disposition while all around me seems chaotic and mad.
That’s the point; it ‘seems’ chaotic and mad because it has been created to appear that way. There are more of us than them; they just control the systems that allow us to connect, share messages and recognize the scale of our assembly. We cannot comply our way out of tyranny.
Every second that you live your life with thankfulness for the abundance within it; every moment that we CHOOSE to engage with fellowship; every day that we accept guidance from God – however you define him to be; and every moment we cherish this time to be a beacon of optimism; is a moment that we withstand that barrage and hold the flag in place. It is a genuinely patriotic position not to succumb to the attack.
If you allow yourself to be drawn into crisis and despair, you allow them to win. If your center of normal is based around this overwhelming onslaught, you will eventually concede liberty in favor of peace. Once we stop living in liberty, we no longer have peace.
It is time to hold that flagpole again. To remember the reason the seed was planted. To cherish the tree of liberty.
We must withstand this onslaught, any onslaught, and rally to the origin of our true national spirit. We must rally to a standard of Americanism and accept this is not that. In essence, we must individually take a stand. Purposefully, deliberately and with forethought, we must engage those around us to get rid of this sense of foreboding.
This approach is how we win the larger battle. Again, it seems simple, but keeping that flag standing tall requires the heart of a lion and dirty fingernails.
All around us, in every tribe and region, there are people who need you to show them the strength that you have. Strength of spirit. Strength of fellowship that you will not relent from expressing. Lead your children, your children’s children, and the children of community with an unwavering and steadfast example.
No matter what noise is shouting from the loudspeakers we must withstand it; you must withstand it. We must make eye contact and remain joyful.
We cannot allow despair to be the status quo; and we cannot allow a generation to experience a world without joy.
Our nation needs more people like you, right now. Don’t wait… engage life. Resolve to get optimistic however you need to do it. Then let that part of you shine right now. This is how we fight.
Hold up that flag; give the starter smile. Rally to the standard you create and spread fellowship again. God knows we need it.
When I hear President Donald Trump say, “Let’s Make America Great Again”, I also hear the familiar echo “cowboy up” people.
Git ‘r done.
It’s high time we stop being embarrassed about our exceptional American nature, and start being proud of it again.
Because when it matters most, when it really counts, when it’s really needed, there’s a whole bunch of people all around this world of ours that are mighty happy when swagger walks in to solve their problems.
Yeah, let us recommit to “Make America unapologetically Great Again”.
Swagger on, MAGA. NO QUIT!
A Blessing now for all of us and Them, ‘who get shit done’, May we get it done ✅ on November 8th. Amen
Sundance. Your Very Best Here, God Bless.
Raw: Trump Pushes Past Montenegro PM at NATO – YouTube
President Trump, a man who knows how to get the job done, will not allow the USA to be seen on the world stage as taking a backseat to anyone, least of all some soy boy.
what’s interesting about that trump video is that he is the center of their attention
if they ever wanted to ‘stop’ trump all they had to do was ignore him, but they can never do that, even when he is out of office
“People who represent what makes our nation unique. The invisible, salty, mostly scruffy and beautifully comfortable about it, yet critical network of blue-collar crews that keeps it all operating. God, how I cherish them so.”- Sundance
Sundance is a God given wordsmith for this time of ours! Notice how there is never any mention of the importance of skin color, diversity or equity in the “critical network of blue-collar crews” because it just doesn’t matter when we see others as just part of God’s creation willing to do what needs to be done to help others! How I cherish them having been on the receiving end after hurricanes in Texas! How I cherish Sundance for his wordsmith and encouragement! Godspeed Sundance!!!
REPEATING THE WORDS OF SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL AT THE END OF WORD WAR II PRAISING THE RAF.
“NEVER HAS SO MUCH BEEN OWED SO FEW”
May God continue to walk with these people as they bless everyone with so much.
-You raise me up
Great article Sundance, especially you including examples of the American ingenuity helping people all over the world!
Behind all the wonderful people who made this bridge happen was governor DeSantis’ firm leadership. From words of encouragement to Florida residents, his daily engagement in planning, bringing people who did the rebuilding and got it done together, recognizing them, to funding of this enormous project. I listened to the governor’s outdoor press conferences. Yet, his name is not mentioned at all in this segment. Let’s not forget Governor DeSantis.
