He ordered his eldest son, his nephew, and his second wife put to death. He tortured, murdered and imprisoned anyone, including cousins and former friends, known or suspected of being political rivals. He issued an edict on religious freedom for all in his dominions yet dismantled temples and looted their treasuries. He proclaimed himself a follower of the Prince of Peace, yet his path to undisputed power was littered with battles, great and small.

He was called Constantine the Great, and for centuries historians and church leaders have been divided as to the motives for his embrace and eventual conversion to Christianity. Theories on why Constantine abandoned the Roman pantheon of gods have ranged from conspiracy with bishops inside the nascent Christian community to guilt over the murder of his son. But there is agreement that this ruthless empire builder of late antiquity was the single most influential force in the spread of the faith. Through a twist of fate, this ruler who warred and willed the Roman Empire back together, laid the groundwork for the rise of Christendom.

A Vision and A Bridge

Though the story handed down has been deemed truth by some and legend by others, there is general agreement that Constantine attributed the defeat of Maxentius, ruler of Rome, to an experience directed by the Christian God. The legend goes that on the eve of a battle near the Miluvian Bridge on the Tiber River near Rome, Constantine saw a cross of light in the sky above the sun. Around the cross appeared the words, ‘In hoc signo vinces,’ which means, “By this, conquer.” That night, Christ appeared to him in a dream and urged him to make a copy of what he’d seen. The next morning Constantine summoned a goldsmith and had a large cross-fashioned to carry into the fight against Maxentius.

Despite his troops being outnumbered, Constantine prevailed that day. While retreating across the bridge, Maxentius and hundreds of his troops were plunged into the swirling currents of the Tiber when the structure collapsed. They swiftly sank to the bottom dragged down by the weight of their armor. Thus began Constantine’s alliance with Christianity though he would not formally convert until he was on his deathbed 25 years later.

A Savvy Strategy

Considered a minor religion, Christians comprised less than ten percent of the population subject to Constantine’s rule. Realizing that forced conversion would be impractical, the strategy employed by the sovereign to promote the marginal practice included such ploys as exempting clergy from taxes, stripping pagan temples of their costly furnishings, and ornaments, banning blood sacrifices and statues of the emperor, and incorporating Christian symbols into the public spaces and architecture of his new capital city, Constantinople. He wrote an open letter to the people of Palestine, and embedded the sign of the cross in the equipment and arms used by his troops. Constantine made it clear that Christianity was his religion of choice.

Lasting Impact

By the time of his death in 337 A.D., Constantine the Great had bishops as a trusted part of the imperial entourage and Christian language, symbols and rituals became part of the vocabulary of imperial power. A mere forty years earlier, Roman authorities had launched a systematic assault to suppress Christianity. It was a time referred to by members of that community as the “Great Persecution.”

There is little dispute among modern historians and religious scholars that without the financial subsidies and generous support of Constantine, Christianity would have remained a minor faith practice on the fringes of the Mediterranean world. It was the Emperor’s assistance that marked a fundamental turning point in the destiny of the Christian church and the European state. The world would never be the same.

Perhaps Leonardo Da Vinci said it best, “Once you have flown, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you long to return.” Certainly that lyrical sentiment was true for the two men who celebrate a record setting, 25th anniversary this July.

In 1987, Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand became the first men to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon. Their historic flight covered a distance of 3,075 miles, from Maine to Ireland, in just 31 hours and 41 minutes. The crossing was only slightly marred with a less than elegant ending. Both men had to be pulled from the North Channel, that body of water separating Northern Ireland from Scotland, by the Royal Navy.

Underway

Named the Virgin Atlantic Flyer, the balloon, or “envelope” as it’s known in the business, was a silver and black behemoth that billowed to the height of a 22-story building when fully inflated. Lindstrand, a Swedish-born aviator, aeronautical engineer, and owner of Lindstrand Technologies, designed and built the Flyer at his factory in Oswestry, England.

