PODCAST: On The Blue Line Podcast | MORNING ROLL CALL | Happy Thanksgiving! This week, a cop’s thoughts on Gratitude | Episode 089
On The Blue Line Podcast | MORNING ROLL CALL | Happy Thanksgiving! This week, a cop’s thoughts on Gratitude | Episode 089
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Show Notes from This Episode
The On The Blue Line Podcast and Community has the mission of Empowering Cops in their personal lives and educating the public on the realities of law enforcement. This law enforcement podcast is focused on providing concepts, ideas, and actionable steps that can make a difference in your life. The morning roll call is a weekly monologue show with Wayne Mulder. The Interview Room podcast is an interview style format hosted by Wayne Mulder.
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In this episode:
One take away for the week:
A Thanksgiving themed Morning Roll Call.
o I discuss the origins of the song: ‘One horse open sleigh’/ ‘Jingle Bells.’
o I mention a great article from Wallbuilders that you will want to read. This article discusses the inevitable differences between Jamestown and Plymouth colonies.
LINK: https://wallbuilders.com/a-tale-of-two-cities-jamestown-plymouth-and-the-american-way/
o I talk about the Hezekiah Butterworth Poem, Five Kernels of Corn.”
LINK: http://christianheritagewa.org/wp-content/up/2011/11/five-kernels-of-corn-hezekiah-butterworth.pdf
o I discuss the Fox News Story, “Meet the American who gave the nation our Thanksgiving origin story: Pilgrim Edward Winslow.
LINK: https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/meet-american-gave-nation-thanksgiving-origin-story
o I discuss Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day proclamation from October 1963 and discuss the events of the Civil war surrounding this date.
LINK: https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/thanks.htm
LINK:https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline-death/
o Lastly, I give you four things that I am thankful for and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
RESOURCES:
- Why you shouldn’t say ‘Be Careful.’ Eton House, Jackie Becher. July 28, 2018. https://parenting.etonhouse.edu.sg/why-it-isnt-good-to-tell-children-to-be-careful
- Officer Safety Must Never Become Cliché: Reclaiming what we mean when we say, “Be Safe.” LEXIPOL. Don Weaver. June 02, 2017. https://www.lexipol.com/resources/blog/officer-safety-must-never-become-cliche-reclaiming-what-we-mean-when-we-say-be-safe/
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LINKS:
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TRANSCRIPTION OF EPISODE. Please note this is a new service we are offering and there will be spelling, grammar and accuracy issues. This transcription is offered as a convenience to our listeners, but at this time it is not guaranteed to be accurate.
00:00:13:00 - 00:00:33:17
Wayne Mulder
Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh, over the fields we go... no, no, no, no. I know what you're thinking. First, you're thinking for the love of God, please don't sing. And you're lucky. That's going to be the end of that. But maybe you're also thinking it's not even Thanksgiving. And why are you playing a Christmas song? Well, I'm here to tell you it's not a Christmas song.
00:00:33:17 - 00:00:51:26
Wayne Mulder
I have the evidence. I have the proof. I mean, this isn't like FBI political raids. I mean, I have actual evidence. It's not a Christmas song this week. It's all about Thanksgiving. Let's talk about pilgrims. Let's talk about turkey. Oh, and we'll talk about gratitude. Be sure to stay till the end. And I'll tell you what I'm thankful for.
00:00:51:26 - 00:01:15:11
Wayne Mulder
Morning Roll Call starts now. So welcome, my friend, to this holiday themed version of the On the Blue Line podcast with Wayne Mulder. I'm your host Wayne Mulder. This is the podcast that empowers law enforcement officers by equipping you with tools to find success in all areas of your life. The purpose of this podcast is to educate and importantly to entertain.
00:01:15:26 - 00:01:36:06
Wayne Mulder
This is the 137th episode of the On the Blue Line podcast. This is called Morning Roll Call. Typically, it's just you and I and a monologue show, but this one is obviously themed around Thanksgiving. Our other show, The Interview Room, comes out every Thursday and in there I sit down with someone from all different walks of life. And yes, a new the interview room podcast does come out this Thursday.