If Florida had followed the Federal Government regulations, the causeway would still be in the committee stage, with a completion date years away!
And politically, the media was careless critical of (gop) Presidents
if there was not a presidential site visit of a disaster site within a day or 2.
On the other hand,
the double standards come into play for a uniparty miss leader and a plethora of excuses work to defer the visit out to a week, 2 weeks after…
[ not that a mutual site visit by a president / governor is necessary. But, some like to play the optics, either side of the biased perspective(s).]
The git r done, helps a lot.
[ regardless of the tendency of some blame, and / or assign over or under credit to a single human, or thousands of people and know-how’s and abilities. ]
Years away, because awaiting results of a multi-year survey of sea turtle populations in the region. And searching for environmentally-friendly ways to dredge the sand needed to bear the causeway. And signing a contract with Ytong Industries for concrete from one of their Florida plants.
“a lot of grit and DeSantis leadership made miracles happen in Florida.” -Gary Tapperson
Well thanks for that Gary, the only mention of DeSantis’s role in this entire thread.
Oversight, I’m sure, so let me be the one to offer congratulations to Florida’s great Governor on behalf of Sundance for facilitating this little miracle.
Governor DeSantis would also make a great President!
Maybe, but not before Trump goes after what was stolen from him. If Trump throws his hat into the ring for 2024, DeSantis should realize he will likely never inherit the MAGA mantel post-Trump if he challenges PDJT in the primaries.
As DeSantis has shown and delivered, governors can be more powerful than a US president. In fact, the Founding Fathers wanted it to be exactly this way in most everything but a few defined and limited duties ascribed to the federal government. DeSantis (and Kari Lake, once she becomes AZ governor; maybe others?) would be excellent at leading a movement to return to the Founders’ original intent re: the states’ supremacy over the DC swamp, by doing what DeSantis has just done: showing that in darn near everything, it matters most who is in your state’s GOVERNOR’S OFFICE.
i’m cracking up that Pence thinks anyone would consider him as a presidential candidate
shows just how delusional the RINO crowd is
Currently there are 28 R Governors, and 30 R majority State Legislatures.
After the dust settles in Nov. don’t be all focused on CONGRESS, look at how many State Legislatures and Govs are R as the #’s will increase.
Harder to discern with Legislatures, but the important # will be how many are MAGA-R, and that will also increase.
Aggressive Federalism is “massing troops”, and initiation of hostilities is imminent, and its going to be FUN, watching the Fed gov get whittled down in size.
It’s a great hope that the chief resident has reverse coattails enough to lead to a wipeout of that magnitude.
Still, if they manage to maintain even slim majorities for the democrats it will be more of a reflection of their get out the vote efforts. Legal and otherwise.
I will take those victories that we can get and regroup for the next encounters. I do not plan on sitting on my laurels. I will not be satisfied until the democratic party is a footnote in a history book, same as the rest of the Uniparty.
Beautiful Sundance – just beautiful! God, and His timing of natural disasters, has a purpose in this and we can already see it.
Whom knows what all was saved,
when a group of strangers under duress
improvised to counter an unusual event, while traveling aboard flight 93…
without hoopla,
without congressional committee,
without media approval / chatter for weeks,
without red tape,
etc
on a sunny morning 9 11 01, yet dark moment…
the determined words..
‘let’s roll’
and subsequent actions
ended the nefarious mission.
It left a mark in rural Pennsylvania
( not at some undisclosed east coast target…like some other planes did that same morning… )
They, selflessly, helped others…
There is some ‘rolling’ going on in many other places too…
( not for future recognition )
The endeavors to help to make this a better place
than how we found it are many, and there is ample room for others to contribute efforts….
paying it forward..
…for others…
Faith and good works…
James 2:22
Love thy neighbors…
Beautiful piece of work Sundance.
I’ll clean my fingernails later.
I try to make a joyful noise! Thank you Heavenly Father!!!