Lindstrand’s concept of the flight was simple–go high and fast by maneuvering the balloon into the jet stream. He and Branson along with their requisite gear would be housed in a pressurized aluminum capsule surrounded by propane fuel tanks to feed the burners. During the day the balloon would be kept aloft by the sun’s heat at night, the burners would take over.

Early on the morning of July 2nd, the balloon lifted off from its “Sugar Loaf” launch site in Maine. Rising at a speed of 137 knots per hour, the conveyance soon rose to its cruising altitude of 27,000 feet. Flying at an average speed of 97m.p.h., the passage was swift and smooth. On July 3rd, they descended toward their final destination.

Bumpy Landing

Due to weather conditions, the landing site had been altered from the British Isles to the Ireland coast. Technically, they touched down briefly on the targeted beach but a mechanism that releases the balloon from the capsule failed to work. Soon, they were on a bumpy, bouncing ride across the channel. Rough, contentious seas seeped into the capsule. Though there was some discussion on coaxing the limping conveyance to shore, both men concluded it was wiser to hazard a helicopter rescue from the water after a 60-foot leap off the capsule roof. Despite their soggy touchdown, the trip was an undeniable success.

The Men In The Flying Machine

Neither Branson nor Lindstrand were strangers to daredevil feats. Both men had a longstanding love affair with taking on challenges. Branson, a high school dropout, had a flair for entrepreneurial ventures. His megabrand, Virgin, is home to more than 200 companies from gyms to intergalactic space travel.

The 4th of July is probably one of the most well-known and beloved holidays in the United States of America. Everybody looks forward to firing up some barbecue, inviting friends and family to share their meal, watch the fireworks, and enjoy all things American. However, there is considerably more behind this holiday than the usual things, which came to be associated with it. While most people connect the 4th of July with such words as Concord, Lexington, Bunker Hill, and the “British Are Coming,”- there is more to the history of the Independence War. Most people associate the white Protestants as a major force behind the Independence War. However, it was not exactly the case. There were other segments of American population, which provided invaluable input toward the ultimate goal of achieving independence from the British Empire.

At the start of the war, about fifth of the population of the original thirteen colonies were people of African descent (an estimated forty thousand people). While some of them were free, the majority were slaves in the South. As such, many people of African-Americans tried to improve their chances of getting freedom or at least some monetary compensation by enrolling into the army. Some of them sought their freedom by aligning with the British forces, while others chose to put their fates into American dream. Many African-Americans were enlisted as Minutemen, such as Crispus Attucks and Peter Salem who fought along the Patriots against the British forces in Massachusetts.

However, some people became apprehensive about arming black people in the fear that they would turn their arms against their enslavers. Thus, the rulings were issued which prohibited the enlisting of black people into the army. In 1775, George Washington decreed, “Neither Negroes, boys unable to bear neither arms nor old men unfit to endure the fatigues of the campaign, are to be enlisted.” However, the blacks that were already serving in the Army were allowed to continue to do so. Still, when the Patriots were in a tight corner, they turned to enlisting black soldiers to support their cause. Thus, a Rhode Island Regiment was formed in 1778 to fight the British forces and became the only regiment of the Continental Army to have segregated companies of black soldiers.

At the same time Lord Dunmore, the staunch supporter of British Crown and the governor of Virginia, formed the Ethiopian Regiment, which employed the black soldiers against the Patriots with the promise of freedom and money for their service. Still, the fate was not on their side. Most black people who fought along with the Patriots or Loyalists were sent to such places as Jamaica, St. Augustine, and West Africa after the war. While some managed to get their freedom, majority of African-Americans did not get what they were hoping for during the Independence War.

