The Prayer At Valley Forge

Most of you have seen the thought provoking picture of George Washington as he knelt in prayer near Valley Forge, painted by Arnold Friberg. There is a website where you can obtain a signed and numbered copy for the nominal fee of only $ 1249.00 ( at that price, is it Washington’s signature or Friberg’s); but that’s not why I’m writing today, I saw a short article from Cerberus (linked via title bar), “Most U.S. troops will leave Iraq within a year because the Army is "broken, worn out" and "living hand to mouth," Rep. John Murtha told a civic group.”

Maybe John Murtha has given up, maybe his backbone has turned to jelly, maybe he has forgotten that courage overcomes many setbacks and hardships; maybe John Murtha should hide his shame and stay away from public forums. He certainly needs to understand what it means to be representative of Americans, not some whiney wimpy mass of putrid vomit who goes around spreading doom and gloom. Sit down and shut up; you make me sick John Murtha! Read Arnold Friberg’s account of George Washington at Valley Forge:

“It was in desperation that he wrote to the governor of New Jersey, "Our sick naked, our well naked, our unfortunate men in captivity naked!" With his own countrymen indifferent to their condition, where else could he turn but to God?

It should be plain to anyone that this is a symbolic picture, rather than a historically recorded event. The well known American legend is without documentation. But from Washington's own words there can be no doubt of his deep and humble dependence upon whom he chose to call "that all wise and powerful Being on whom alone our success depends."

It is my hope that coming through this picture will once again whisper the spirit of Valley Forge, of suffering and devotion and pain, of liberty, and of the hand of God in the affairs of men."”