Epic Beckfest, Restoring Love, Wraps Up in Dallas with Music Concert, History Lesson and Serve-Your-Neighbor Call to Action; but no Chalkboards.
Did anybody see the epic Beckfest known as Restoring Love this weekend in Dallas? Business Insider has pictures. National Conservative Radio Host Glenn Beck wrapped up his three-part series with a history lesson, music concert, performance and monumental serve-your-neighbor call to action, with just a hint of what is to come in the future. Absent from the event was Beck’s renowned chalkboards. Oh well.
This event, Restoring Love, was billed as the final installment of the trilogy that began with Beck’s Restoring Honor in Washington D.C. and continued with Restoring Courage in Jerusalem, (the capital of Israel.) Knowing Beck, it was going to be big. He worried aloud for months on whether or not he was going to fill the ginormous stadium he was renting, but not only managed, but sold out two other events as well, the Freedomworks Free Pac and the Women’s Conference as well.
What struck me was not the enormity of the event. Beck, like Sarah Palin, always garners huge crowds. So many showed up ready not to just be entertained and inspired, but to help. Beck boasted Saturday that thousands showed up to participate in service training and stuffed semi-trucks bound for eleven US cities to help the poor. These trucks were filled to the brim with food and clothing meant to help needy families and the volunteers who showed up at Restoring Love were responsible for filling those trucks with their labor and donations.
On Saturday Beck deliberately pokes President Barack Obama and other leftist politicians square in the eye with the admonition that Americans don’t need permission to help their neighbor and won’t be stopped, referring to municipal governments around the country that have actually blocked charities from helping the poor.
Beck also alluded that this event, though big, is not the end of service. Every day from now on is an opportunity to build on what was begun. Beck also hinted at an event and partnership with Freedomworks coming up in Ohio in the very near future.
Those who missed the Restoring Love event can view some of the speeches at The Daily Beck You Tube site where the creator has posted many of Glenn’s past programs, including speeches this weekend. Some of the most pivotal are the comments from dynamic speakers like C.L. Bryant, whose movie Runaway Slave comes out in theaters very shortly. Dana Loesch gave a moving speech as did Deneen Borelli, John Fund, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Rand Paul. The cast was diverse which should raise the ire of pc cops who continually unfairly call Beck a racist.
I especially enjoyed Beck’s use of props, though sadly, the chalkboards were absent. Lincoln’s writing desk, John Wilkes Booth’s handwritten manifesto, an original painting of George Washington praying, the Liberty Bell, a $2 million baseball card. All of these showed the incredible greatness of America as well as our scars. Moments of history both good and bad propelled us into The Now and shapes our future. It is our turn to make a legacy for those who come after us.
As noticeably absent as the chalkboards was any commentary on the MSM about the Beckstock. What media there was seemed to comment on the negative, like the Westboro Baptist Church cook-heads who showed up outside to protest “Love”. Fox News in Dallas wrote a paragraph or two about the Westboro cooks with no analysis and left it at that. Unfortunately for us, or fortunately as your perspective dictates, there are some good analysis from a blog called Rip and Reader, which is sourced heavily in Glenn Beck’s own Internet Publication, The Blaze.
Rip and Reader includes quotes from Westburo which I find interesting. They claim that Beck is a false prophet who has stated his hate for God, to which I say, “show me the money? Show me the proof!”
I think a lot of Beck haters despise his rather unique version of American Religion and his Mormonism. I’ve researched Mormonism and I don’t agree with their theology, I’ll say that right now. But Beck has never made pronouncements on the deeper theological points of Mormonism that separate them from other Christian denominations. Beck’s version of American Religion seems shaped by values we all can share; faith, family, service, patriotism. I’ve not once heard Beck say anything against faith or God.
Whether or not you are a person of faith or not, whether or not you find yourself on the political left, right or middle, the Beckorama event poses some interesting questions that may have interesting diverse individual answers. Where do we as a nation go from here? Beck says, are you going to be a person who pushes ahead and does good, or are you one who embraces anger and stays on the couch, (paraphrase)?
Beck bemoans the fact that one of his mentors, a spiritual mentor for the country really, Billy Graham, could not attend. While that would have been nice to see Mr. Graham, I don’t think the event could have been much improved upon. After all, it wasn’t about one man and a personality, it was about us as Americans and the world wide Freedom Movement.
What’s next?
