Hi there. You are listening to the Perio Patient Podcast, a podcast for my patients and anyone else who cares to listen. Dr. Ben Young here, a private practicing periodontist in the great city of San Antonio, in the great state of Texas. The title of this podcast is “An Honor to Serve.”
Welcome if this is your first time listening. Otherwise, welcome back.
Before I get to the main content of this post – some of my thoughts and concerns just before this Memorial Day Weekend 2021, I want to say something about the management of periodontal disease and so I have decided to talk briefly about toothbrushes.
First of all, many people hope they can self-treat gum disease. What ends up happening, however, is they cause more problems because now, on top of the inflammatory situation resulting in bone loss, they are injuring the soft tissues and even the teeth when they over-work it. You can overwork brushing by the wrong selection of a toothbrush. The best one I have found has been through Amazon and it consists of 20,000 bristles – now I didn’t personally count them, but I can tell you there are a lot of bristles. This results in them being able to be extremely soft – so they don’t damage the gums and yet they work together creating the feeling of a cushioning foam capable of disrupting the plaque or biofilm containing the bacteria that are at the center of the problems with both tooth decay and periodontal disease. And because there are so many bristles, the overall life of the brush is very good – they don’t weaken or fray out as I expected when started brushing with them. No I do not get anything from recommending these brushes, so this is not a paid ad or anything like that but I pass it on to you because I believe this particular brush is outstanding. Certainly there may be others out there just as good, but so far I haven’t come across them. Here is how you can search for this brush. First it’s name is Vegols – VEGOLS – Think eagles with a V. But if you can’t remember the name, type in Amazon, Adult extra soft toothbrush – it should pop up. So there’s my dental tip.
Now if you have listened to enough of my podcasts you know that I believe we should be connecting, not just within the narrow world of dentistry, but in the broader world of life itself – and that in fact, I justify doing so, at least to myself, that when we are loving life or living meaningful lives, then it is easier to want to take care of ourselves. Is it a stretch? Frankly, I think compartmentalizing life and thinking this is a normal way of operating is more the stretch. But we certainly run some risks in opening up and talking about other things – or revealing more of how we think – on podcasts and other social platforms – especially today when we are very aware of the destructive nature of the cancel culture. I just happen to think those attempting to create fear and divide people are smaller in number than those who live in community and have the maturity to understand that we are healthier as a society when we allow people to speak their minds and come to their own conclusions.
So here is what I will be doing for the rest of this podcast. I want to share with you some concerns I have about the current culture of the military – a culture I lived within first in the reserves while in dental school and then on active duty for twenty years. And I want to end talking about Abraham Lincoln and reading his last major speech. And I will show you how his words are important to the issues we are facing today.
Let’s go. When it comes to my faith in God the operative word is “humility” because the way I understand the gospel or good news about Jesus Christ, he paid the price for me. All I can do is accept it and be grateful. Certainly, true gratitude spills over into life, but any resulting actions from me do not displace the fact that salvation is a complete gift I must either humbly accept or pridefully reject.
When it came to my opportunity to serve in the military armed forces of the United States the operative word is “honor.”
I was fortunate to be born a citizen of the greatest country in the history of the world, not because the people here are better than others because they are not, but because the founding documents upon which the nation was formed and is governed are profoundly important.
Why?
Because they provide the opportunity to live in freedom from the tyranny of a ruling class – and what protects these documents, namely the Declaration of Independence which justifies our existence to all other world powers and the United States Constitution, which spells out our rights as citizens and the limits as well as responsibilities of government.
You see, liberty always comes with a price. Freedom is never free. It requires the sacrifice of a brave few willing to stand between it and chaos. This describes the fundamental purpose of the United States military.
Every member of our military swears an oath, not to the president, not to Congress, not to the Supreme Court, not to the United Nations, but to the Constitution to protect it from all enemies both foreign and domestic. Beyond their oath is also their continuous trained discipline into a military culture intended to align them with spirit of earlier generations of patriots who sacrificed everything for this country they loved enough to die for. Therefore, I thoroughly believe it has been one of my greatest honors to serve. And let me also add that when one retires our heartfelt oath to this nation and its founding documents does not disappear.