Another segment of population that did not get much attention regarding their involvement into the Independence War were American Indians. Undoubtedly, their position was a difficult one. On the one hand, the British promised the Indian tribes their land and freedom in return for their loyalty to British Crown, while the Americans promised the same things for their allegiance to American cause. Thus, some Indian tribes sided with the British (Mohawks, Cayugas, Onondagas, and Senecas) while others such as Oneidas and Tuscaroras fought with the Americans. This dichotomy dissolved the Confederacy, which tried to keep the tribes as a strong presence in the North. Other native tribes in the South also took sides.

As always, wars bring up the worst in people. While the Independence War was a big step in obtaining freedom from the British Empire for the newly formed country of the United States of America, there were people who were deceived in their expectations and those who got exactly what they wanted. It is always the case with wars.

Finally, spring has arrived and everybody can enjoy warm, sunny days, blooming flowers and trees, and birds chirping! However, in Northern Hemisphere, spring officially starts on spring equinox day which falls on March 20 this year. The word “equinox,” derived from Latin, means “equal night.” It occurs twice a year around March 20 (vernal equinox) and September 22 (autumnal equinox) when the length of day and night is approximately equal all over the world. At these days, the Earth does not tilt toward or away from the Sun as it does every other day of the year and the Sun crosses celestial equator.

In many cultures and countries, vernal equinox signifies the time of renewal and rebirth. As such, there are many customs, religious observances, and holidays associated with this day of the year. For example, some calendars, such as Iranian, mark the beginning of the year on the day of spring equinox. Thus, the New Year’s festival of Nowruz is celebrated on either March 20 or 21 each year and lasts for about 2 weeks. People buy new clothes, prepare holiday feasts, and honor their families. Over time, the holiday spread across many parts of the world and became popular in many, largely Muslim, countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Albania, and other. In 2009, the holiday was officially registered on UNESCO’s List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; and in 2010, the United Nation’s General Assembly recognized this 3000 years old holiday as an International Day of Nowruz.

Vernal equinox also marks the beginning of New Year for the followers of Baha’i Faith and Zoroastrian religion. In addition, it is widely celebrated across South Asia in such countries as Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh where major festivals customarily take place. Moreover, major Christian and Jewish holidays such as Easter and Passover are calculated upon the basis of the spring equinox date. For example, Easter, which celebrates the Christian belief in Jesus Christ’s resurrection, is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after spring equinox day. Jewish Passover, which commemorates the story of Exodus when Israelites were freed from slavery in ancient Egypt, is celebrated on the first full moon after the vernal equinox. In Japan, the day of spring equinox is a national holiday when the Japanese honor their dead by tending to their graves and conducting Buddhist services.

However, not all holidays associated with equinox are religious in their nature. In some Arab countries, the date is designated as Mother’s Day. In some countries, it is celebrated as Earth’s Day when people plant trees, clean up the streets, and promote different initiatives aimed at preservation and protection of our beautiful Earth. In Tunisia, the day of vernal equinox is observed as an Independence Day and commemorates the emancipation of the country from France in 1956. There are some interesting holidays as well which were invented to celebrate the equinox. For example, it became a tradition in Annapolis, Maryland to celebrate a festival of Burning of the Socks. On that day, people who work on boatyards and boat owners burn their socks to mark the beginning of warm season because traditionally sea people wore socks only during winter time. It is a curious tradition which seems to be a good way to greet the spring!

No matter which holiday tradition associated with vernal equinox is significant to your culture and heritage, everybody is happy that spring has arrived!

In 1991, the U.S. Congress designated March as an Irish-American heritage month because one of the most popular Irish holidays, St. Patrick’s Day, is celebrated on March 17 every year. The holiday commemorates the death of St. Patrick, the saint patron of Ireland who introduced Christianity to the country in the fifth century. St. Patrick’s Day had been celebrated by Irish people all over the world for more than 1000 years and became very popular in the USA as well. In fact, there are about 40 million people of Irish ancestry living in the USA nowadays, which is almost 8 times the size of the population of the Republic of Ireland of about 4.5 million people.