It’s been a long time since I crossed that Causeway, but I remember just how long it is. Sundance, this is the most inspiring article I have read for many a year, and you are 100% correct. I used to live in Morgantown where those West Virginia shaft drillers came from and have seen some of the equipment they jury-rigged, they were really good. Morgantown has also become a major intersection of Interstates and when disaster strikes you often encounter convoys of power company and other supply vehicles headed into the storm.
As a result of my first “white collar” job, that required a Master’s Degree, involved going into a lot of underground coal mines where the whiteness of your collar is fleeting and witnessing first hand the native creativity of coal miners or perhaps as a result of growing up in the upper Ohio Valley in a bedroom community for steel workers where they were also community leaders along with faculty from the local college I can easily identify as a little gritty and frankly the steel workers and miners were often more practical. The common thread though was I learned early on the American working man is hard working, creative, and intelligent.
I watched, for nearly a half of a year, a group of similarly minded and similarly equipped people either eschewing their work or after a life of such work, peacefully approaching redress of *our* grievances with our government. I watched how little support and attention and acknowledgment they received.
This group, in Florida, fought a battle against nature’s destruction and won. They earned a commensurate salary for such commitment to the task. They are appreciated, remembered, thanked and noticed.
We can do better. I fear, soon, we’ll have a nationwide disaster that makes Hurricane Ian look like a ripple in a toilet bowl and it won’t be nature that dishes it up. I will remember those who tried; who sacrificed, in some cases, their lives to avert the disaster. I hope God is with us in this time of strife.
Tears. God Bless.
I will say for DeSantis that at least he didn’t chum up to Biden like Chris Christie did with Obama after the New Jersey hurricane. That would have been the kiss of death for him.
http://theshinbone.com/bipart1.jpg
I wholeheartedly agree!
Tears of pride for the Americans who are the ones who get er done. We had a construction company for years and I learned rather quickly who I’d want to be with in a time of need – a construction worker, not a lawyer. The parasites have had too much power for too long and I’m just praying that those of us who are the real backbone of the USA put them in their place next month.
Thank you for pointing out the truth about our great country. I was in my early 30’s, working construction, when I lifted too much weight and crushed several disks in my back. I was told by the doc that it would never be right again, and if possible, I should retrain for a less physical job. I did just that. Back to school, my wife divorced me, took the kids, the house, the car, everything. It took several more years to complete because it all came out of pocket. Then I graduated, started working, making good money again. I had about 25 years left to prepare for old age. Paid off my house last year, paid cash for a luxury car for the wife. (Not the snake that bailed). A new diesel one ton and a large RV, again, cash. And some savings. Best I could do. This is the only country in the world where I could have pulled this off. I love this land!
Sundance my good man I read your words, watched the video and listened to that beautiful voice and it literally brought tears to my eyes. I will follow your narrative and honor your words in what I do to the very gates of Hell itself. Stay safe and be well.
The Duke would be ripping ail the current Hollywierd pansies a new one were he still with us.
What an encouraging post, remembering and showcasing American’s caring, can do spirit!
October 16 marked the anniversary of when little 18 month old Jessica McClure was rescued from a well in Midland, Texas.
There, teams worked 58 hours straight to successfully rescue her!
Waiting for the hype video from Newsome for the $1.7 million bathroom in San Fran that won’t be done till 2025.
And our betters are counting on those same roughnecks to pay off student loans for degrees in Social Engineering and Climate Change Studies.
We are Americans and yes we know “how to get shit done” – We will survive this current crazyness and we will get it done, there is no quit and no alternative.
Thank you, Sundance. Inspirational words. I also miss the optimism espoused by minister Robert Jeffress as he appeared frequently on Lou Dobbs and often visited Trump’s White House. There is definitely a vacuum.
Sundance, you get the Vince Lombardi award. What a great halftime pep talk. Gotta keep trucking!! MAGA!!!!!!!
Liberals go nuts when they see the American Flag on any Holiday or celebration and demand it be taken down because it offends the pathetic little snowflakes but have no trouble with Antifa Flags or a UN flag since most all liberals are totally Brainwashed by the NEA
Super Size Please
🙌🏼🫵🏼❤️🇺🇸❤️🫵🏼🙌🏼