November 11th, 2009

As of two day ago, there’s more than a good chance I’ll get to take a look at some of Elizabeth Custer’s personal letters – letters few others have seen before. That will enhance the book I’m working on about her life as I’d like to include information that isn’t common knowledge. I don’t know what the weather is like in Montana in February, but that’s where I’ll be heading to learn more about this fascinating woman. My excitement over that possibility is mixed with the frustration and bitterness I feel over a judge in Austin, Texas pouring over my website looking for information about my brother. I know this judge is related to the low-life my brother was married to and her accomplice that helped fabricate the most deadliest of all accusations. I’m perplexed by their continued interest in Rick and my family. They never make any contact with me, but I can see them poking around like rats. From 9:30 yesterday morning to 11:10 a.m. they nosed around my site. Sometimes I wish I didn’t know what I do. Today is Veteran’s Day. My grandfather, father, nephew, and my brother Rick are all veterans and I’m proud and grateful for their contribution. On this day I’m reminded of something the stoic philosopher Epictetus once wrote. Frederick the Great carried a copy of this book on all his campaigns. So did Vietnam POW Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale. It was referred to as a ?field manual for soldiers.’ Some of it reads as follows: “The essence of good and evil lies in an attitude of the will. There are things which are within your power, and there are things which are beyond your power. Within your power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion; in a word, whatever affairs are your own. Beyond your power are body, property, reputation, office; in a word, affairs not properly your own. Concern yourself only with what is within your power. The essence of good consists of things within your own power; with them there is no room for envy or emulation. For your part, do not desire to be a general, or a senator or a consul, but to be free; and the only way to do this is a disregard of things which do not lie within your own power.” Now there’s a lesson to live by.