Recently I have come to learn that our military is under attack from within by a Marxist ideology intended to supplant the founding documents. An excellent book I am in the middle of that describes this is entitled, Irresistible Revolution, subtitled Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military by active-duty Lt Col Matthew Lohmeier. And to press home how relevant his words are, he has just been relieved of duty within Space Force for cause – meaning his publication of this information was not appreciated by those in leadership above him. I’m not worried about Lt Col Lohmeier’s career whether it will continue in or out of the military because he is sounding an alarm similar to the one pronounced by 120 retired admirals and generals in an open letter to the current administration published about a week ago. I think things will get sorted out in time.
Here in a nutshell is Lt Col Lohmeier’s warning.
Instead of the belief that every American regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation – or anything else – is endowed by their Creator, not the government or elite government officials, with certain inalienable rights to include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, a competing ideology which is old Marxism dressed up to look new, has become required indoctrination through Critical Race Theory to teach that our founding documents are racist. Understand the subversive strategy of extreme left in the country is to sow division within the ranks, to weaken the chain of command which is vital to the giving and executing of lawful orders, especially in times of war.
Now just because I am learning about this security threat does not mean it hasn’t existed for some time as Lohmeier explains. What appears to be different or to have brought this risk to a point of true threat is the current instability of all the rest of our government and private institutions.
Fortunately, we have two more – even stronger lines of defense still on our side. First is the American people along with freedom loving people all over the world who are waking up and becoming more engaged with events. We are beginning to reconnect locally with those around us which directly opposes this tactic to divide Americans into aggrieved groups. Also, as we learn new things like I have just now, we are sharing rather than remaining silent. So that’s one of our lines of defense – common people, citizens of this country and others who understand and love liberty. But our ultimate or last line of defense, I believe, is God not because he is on our side but because we are on his, the side is of truth and justice. You see there is a link between God and government and our government was established to protect the people’s rights given by God.
Probably the biggest reason our society falls for things like Marxism masquerading as Critical Race Theory and Social Justice is due to what we were and were not taught in school.
So, as my last contribution to this Memorial Day, let me read to you Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address. It was given on March 4, 1865. Plant that date in your head because I am going to give you two more. March 4, 1865. The next two dates come the following month. The month of April. The civil war ended one month and five days later from this second inaugural address on April 9, 1865. And five days after that on April 14, Lincoln was assassinated. Talk about upheaval.
Incidentally, it’s words along with the Gettysburg Address are etched on the inside wall of the Lincoln Memorial.
But first, because this address was given one hundred fifty-six years ago, let me prepare you by providing some context.
First, the first inauguration address was on March 4, 1861. Four years to the day earlier. The beginning of the civil war is dated as April 12, 1861 with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumpter. A new president assumes office and all hell breaks loose. Lincoln quotes three bible verses. Let me read them so when you hear them in the address you will understand he is quoting. Back then, the bible literacy of the public was much higher than it is today, which is why he doesn’t have to tell them where these passages come from or what they mean.
The first passage comes from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:1
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
The second passage is Matthew 18:7 and Jesus is speaking.
Woe unto the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come; but woe to the man by whom the offence cometh.
Woe unto the world – it’s sad for the world because of offences – crimes and wrong doings.
For it must needs be that offences come – crime, wrong doings, have to come according to Jesus – but woe – its sad for, not good for – the man by whom the offence cometh – in other words, who commits the crime.
The third passage is from Psalm 19 the second half of verse 9. What Lincoln quotes is,
“The judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
This phrase is taken from a larger passage about the law of the Lord – this would
include the Ten Commandments, for example and it goes like this:
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The statues of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
Transcript of President Abraham Lincolns Second Inaugural Address (1865) www.ourdocuments.gov
Fellow Countrymen
At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention, and engrosses the energies of the nation,
little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil-war. All dreaded it — all sought to avert it. While the inaugeral address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war — seeking to dissole the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.
One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern half part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said f[our] three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether”
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to achieve and cherish a lasting peace among ourselves and with the world. to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with the world. all nations.
[Endorsed by Lincoln:]
Original manuscript of second Inaugural presented to Major John Hay.
A. Lincoln
April 10, 1865
To me, Lincoln is the opposite of Cancel Culture. Rather than dividing the nation, he sought, at its darkest time, to bind its wounds.
That’s it. Let me know what you think.
This has been the Perio Patient Podcast and I am still Dr. Ben Young. If you like this podcast, feel free to like and share. Also, if you have questions, don’t hesitate to drop me a line. Thanks for listening. I’ll post again soon. Bye for now.