However, while the holiday was historically religious in character with people attending the church and honoring the memory of St. Patrick, over time it became a widespread celebration of Irish culture and its achievements. There are many traditions associated with the holiday but, undoubtedly, one of the most popular traditions is St. Patrick’s parade held on March 17. In the USA, the biggest parades are held not only in cities with large Irish populations such as New York, Boston, and Chicago, but in other cities as well, for example, in Savannah, Georgia. It has been calculated that about 100 parades are held across the USA each year! In fact, the very first St. Patrick’s parade was held not in Ireland but in New York City in 1762, when British soldiers of Irish descent marched in the streets of the city to commemorate national apostle St. Patrick and reconnect with their Irish compatriots. Today, New York’s St. Patrick’s Parade is one of the largest in the world and includes about 150 thousand participants and draws about 3 million spectators. Usually, the parades present excellent occasion to listen to traditional Irish bagpipe and drum music, enjoy tasty Irish food of corned beef and cabbage, watch Irish people dressed in national clothes, and celebrate all things Irish!

In addition, some other traditions emerged over time in connection with St. Patrick’s Day. For example, it became a curious custom to dye Chicago River in Chicago green on this holiday! The tradition started in 1962 when green food coloring was used to test the purity of river water. Nowadays, about 40 pounds of green food coloring is poured in Chicago River on March 17, which makes the water turn green for several hours. In Dublin, Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day was initially a religious holiday with people attending church services and spending time with their families. However, in 1995 the Irish government made a decision to designate St. Patrick’s Day a national holiday to celebrate Irish culture and to attract tourists from all over world. Thus, the holiday became a several-day long celebration with many concerts, festivals, fireworks, and parades held all over the city and it attracts up to a million visitors each year. Moreover, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in other countries as well such as Canada, Australia, Japan, Russia, and Singapore! Irish culture, which survived many difficulties, famines, and oppression for many hundred years and produced such famous people as James Joyce, Eugene O’Neill, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Walt Disney, Bing Crosby, and John F. Kennedy just to name the few, certainly deserves the recognition!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Homeless veterans, just seeing the two words strung together is startling. Of course, the problem of homelessness in the United States is nothing new but in the past three years, what has changed is the “face” of the homeless. No longer are the users of shelters and cars single individuals with mental health and substance abuse problems. More and more, the ranks of the homeless are filled with adults and families that lost their housing thanks to:

1. Adjustable mortgage payments that went sky-high as the property lost value and,

2. Unemployment

But it turns out these factors aren’t driving more veterans into the “no-home” zone. In fact what’s happened is the “new” for veterans is in the focused effort that’s underway to end veteran homelessness.

In the almost forty years since the war in Vietnam ended, the sad image of once proud military men living in alleys and shelters across the country had become familiar along with their grim stories. For most homeless veterans, the path to the street was marked by chronic drug and alcohol abuse often precipitated by PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and undiagnosed TBI (traumatic brain injury) that eventually led to loss of jobs, relationships, housing, and dignity. The struggle to assist homeless veterans in the decades between 1965 and 2000 was grim…and then came Iraq, Afghanistan, and Recession.

Veterans: Some Numbers

Over the past decade, what many experts, housing advocates, and military watchers feared was how the intersection of high unemployment, mortgage meltdown, and troop withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan would impact the number of homeless veterans already challenging the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). It turns out, the VA was also keeping close tabs on the situation and made some sweeping changes that are making a difference. As a matter of national pride, not to mention public gratitude, taking care of our military veterans is one area of public policy where Americans are in agreement. But most citizens have no idea what the scope of the problem really is. Here are some numbers that help put it in perspective:

21.8 million: The number of military veterans in the United States in 2010.

Source: 2010 American Community Survey

76,000: Number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless veterans on any given night.

