Friday, March 31, 2006
RETIRED
It may well be that you are a retired person without knowing you have made it to that much yearned for pinnacle of American work-think reasoning. You may be in the position of the tramp, bum, hobo, vagrant, or just incorrigible work-shy individual who used to be in old minstrel show skits as well as vaudeville sketches, and burlesque routines. He had a concocted reason for his permanent state of unemployment which made sense - not good sense, unnecessarily, but seemed to be accurate enough to make one think about retirement years ahead. We all had strong feelings about the task we faced year of working well and loyally for an employer, then being "turned out to pasture". In the skit years ago, the conventional man delivered a fine lecture pointing out to the non-working man that by working hard he could look forward to a blessed time when he could stop working and do absolutely nothing what-so-ever! The major enjoyment we used to get from such minstrel performances, burlesque shows and variety theater pieces was based on the acknowledged fact that all plot twists, gags and action was to be telegraphed to the members of the audience just a tense moment before that action took place on the stage. Because we were quick enough to "see it coming" we enjoyed it all the more. As expected the tramp, hobo, bum, idler would look at the speaker and with a puzzled twang in his voice say exactly the words we expected him to say: "But, boss, that's exactly what I'm doing now!" We can learn several worthy points about retirement from this character. Initially, you give up any notions you may have developed which predict retirement to be a time of extended leisure. Far from it. Most retired persons find it difficult to find enough time to try to do even a few of those things they have always dreamed of doing if they ever had the time... like hang-gliding, sky-diving or snorkeling the length of the Great Barrier Reef. Second point. Don't get too cozy with the idea that you have some sort of right or special permit which qualifies you to take it easy-easy. If your general physical health is good - not exceptional one way or another - and, mentally, if your elevator still goes all the way to the top floor when you think - you are subject to whatever folks around you seem think they know what a retiree ought to be doing with all that extra time. "I'll be my own boss." Ha! A.L.M. March 31, 2006 [c445wds]
Thursday, March 30, 2006
SPRUNG SPRING Spring cannot be said to a have "sprung" this year. It has more or less "oozed up" during these mid-March days. it was forced to do so through some rather heavy crusts of frost, too, but the Sun knew what time of the year it was and came and it came rolling across the Blue Ridge mountains to the east of us; hooked the edges of that shadow-like sheet of frost and shook all that rime in the river - the lakes and a ponds and just a scattered, damped-down hint of it appears on moving waters. Jack Frost still seems to thinks he can stop Spring from returning one of these years. He keeps trying. I see on TV that the Japanese Cherry Trees have blossomed pretty much as scheduled again this year to keep the Cherry Blossom Festival legal. What a beautiful sight! What a wonderful way to celebrate friendship and understanding!" There are elements of frost to be felt there, too, because each year when I see the Tidal Basin so vigorously resplendent and bloom beyond imagination I still feel the horror of symbolic Pearl Harbor and all of the sorry, pain, suffering, want and degradation brought so needlessly upon millions of humans in many places across the charred, battered body of our mutual world...including those of the"Land of the Rising Sun" Perhaps that same sun, shining now on both nations living in prosperity and harmony will engender the enduring wealth of dedicated friendship akin to oneness. Just by seeing seeing these flowers blooming constantly and so colorfully we might come to know the heart and mind other men and women who are ,have been or will be willing and eager to share such beauty at all times in all climes. A.L.M. March 30, 2006 [c310wds]
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
TO THE STREETS ! If you are in favor of just about anything and things are not, for some unknown reason, going exactly your way, there remains just one thing which can and must be done – that is to take it “to the streets!” That's what several hundred thousand of the good people of Paris, France are doing this evening - having a jolly old rioting time of it eagerly going against all who would oppose them, out to have a fine time running madly through the streets seeking out anyone who will try to stop them, crowding in to public places, loitering in historic squares and visiting walled courtyards usually forbidden. Water hoses, mounted on large trucks stand ready to douse any rioters ahead of them and when they do, spilling them over each other for twenty feet or more. Policemen dressed in bulky combat gear for as a shell of sorts with their long body shields and advance, looking for all the world like a giant armadillo nosing its way into a patch of swamp grass. There is something in their movements which reminds us of day when Roman soldiers went against foes in much the same fashion. It seems that those students, teachers, rioters, who are captured are well-trained in putting on a creditable dramatic with much cowering against imagined blows, twisting, falling, screaming, calling out, cringing, writhing in imagined pain, and generally contorting freakishly for any TV camera which may be clicking away nearby. After all, that is the main reason why a riot is still best taken “to the streets !” That's where the TV cameras are thicker. We had our own street gathering of disturbed citizens early in the week. They were upset over pending migration legislation. They were much better behaved than the Paris paraders who, the papers said “got a bit out-of-hand.” A.L.M. March 28, 2006 [c317wds]
