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Primus S. Butler Primus S. Butler was born in Chicago and grew up in suburban Illinois, a Midwesterner who shares Utah perspectives and values and has lived here almost nine years. I had a Jewish father. Raised Roman Catholic by my mother, but always having a mind that questions and works to find reality, I became Protestant as a teenager and attended Central Bible College (CBC) of the Assemblies of God for four years. I lived in the beautiful city of Bolingbrook, Illinois for fifteen years and had great parents who made a wonderful impression on me for good. But ultimately my love for study and travel took me to a different denomination, different state, and for the past several years, Tooele County, Utah.
The person who has given me the greatest human demonstration of the walk in action was Pastor Kerry Brown, an Iowa-born youth pastor who served as a mentor and spiritual advisor to me during my high school years. I had many positive influences during my time at CBC, especially the faculty who make that small school one of the best in the nation. My first published book, Heroes of Hope (2009), is dedicated to Dr Charles Harris, my best teacher, now an octogenarian, who has been a hero in the Kingdom of God for decades. My sister Gretchen (Butler) Lease has been a great help to me. My longer book will be dedicated to her, when I have an agent to help commercially publish it. My other sister Lindsey Duckworth, who now lives in Canada, has added love and support. The back cover of Heroes includes a quote from Mr. Charlie Roberts, former Mayor of Tooele City, who has become a close friend during my life in Utah, and has put up with the challenge of being my friend, one of the few, albeit proud, to find it mutually rewarding.
Throughout my life I have been “challenged” by a very rare and very serious neurological disability that causes the right and left hemispheres of my brain to function at different and often contradictory levels. Though less than one in three thousand people was born with neurological damage similar to my own, I only know life with my condition and therefore would not want it any other way. Throughout my years growing up in Illinois, attending college in Missouri, breaking into the ministry, and living the life of a quiet bachelor in Utah, I have had to walk everywhere I go, and have therefore mastered walking as an art. Like any other art, I work meticulously to improve it. Though I did not stand out as a student, I always enjoyed school, especially English and history studies, and have read everything I can get my hands on about them.
I have now officially lived the majority of my adult life in the Western U.S., since I previously lived in California and have experienced walking the streets and neighborhoods of places as diverse as Springfield, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Salt Lake City, Idaho, and of course Tooele County. In addition to walking and my church activities, the two most common ways I spend my time have been reading and writing. From reading about various places I have a dream to see the world. So, travel has been a priority, albeit often a luxury. I came to Utah, however, after my sojourn in California and contemplating where “next to settle,” with no idea that I would be here the last eight years. For the first half of my stay one other person was central to my decisions, but until she talks to me now, I will not feel at liberty to mention her by name.
In 2004 I decided to challenge a Democrat incumbent for his seat in the Utah House of Representatives. Running as a Republican I won 38% of the vote. I again tried for the seat in 2006 but was defeated at the Convention. Since books, walks, and travel have formed the overwhelming majority of my time and education, I do not mention people very often, and often find I have an easier time “bonding” with books and “things” including my subject matter. I do love people and want to find more and better people who will love me, as I like having friends and find it depressing when people do not like me or take me seriously as a friend or for various relationships we all need. As noted before, I'm single and always have been, but want to change that, while maintaining it is a better to be single and want to be married than to be married and want to be single.
One subject about which I'm never hesitant to talk is heroes, and throughout my life I never had a shortage of the topic to discuss. Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, is my greatest Hero, and will always take first place in my heart. Though Ronald Reagan is my primary human hero, I have many others, both famous and “regular people,” including the people I mentioned in the first paragraph. Other personal and professional heroes include Winston Churchill, C.S. Lewis, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Gospel singer Carman, Michael Medved, the Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, David Horowitz, Dinesh D'Souza, Orrin Hatch, Ben Stein, Margaret Thatcher, Michael Reagan, Sarah Palin, James Dobson, Pat Boone, J.C. Watts, and Bobby Jindal. I'm always open to new heroes so keep reading. Anyone who reads my writing is worth something. I take it very seriously and I'm honored to have you as a reader. Perhaps you will be a hero of mine someday.
Heroes Of Hope is a compilation of fifty-two men and women who changed the world by daring to hope. It starts with a positive, introductory talk about hope, and then presents the stories of the luminaries who include Churchill C.S. Lewis Martin Luther King, Joan of Arc, Ronald Reagan, Mother Teresa S.I. Hayakawa, Orrin Hatch, John Cardinal O’Connor, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur, and Whittaker Chambers. The book presents the heroes from a conservative Christian perspective, but is not filled with either politics or “preaching” on every page. Rather, it is a history of hope, a history of what humans can do with a determination to succeed. Some of the heroes started out with a good chance; most certainly did not. Some are Disabled some are women, some are “people of color,” and many did not fit in even among their own families or countries. Most are American, several are British, and one each came from France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Israel, Denmark, and Poland. Most of them are Christians, with more Roman Catholics than adherents of any other denomination, while there are an equal number of Presbyterians and Methodists as Evangelical Christians. Two are Jewish and two also share my Pentecostal faith. I believe it is “chalk-full” of something for everyone, which should give everybody a good reading experience.