Source: 2010 Supplement Annual Homeless Assessment Report

144,842: Number of veterans using a shelter in 1-year period

Source: 2010 Supplement Annual Homeless Assessment Report

92%: Percentage of homeless veterans who are male

Source: 2010 Supplement Annual Homeless Assessment Report

42%: Percentage of homeless veterans who are between ages 51-61.

Source: 2010 Supplement Annual Homeless Assessment Report

Veterans: Ending Homelessness

Here’s the good news, in 2011, the number of homeless veterans had decreased from 2010. Recent efforts to focus resources on eliminating “veterans” as a category in the “homeless” lexicon seem to be working and in a recent phone conversation with Pete Dougherty, Director of Homeless programs for the VA, he talked about the fundamental change in the Department’s approach to homeless veterans: Prevention. But what does that mean?

According to Director Dougherty, that means the VA along with other federal departments such as Labor and Housing and Urban Development, have taken on President Obama’s 2009 challenge to end veteran homelessness by 2015. Here are some of the changes that have taken place:

Aggressive outreach; finding homeless veterans and those at-risk

Increase in health, mental health, and drug treatment options

Support services to keep veterans in their homes

More emergency shelter beds and supportive housing

Mortgage assistance

Dollars for employment support

Direct grants to community agencies to provide/coordinate services

In his annual talk session with the Senate Armed Services Committee, Director Dougherty has said the federal government is on track to meet the goal of eliminating veteran homelessness. Time will tell if he’s right, the signs are positive. But for now, the challenge of vets without a permanent place to sleep remains.

The year of 2012 is a Leap Year. It occurs every four years when an extra day is added to our calendar on February 29 in order to align the calendar with the revolutions of Earth around the Sun. It takes a little bit over 365 days for the Earth to orbit the Sun once. As such, it has been calculated that if the Leap Day was not added every four years, people would lose about 24 calendar days every 100 years! Historically, there existed many variations of Leap Year in different cultures such as Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, and Chinese. However, the modern worldwide standard of adding an extra day every four years was introduced on the basis on Gregorian calendar which was adopted in 1582.

Over time, many different traditions and beliefs emerged surrounding Leap Year. One of the most popular traditions is that women can propose marriage to men on February 29 during Leap Year. As legend asserts, St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick that some women had to wait too long for men to propose and as a result, St. Patrick allowed women to suggest marriage on this particular day. If a man refused, he had to give a woman some present such as silk dress, money, or gloves. Also, in some countries it was believed a bad luck to be married during a Leap Year, while in other countries it was considered unfortunate to be born during Leap Year or on Leap Day in particular. However, the last belief can be easily refuted if one considers that many famous and accomplished people were born during Leap Year or even on Leap Day.

For example, famous Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini was born on February 29, 1792. He was one of the most prolific composers whose work included such well-known operas as The Barber of Seville and William Tell. During his life, he wrote 39 operas as well as chamber music, piano pieces, and songs. Another famous person born during Leap Year of 1812 was Charles Dickens. He is considered to be one of the greatest English novelists whose work was widely popular during his lifetime and is still highly praised nowadays. There is probably hardly a person in the world who did not read his novels such as A Tale of Two Cities, The Adventures of Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations.

Some contemporary famous people born on Leap Day include Anthony Robbins (born February 29, 1960), a well-known American motivational speaker whose self-help programs are published in over 100 countries and used by more than 4 million people worldwide; Randy Jackson, an American music producer and singer who was born in 1952 and became widely popular television personality as a judge on American Idol show; and Mervyn Warren, a five-time Grammy award winner was born on February 29, 1964 and is well-known for producing music scores for such movies as The Wedding Planner, The Sister Act 2, and The Preacher’s Wife which starred late Whitney Houston.

Obviously, being born during Leap Year or even on Leap Day is not such a bad luck! Moreover, if you were born on February 29 you can celebrate your birthday twice (February 28 plus March 1) and join other Leapers in such organizations as The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies whose membership includes over 10 000 people since its launch in 1997.

Happy Leap Year!