Most blogs are clearly identifiable as political, nostalgic, religious; or theme-based. Fishing, cars, history, military, or whatever.
We are not. We are like a smorgasbord: you can pick and choose according to your taste. .
One day, it will be a post about the upcoming election in Australia, or the mid terms in America. It then becomes a site that is tripping down memory lane or recollecting the construction of a bridge or a memory of a fishing trip gone wrong.
We are a smorgasbord site, and, as Mr Gormsby used to say, " there is nothing wrong with that. "
The name patriotrealm was inspired by my late father's real initials. PR. A man of good morality, decency, and an abundance of commonsense.
He was a man of spirituality, hard work, and an all round good guy. We thought and thought about what to call our site and finally came up with patriotrealm.
A patriot is a person who loves his or her country. So there was a tick in that box. A realm is a place.
So patriotrealm became the name because it was a place for patriots to gather and have a yarn about the past the present and the future.
No more, no less.
Of course, over the years, things changed,
Dad and his mates got older.
When my Dad used to go to his meetings at the RSL ( I guess the equivalent of a Veteran's group for my American friends ) they didn't just talk about the war.
They talked about their wives, their children, grandchildren and pesky neighbours.
They talked about their favourite food, the movie they watched the night before and the fact that they couldn't eat blue cheese anymore because it gave them gout.
The music they listened to.
They talked about the fish that got away, the career that they loved and the time that they marched to war and things went wrong but they still kept their mates close by.
Their conversations would turn to politics - both local and overseas. They bitched and moaned about the way things were going wrong and how they would change things if they were younger.
Sometimes ( well quite often actually ) their minds would turn to such important things as who had the flu, who was getting the flu shot, and why or why not they made that decision. More often than not it was because their wives had told them to do whatever and they did as they were told to preserve the " peace love and harmony " that they enjoyed. After all, their wives had been their mates for many years and " she who must be obeyed " still cooked a very fine roast dinner every Sunday.
No point in rocking the boat.
They often shared each other's " war " experiences while they were on the operating table - proudly showing their scars from the recent hip replacement or some other " horrific " injury like an ingrown toenail - - thank goodness for their wives or " mates " who made sure that they were clipped and that those socks and shoes were popped on and all was good in the world. The same Mates that male or female, helped out their wounded mate and did their best to maintain dignity in trying times.
The fast car that they tinkered with had become part of their past and the present was the critique of the latest mobility scooter: 3 wheels or 4? How long did the battery last? And why do you have to register your mobility scooter when some bloody young bloke dressed in lycra could ride his bike on the road and not register his pushbike? And what about the kids on their e- bikes?
So I suppose my point is that patriots can be young. They can be old. They can be male, female, American, Australian, Russian, Ukrainian but the language is always the same. People who love their countries and love their families and ways of life.
Maybe, and I didn't realise it until today, I wanted to create a gathering place for patriots to have a chinwag and a yarn, a chat, and a debate with like-minded people.
Dad has been gone for some time now. But I like to keep his memory alive.
People like Happy Expat and Flysa have helped along the way.
Redhead chips in every now and again and guest posters share their stories, views, and knowledge.
Malcolm brings his recollections and wisdom.
This morning, I read a very wonderful essay from a young 12 year old boy who was asked to compose an essay with the subject " What matters? "
In his youthful wisdom, he concluded that time is what matters and that how we spend our time is what matters most.
Sure, we can spend our time constantly moaning and groaning about what our governments are doing. We can show off our scars and commiserate with each other because we have the flu or covid or whatever name we like to give it.
But the bottom line is that we need to invest our time wisely.
And, to me, I like the fact that we here, at patriotrealm have chosen to invest our time in the past, the present and the future.
The future cannot exist without the past and the present is how we use the knowledge that we have. Perhaps to make the future a better place.
And that is by talking about all sorts of things. The good, the bad and the ugly.
But always remembering that time is finite and we should use it wisely.
Because we must not forget. Maybe that is what patriotrealm is all about?
Sometimes we get distracted by too much choice.
Personally, I think that there is nothing like too much choice.
Enjoy and embrace the fact that patriotrealm is a meal you can pick and choose and a place to sit down and eat with friends.
And there is nothing wrong with that.
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