00:01:36:15 - 00:01:53:20
Wayne Mulder
So while you're sitting around on Thanksgiving Day, after you've maybe watched a little parade or maybe watched a little football and you've had a little turkey with the family, why not listen to a podcast this week on the show? I'm going to have Adam Hattori, and you're going to enjoy that conversation. Of course, it is all about health and fitness.
00:01:53:20 - 00:02:14:18
Wayne Mulder
So, yeah, you might feel a little guilty after that second serving a pie, but it's still a good podcast and you are going to want to hear what he has to say. Last week in the interview room, I sat down with John Kelly. If you haven't listened to that yet, I've got some great feedback. John is just a straightforward guy and he offers some really good advice that can help all of us.
00:02:14:18 - 00:02:41:03
Wayne Mulder
So that's the interview room. But today on Morning Roll Call, let's get into what I want to talk to you about on this week of Thanksgiving. So first and foremost is the important thing. The elephant in the room that I mentioned at the beginning, that song that we all commonly know as Jingle Bells, it was actually first the one horse open sleigh, and it was written for Thanksgiving.
00:02:41:17 - 00:03:03:06
Wayne Mulder
This is coming to us from The Washington Post. However, Jingle Bells is a classic song, often sung at Christmas time, but it didn't start that way. First published in 1908. Let me rephrase that. First published in 1857, it was written by James Lord Pierpont to be sung on Thanksgiving. There are some questions as to where it was written.
00:03:03:06 - 00:03:27:01
Wayne Mulder
Massachusetts wants to take credit for it. Georgia wants to take credit for it. Both are plausible. Massachusetts is where the sleigh races were popular in the 1800s, and it claims itself as the birthplace of the song. But originally it was one horse open sleigh, but it was changed to Jingle Bells when it was reprinted so I don't know, it just gives you everybody has all these songs for Christmas time.
00:03:27:01 - 00:03:48:05
Wayne Mulder
I think it's good that we have a song that we can enjoy for Thanksgiving all right. Let's get into a few things that I wanted to discuss with you today. I had a couple of different directions that I wanted to go with the podcast. If you first time joining us, I, I like to kind of go through some historical accounts and news stories and kind of blend it all together with something actionable for the week.
00:03:48:24 - 00:04:09:06
Wayne Mulder
If you haven't, I encourage you to go to the show notes. It's on the blue line and go to the show notes. And on there you're going to find an article that I don't have time to get to. It's called A Tale of Two Cities Jamestown, Plymouth and the American Way, and it is from WallBuilders and it is a fascinating story.
00:04:09:06 - 00:04:41:09
Wayne Mulder
So if you're a history buff, if you like to actually know true history, what I really like about this is there's so much false history, false narratives surrounding the founding of the U.S., surrounding people first coming to this country. This really talks about how what the future became for both the Plymouth Colony, which we're going to talk about a little bit this morning in the Jamestown colony, and how those two rooted colonies became almost trees.
00:04:41:09 - 00:05:03:23
Wayne Mulder
Right. They really bared fruit in this country. And the and what that fruit was was very positive. And what became America out of Plymouth and very negative and what actually led to the Civil War out of the Jamestown colony. So I really suggest you look at that article. I'm going to touch on it a little bit or touch on some of the ideas.
00:05:04:02 - 00:05:25:13
Wayne Mulder
But I'm not going to go deep in that day because I really feel I'm supposed to go a different direction. So the first story I want to talk to you about actually came out of Fox News this week. Meet the American Who Gave the Nation Our Thanksgiving origin story. Pilgrim Edward Winslow and it talks about how Mayflower Passenger Edward Winslow was the only pilgrim to record the settlers first year in the new world.
00:05:26:00 - 00:05:39:23
Wayne Mulder
Depending on where you went to school or what you've been taught, maybe you haven't even heard the story. If not, I encourage you to follow the links in the show notes and actually read this entire article because it's really well done and they do a really good job of telling everything. I just want to hit on a couple of highlights.
00:05:40:04 - 00:06:00:20
Wayne Mulder
As you probably know, when the Pilgrims first got here, it was tough, right? They had got here in the winter. They had to go through that first new winter in the fall and then had to go to that first New England winter, which many of them were suffering, they believe, from probably scurvy and pneumonia. And only 52 of 102 people survived that first year in Plymouth.