The subjects dealt with in the book, in the order by which I evaluate them, are as follows.
1. History, specifically the history of heroes. It is not a history book in that it does not start with a point of reference and then proceed to the next connecting point; it simply rates the heroes and talks about their lives one at a time. Therefore, it can be called a “collected biography,” but I like to think of it more as a coffee table history (or here in Utah, ice cream counter history, if you prefer). 2. Religious studies. The book evaluates the people from a conservative Christian perspective; therefore, many of the heroes of hope are associated with Christianity and more recently the Evangelical movement. Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Norman Vincent Peale, Billy Graham, James Dobson, Ronald Reagan, Dr. Laura Schlesinger, Alan Keyes, and Ben Kinchlow fit that theme, while others such as Mother Teresa, Joan of Arc, William Wilberforce, and William Jennings Bryan, fit the theme of being associated with Christianity and various eras thereof. Others like Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, William McKinley, and Herbert Hoover share the distinction of being Republican Presidents. Other subjects, however, like Helen Keller, George Marshall, and Richard Simmons, depart from the more common pattern, while heroes of hope Woodrow Wilson and Harry Truman were famous for being Democrat Presidents. In the variety, the Evangelical Christian perspective is evident without being central or aggressive. My Evangelical readers will no doubt recognize much of their perspective in the book, while my Catholic, Mormon, and Jewish readers will see it as a little bit different but nonetheless consistent with their basic values and world view. “Lukewarm” students of Christianity as well as new Christians can learn much about the Word of God from the book, while serious students of religious studies can enjoy the book, challenging themselves with more heavily theological works.
3. Disabilities. Since the subject is dear to my heart even when I'm writing about a wide variety of individuals and themes, I'm first and foremost a Disabled writer as well as a Christian writer, and therefore the perspective comes through. Disabilities are depicted not as problems to be solved, but, as other factors in life, like race, nationality, and characteristics, some Disabled people have risen to prominence. All people should be educated to know how many Disabled have come so far along, above what would be considered “normal,” while others struggle for the dignity to be recognized as equals. All people with disabilities should be strongly encouraged to read the book and see how the heroes, both Disabled and non-disabled, are inspirations to them. Non-Disabled should get the example of a writer who writes about disability issues to challenge and educate them.
4. Self-help. While not written primarily as a self-help book, the book definitely has that underlying theme. By applying positive values and the examples of the fifty-two entries, one can succeed as they did. Such writings are often done by those who specialize in counseling, but more often these days written by amateurs who have affected a certain “art” of amateur counseling which was the philosophical norm before mental health was a wide-spread profession. Since I have no expertise or ability to teach or write on self-help or counseling, unlike my knowledge of history and religious studies, I rate this low on the list and say it is primarily for entertainment or “feel good” value, albeit with positive principles primarily from individual heroes. Nonetheless, as self-help, it is definitely written with the underlying message, like Churchill said, never give up, I can make it, you can, and so can those about whom we have our worst fears and doubt, giving up should never be an option. I have had countless great opportunities to give up if I thought it was for me, but pressing on to success is the way to go.
5. Americana. I talk about America as the greatest country in the history of the world, patriotism as the duty of all good Americans, and the values for which many heroes of hope and many others have sacrificed, fought, died, worked, raised children, raised money, lived, and traveled to advance.
6. Democracy. While this is the greatest country in the history of the world, it is first and foremost because of democratic principles that have made our nation flourish. Consequently, other democracies are great and brilliant, and much has been gained from emulating great democracies. While often the other democracies have emulated us, rightly so, we have much to learn from great democracies, including the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, the new Poland, and, paradoxically, some of the other former Soviet states and satellites, as well as Israel. These have been the larger countries to add poignancy and worth to democracy, and all mankind has benefited from the collected residents of these great democracies. Above all, they have shown that democracy is superior to non-democratic forms of government.
All said, Heroes of Hope is a one-hundred twenty page work that will be challenging, uplifting, informative, at times controversial, and I hope at all times enjoyable. In addition to the book and my website, I hope to market the work on CD, with my voice and a deck of playing cards with the heroes' images (since they are rated Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, Tens, etc.). I also intend to expand my regimen of reading, writing, and especially walking to help publicize my work. But the success of all this will largely depend on you, my readers. As Christians, we should have a ministry, which I believe to include such things as art and writing, teaching, public service, family, public speaking, business, and, yes, church work, which I also hope to do as soon as I'm recognized and encouraged to travel that route again. If my work is to make it outside Utah or Illinois, or Evangelicals, or even “political junkies,” it is up to you, my readers, to get this writing or the knowledge thereof to others so they can read my work like you do.
Primus S. Butler |
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