We have never been to Paris, France. We have never seen the Notre Dame cathedral, which had been a Paris landmark for 800 years.

Now, we’ll never be able to see the Christian treasure as it was built in the 13th century.

We probably never would have seen it but we still feel a sense of loss. Notre Dame survived two world wars but it went up in flames Monday, the third Christian church to have burned in Paris in the last few months.

The first two churches to burn were definitely the result of arson.

Workers attempted to salvage priceless paintings, portraits and holy relics Monday as the cathedral burned, reported Kate McKenna, a communications consultant based in Paris.

How this fire began was still undetermined as of Tuesday. How did this happen? she asks.

How did two hours of blaze reduce so much of 800 years of work to ash?

In mid-March, a similar scene played out in Saint Sulpice, in the sixth arrondissement (district) of Paris.

This fire was a criminal act. Another attack occurred on the Basilica of Saint Denis.

Located in the north part of Paris, this basilica houses the tombs of many kings and queens of France, which were violated and destroyed, along with the organ.

This also was a criminal act.

In fact, in 2017 alone the French government recorded 887 attacks on Christian artifacts or churches.

McKenna wrote: “These churches serve great purpose—for the faithful, of course, but also as a reminder of France’s heritage. In Paris, like in so many places in France, every turn of a corner is a run-in with history.

“No revisionist professor or politician ever can erase those heavy thick walls that declare France’s inheritance and past.   

“The French are known for their stubbornness and patriotic pride. I hope they will be able to activate it to the fullest to rebuild, restore, and protect. Vive la France.”

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How fortunate we are to live in America. This makes us realize the importance of building a wall and making some sensible adjustments to our immigration policy? Obama-appointed federal judges continue to issue rulings to prevent protecting our borders.

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Most great countries fall from within – Rome and Greece before that. Many Americans feel concern about the future of their nation today as leftists attempt to take advantage of the naivete´ of the nation’s youth while deceptively taking actions to bring in hordes of foreigners to outvote native-born residents to bring about a coup at the ballot box.

The left knows that born-and-bred Americans will never give them their way.

Nothing is permanent in politics and the Left is hoping that its continued whining about President Trump can confuse enough Americans to give it government control in 2020.

Leftists seems to believe if they will obstruct the current president enough they can make normal people so disgusted with the status quo that they will vote for anything for a change.

David Walker comptroller general of the U.S. from 1998 to 2008 gave a bleak assessment of the nation’s prospects in 2007.

America, he claimed, was afflicted by precisely the problems that he saw as responsible for the collapse of Rome – “declining moral values and political civility at home, an overconfident and overextended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government.”

American self-confidence has clawed back at least some of its lost ground since then but there is still a “deep state” determined to prevent a duly elected president from succeeding.

The U.S. has a Senate and a capitol, just like Rome did. However, the U.S. had a different beginning than Rome  – Christianity and its moral code.

Rome was founded on rank military power, pounding its opponents into oblivion.

The U.S. education bloc, entertainment sector and national media have done their best to undo the morality of American society.

Today’s youth have been raised to believe everything is easy, except maybe deciding what to wear while standing in front of closets stuffed with clothes.

Secular humanism has been stuffed into their eardrums so that they think there is no God and no rules of behavior.

However, we have read polls recently showing that the millennials are returning to conservativism.

Shh, let’s keep it a secret – common sense may see a rebirth.

“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6) apparently is a passage that remains accurate.

Perhaps a reminder from Cyrus, the Persian king to his people is in order.

The Persians having conquered a great empire wanted to move from the rugged mountains to a richer land.

Cyrus forbade it, commenting: “Soft lands breed soft men.”

The siren call of “free stuff” from the left is all designed to lure people from a society of self-support and independence to government dependence.

Perhaps we should remember the warning of John Dalberg Acton, lst Baron Acton, in England, who reminded: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Think socialism and its fellow traveler communism.

He also said great men are almost always bad men.

Make of that what you will.

A Few Personal Notes

We have been delighted lately to visit several people we haven’t seen in a while, including Jo Edge, former owner and operator of “The Clothes Horse,” women’s apparel store in Kingfisher. She is sprightly, sharp and going strong at age 90.

“Can you believe that?” she said after divulging her age. We can’t.

We visited Calvin Reasoner of Cashion while shopping. He’s still operating his propane route at age 77.

Larry Heald of Okarche dropped by the office and reports he is feeling good after heart surgery. Larry is known to many Kingfisher residents through his former service at the Kingfisher Post Office.

Kermit Kuelzer, a recent visitor, came across the abstract on the family farm and noticed its 1901 filing date by his grandparents. He recalls that a photo of those ancestors appears in one of the Times and Free Press historical editions.

Kermit is one of Kingfisher Rotary Club’s oldest active members at age 89. He seldom misses a meeting.