00:06:02:11 - 00:06:25:29
Wayne Mulder
The Pilgrims ended up meeting the English speaking Somerset and Squanto, who we all have heard of from school. And the Pilgrims began planting spring crops with the help of the natives, and they enjoyed an abundant harvest that autumn. Keep in mind that the natives were also reeling from a really rough couple of years. It according to some estimates.
00:06:25:29 - 00:06:50:07
Wayne Mulder
And if you actually read that article that I was talking about from WallBuilders, it talks about how presumably from European explorers coming over actually in the years before the pilgrims that disease began to actually wipe out a lot of the southern New England native population, and it's estimated that up to 90% of them had been wiped out by disease from 1616 to 1619.
00:06:50:23 - 00:07:12:00
Wayne Mulder
So in that autumn of 1621, the weapon flags as well as the pilgrims had a lot to celebrate. Right. So we know from their writings and this is quoting, we have found the Indians very faithful in their covenant of peace with us. We often go with them and they come to us. Some of us have been 50 miles by the land in the country.
00:07:12:00 - 00:07:35:24
Wayne Mulder
With them we entertain. They're familiarly in our houses and they as friendly, bestowing their venison on us. So we know that they were having this relationship, they were helping each other survive in this land. And then Winslow actually described the first Thanksgiving in 115 words, which is really just a big run on sentence. But I'm going to quote it to you here.
00:07:36:12 - 00:08:00:22
Wayne Mulder
Our harvest being gotten in. Our governor sent four men on following that. So we might after have a special manner. Rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They for in one day killed as much fowl as with a little help beside serve the company almost a week, at which time among our other recreations we exercised our arms.
00:08:00:25 - 00:08:31:04
Wayne Mulder
Many of the Indians coming among us and among the rest their greatest king may associate with with some 90 men whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor and upon the captain and others. So here you get this recollection of this first autumn feast in 1621 that they had what I like his Winslow most prophetically offers a passage that turns the harvest feast into the celebration of Thanksgiving.
00:08:31:14 - 00:08:52:27
Wayne Mulder
And all this is quoting and although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty. I know this is written obviously in an older English and it's a little hard to understand, even with my trying to read it.
00:08:53:00 - 00:09:19:12
Wayne Mulder
What exactly is being said. But we are so far from want. Keep in mind what they went through right that first winter when they got here and they were able to recognize that this harvest that they were celebrating, that would help not only them, but the natives that they had befriended and were working with here in the New World were able to celebrate and survive into the coming year because of what they had had.
00:09:20:16 - 00:09:57:17
Wayne Mulder
So I was going to originally from my family, something we always do about Thanksgiving and it says that it is a New England custom. So maybe if you're from New England, your family has done it as well. But there was a poem written by Hezekiah Butterworth, and in it it was called Five Kernels of Corn. Right. And so what I would do every year for several years around the table is we'd give everyone five kernels of corn on their plate, which was the old custom in that before the turkey is carved, each member of the family is served a mere five kernels of corn, and then after which the inspiring poem is recited.
00:09:57:17 - 00:10:18:01
Wayne Mulder
So then what I would do is I go around, I'd read the poem and it has like these little verses where it repeats itself. Five kernels of corn, five kernels of corn. So the kids or whatever could be all excited and shout that part out as you read the poem and it talks about the first the pilgrims arriving in that first autumn festival or Thanksgiving, what became a Thanksgiving feast?
00:10:19:09 - 00:10:34:25
Wayne Mulder
It's a great poem. If you haven't read it, I suggest you to what we would do then is everyone had five kernels of corn, right? So then we would pass around a little jar and everyone would say something they were thankful for and drop the kernel in and go to the next person and they would say something they were thankful for and drop the kernel in.
00:10:35:03 - 00:10:57:26
Wayne Mulder
And so everyone would have to come up with five things they were thankful for. That's what I was going to talk about and I was going to read you the poem. However, I decided to go back to if you lists, if you've been with me for any length of time and you listen to our Thanksgiving specials years ago, going back to years, maybe three years ago, I talked about Abraham Lincoln and his proclamation of Thanksgiving.
