Maria Shriver’s Father Passes Away

Sargent Shriver Peace Corps Founder, Maria Shriver’s Father Passes Away

R. Sargent Shriver has died. Shriver was responsible for starting the U.S. Peace Corps and was passionate public servant was 95 years old.

He had suffered for years from Alzheimer’s disease. Shriver is the father of Maria Shriver and father-in-law to Arnold Schwarzenegger, as the governor of California.

According to CNN, the Shriver family released a statement saying Shriver died Tuesday “surrounded by his five children, five children in-law, and his 19 grandchildren.”

The family statement to the media went on to say that Shriver “lived to make the world a more joyful, faithful, and compassionate place. He worked on stages both large and small but in the end, he will be best known for his love of others. No one ever came into his presence without feeling his passion and his enthusiasm for them.”

In 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded R. Sargent Shriver the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Ronald Reagan honored his wife, Eunice Shriver, with the same award in 1984. According to the New York Times, The Shrivers “were the only husband and wife to win the nation’s highest civilian honor individually.

In 2003, Shriver discovered he had Alzheimer’s disease but he attended the inauguration of his son-in-law, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as the Republican governor of California. But as his condition grew worse, he withdrew from the public eye.

President Obama said he was “deeply saddened” over the death of Shriver, and the President called Shriver “one of the brightest lights of the greatest generation.”

Rodney King Will we ever live in peace?

Volatility carried over from a supercharged November election and propagated by the media’s blame-game coverage of the recent Tucson shootings have left America searching for answers to unlikely philosopher Rodney King’s 19-year-old question, “Can we all just get along?” While I consider myself an eternal optimist, I doubt that day will ever come, at least not here on earth.
In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, the man we honor with today’s national holiday addressed that same issue 47 years ago, stating, “Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace.”
So how do we do that?
Last night I read the brilliant “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April, 1961, outlining problems segregation and racism caused America and her African-American population at that time.
Dr. King aptly likened himself to the Apostle Paul who “left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world,” and said, “So am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.”
Both wrote great epistles of truth and encouragements for any to read and put into practice.
Dr. King’s letter addresses many issues, but his assertion that “one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws” got me thinking about my question.
He quotes the biblical account of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and notes that they answered to the higher, moral law of God and were willing to face death than follow Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar’s law that all bow before him.
So who determines whether a law is just or unjust?
I acknowledge that we must be a nation of laws, otherwise anarchy will reign supreme (and I truly believe that consequence is on the horizon!). But how do we find resolve when there are so many polarizing issues facing the masses today?
The best example I can give is one I’ve broached many times: abortion. There are women who will go to their deaths defending their right to be able to terminate the life of another growing inside them, while I, on the other hand, would consider going to jail before agreeing to allow 1 cent of my tax dollars to be used to fund such infanticide.
So how do we resolve this issue ... as well as many other hot-button issues waiting for answers?
Dr. King used historical references — such as Hitler exterminating Jews — to point out that just because something is legal, it doesn’t make it right.
Dr. King’s masterpiece answered an open letter from Birmingham clergymen who charged that he was encouraging his people to break the law; Dr. King countered that any law not morally sound was no law at all and that his people would continue to do whatever necessary — preferably non-violently — in order to stand up for what is right.
Thanks to Dr. King, great progress has been made regarding racism and segregation in America. Unfortunately, I see no light at tunnel’s end regarding other issues that divide us today.