00:10:59:20 - 00:11:21:00
Wayne Mulder
I always go back to that time when it comes to these kind of things, because in many ways I feel like we are there again, right? I feel like we are in the middle of a cold civil war. I don't know how you could argue against that. No matter which side you fall on. I think we can all agree that we are absolutely 100% split on ideals right now.
00:11:21:00 - 00:11:53:18
Wayne Mulder
And thankfully, it's just simply a cold, if you would, civil war or disagreement. That being said, the words that were penned for his Thanksgiving Day proclamation in which was encouraged by a Sarah Josepha Hale and then was written by Secretary of State William Seward. Our as real today as they were then. However, before I read this, what I want to do is I want to take you to I think sometimes we get lost right on historic history and where it came out of and what all was going on at that time.
00:11:53:29 - 00:12:15:07
Wayne Mulder
So this proclamation came out on October 3rd of 1863. You're probably thinking, well, that seems like it was probably in the middle of the Civil War, and that would be accurate. But let me give you some context to what else was happening that year. So it had been two years since the start of the Civil War in July.
00:12:15:08 - 00:12:53:05
Wayne Mulder
July 1st through the third of 1863 was the Battle of Gettysburg, with 51,000 casualties. There was in July 11th of 1863, the first battle of Fort Wagner, with 351 casualties. In July 18th of that same year, the second battle of Fort Wagner with 1689 casualties in September 19th through 20th, was the Battle of Chickamauga, with 34,624 casualties. This proclamation was made on October 3rd, and then in November of that same year was the Battle of Chattanooga.
00:12:53:27 - 00:13:16:07
Wayne Mulder
If it. To put it in context, it would be another one and a half years to before the surrender at Appomattox. So I think it's important to kind of visualize what was going on. Right, how divided this country was in this moment when this proclamation came out. So here's what that says. I'm not going to read the whole thing to you.
00:13:16:07 - 00:13:38:22
Wayne Mulder
I know it's long and I do not want to bore you, but I want us all to understand what Lincoln was writing about or what was what he was saying when he issued this proclamation. The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. So these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they came.
00:13:39:02 - 00:14:02:15
Wayne Mulder
Others have been added, which are so extraordinary in nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart, which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. Then he goes on to describe some of the positive things that are happening, even though they're embroiled in this tragic civil war. No Human Council have devised, nor have any mortal hand worked out these great things.
00:14:02:26 - 00:14:25:14
Wayne Mulder
They are the gracious gifts of the most high God who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, have nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States and those at sea and abroad and so forth.
00:14:25:14 - 00:14:56:08
Wayne Mulder
He goes on to set apart and observe the last Thursday in November, next as a day of Thanksgiving and prays to our beneficial father who dwell within the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the inscriptions justly due to him for such singular deliverance as and blessings, they do also with humble penitence for our national perverse illness and disobedience kind of feels like we're there right for our national perverse ness and disobedience.
00:14:56:08 - 00:15:20:07
Wayne Mulder
Commend to his tender care. All those who have become widows, orphans, mourners suffers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged and fervently implore the interposition of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of this nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union.
00:15:21:06 - 00:15:51:16
Wayne Mulder
I thought as I was sitting there and kind of prepping for what I want to talk about this Thanksgiving, that this last line is really where we should all be at. Right? We should fervently implore the interposition of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of this nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union that is how we survive as a nation.
00:15:53:26 - 00:16:08:25
Wayne Mulder
So I thought for this last section, what I would do is I just wanted to go over a few things that I am thankful for and hopefully they will be helpful to you and just give you some ideas for what you have going on as well. So first, I want to encourage you to give thanks for how good we have it, right.
00:16:09:09 - 00:16:30:24
Wayne Mulder
You know, we often look at how bad things are in this country for law enforcement. Just yesterday I was having a great interview. You're going to hear it here in probably 8 to 10 weeks. That's how far behind I am right now. But great interview with someone who's part of a nationwide police association and just really had some good things to say.
00:16:30:24 - 00:16:54:27
Wayne Mulder
But we were also describing the current events that are going on and what feels kind of like an attack against law enforcement. And, you know, we were talking about that. But then in the same vein, what all what we often forget is how good we have it. Yes, there are problems. Yes, there are things that may get worse if we don't make some changes, if we don't get back to like what Lincoln had talked about in his proclamation for Thanksgiving.
00:16:55:09 - 00:17:18:15
Wayne Mulder
However, in the meantime, we're very fortunate to be in this country. We have a lot of support from a lot of citizens. We have a lot of good officers. We don't have some of the rampant corruption. There may be some pockets here and there of different things that we know on a national scale. But overall, we don't have the rampant corruption and stuff that you see in other countries.
00:17:19:01 - 00:17:50:15
Wayne Mulder
You know, Steve de CES show that I enjoy listening to. He has no idea who I am. In fact, he would be like, I don't know what a wing Mulder even is a phrase he says a lot about different people that he's never heard of. But Steve Davis is a show that I really enjoy. It's on The Blaze Network and he was just talking about this on Friday, too, because he's often talking about, you know, how bad things are, which they are, and how strong the spirit of the age seems, which it is becoming, and the darkness that seems to, in a lot of ways be taking over this country.
00:17:50:15 - 00:18:11:13
Wayne Mulder
But even with all that, we have so much to be thankful for and so on this Thanksgiving, I think it's important that we remember that. I think we remember that we can still enjoy things like football. We can still, you know, have these conversations. We can still speak freely and all these different things that a lot of countries, a lot of people don't have.
00:18:11:22 - 00:18:31:19
Wayne Mulder
And that, sadly, in some ways are on the ropes. But for now, we have them and we need to be thankful for them. The other thing that I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving is my friends and family. And I know that that is, you know, something everybody says, but it's true. We dealt with a lot of loss. Yes. Last year a little bit.
00:18:31:19 - 00:19:03:08
Wayne Mulder
And family and a little and some friends. And I'm thankful for the relationships, for the people that I've been able to to keep the relationships going with and then the people and my family and so forth that are there and that I can often speak to and see on occasion. And I think sometimes we get so busy in this modern society that we forget that we have a lot of really good things going on around us, but we get so zeroed in.
00:19:03:08 - 00:19:29:05
Wayne Mulder
I know I do. And if I do, it's possible you do. You know, I get zeroed in on this podcast, I get zeroed in on the things I work and other things that I'm trying to do. And sometimes I lose sight of, you know, you kind of lose the forest for the trees, if you would. So I think it's important to step back and see the great things that we have, be friends, be it family, be it a combination of both.
00:19:29:17 - 00:19:51:01
Wayne Mulder
The third thing that I want to say that I'm thankful for, next week I am headed to Colorado and I'm thankful for the opportunities that that's going to be primarily a vacation. But there's been a lot of opportunities that I've been given and it's predominantly due to this podcast and to this medium of being able to meet some great people from around this country.
00:19:51:01 - 00:20:12:14
Wayne Mulder
So that truly has been a blessing in the relationships that I've been able to foster through. The podcast has been wonderful as well, so that's something I'm definitely thankful for too, that in the next we will be putting out consistent episodes. While I am gone. However, the morning roll calls will just be evergreen content, but I hope you find them useful.
00:20:12:23 - 00:20:40:07
Wayne Mulder
And then I will be back with probably some stories from the West here in two weeks when I get back. And then lastly, and I mean this with all seriousness and I know it's trite, but I'm thankful for you as our listener reach is growing. I couldn't have the opportunity to do this and I wouldn't have the possibility of this becoming something if it wasn't for you, the listener tuning in and either watching this or listening to this.
00:20:40:17 - 00:20:59:17
Wayne Mulder
And none of this is possible without you. I mean, like I've said before, I could sit here and talk to myself, but that doesn't get us anywhere as far as support and as far as growth and as far as this thing actually becoming a business and allowing us to do a lot of good things for officers across this nation.
00:20:59:17 - 00:21:22:13
Wayne Mulder
So I really want to say thank you for to each and every one of you that listen, this last week, we've had some great numbers. I'm going to talk more about that coming up. But we have definitely been seeing some really good things. And it's 100% due to listeners like you. So thank you so much. So I sincerely want to wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving.
00:21:22:18 - 00:21:37:15
Wayne Mulder
That does it for this week's morning Roll Call. I'll see you Thursday in the interview room. But in the meantime, I'm going to see you out there on the blue line.