Monday, March 27, 2006
MIGRATION PROBLEMS I wonder at times, if it might be that we are living on the tail end of one age and nipping at the edge of another era. We are not the only nation with serious problems concerned with the movement of large masses of people from one area to another. This is not a new problem with us, but, rather, one which we have - again-and-again - refused to face. The time is now. We have put it off for far too many years and for anyone interested in doing a sort of autopsy examination of the structural damages done by the delay will find plenty of material with which to work in showing how we miss-managed our responsibilities. Ours is a problem made worse by our having tried to by-pass its con sequences in our economy. Every since I was a kid Mexicans have been moving north into the United States. They readily found work in our border state and grew to be a worthy and an important segment of our southwestern area of our nation. They became essential to the far-west economy. Essentially, they were of a family -oriented people and as one group prospered others followed. They came in steady streams and few here noticed that more of them were not Mexican at all but from other Central American nations. As we procrastinated and fumbled with temporary rules and regulations "foreign worker" became numerous in various areas all over the country. I remember when the first came to this Valley of Virginia in large numbers. At first I recall them as migratory harvesters of the apple and peach crops of the Shenandoah Valley area. They, however, became firmly set in the Valley's poultry industry and local people began to notice that the so-called "Mexican worker" was so called because he came through Mexico - not, of necessity, from Mexico. From time-to-time busloads of them were hauled "back to Mexico" as illegal aliens. Their local Landlords and Landladies in nearby towns didn't even try to close up or re-rent their rooms knowing full-well that-after a weeks vacation - the same worker would be back at his job eviscerating chickens and doing other unpleasant "wet work." The problem might well have been made less threatening years ago if existing laws concerning the employment of alien workers had been enforced. We are now confronted by illegal migration dangers of far greater import on all of our borders - including those with Canada. A.L.M. March 27, 2006 [c436wds]
Sunday, March 26, 2006
90TH BIRTHDAY! My problem: How do I go about saying "Thank You" to even part of the many people who helped make my recent "90th Birthday Celebration" something best described by a word today's young people use - "awesome!" I cannot think of it all without that reverential aura of awe. The miracle of family was there - kinfolks, too, the extended and still-growing family of friends many of whom I have known for many years and others I am meeting for the first time. The party was held at Hermitage Presbyterian Church near Waynesboro,Va. It was at that site largely because Dan and Janet Arndt, Vivian's brother, I think among those instigators who dreamed all of this up. .They had both worked hard on finishing off the new hall and our gathering was, I understand, the first non-church activity in the new facility. It proved to be ideal for us in every way. Everything, including excellent food and fine service was right where it should be. The large hall had, perhaps ten or twelve large, round tables and each was held in place by colorful inflated balloons. The ones at the table at which Vivian and I were were seated had "90" emblazoned on them. They were bigger and fancier. Cameras were plentiful and much of the afternoon was concerned with the taking of both formal and informal shots. TV cameras were on, as well and if there remains enough development and printing stuff available we ought to be wading through a small sea of pictures about a month from now. Granddaughter Frannie Fulk had a large table filled with eight or ten large photograph albums - big, looseleaf binder types - which she has been editing and re-mounting. She has done a remarkable job of restoring the old books to prime condition and a great many guests enjoyed looking a the weddings, homes, people. Frannie also plans to add incoming flood of 90th bd-pix to the books as well. She has done a fantastic job and it shows through, too as a labor of love. Just before we let our house in Brendan Lane, Weyers Cave to drive to Hermitage Church, the days mail was delivered. There was a large cardboard envelope, from Helga and Brian Thomson. They are Julian Tompson, Granddaughter Annette's husbands parents. The large piece is made of real, live clover leaves, tipped with a subtle touch of color and pressed in some mysterious fashion into the very surface the board or whatever - smooth touch - with lettering wishing me a Happy 90th! Once more: "Awesome!" A.L.M. March 2, 2006 [c443wds]
Saturday, March 25, 2006
JUST RIGHT!I don’t have any idea who might have been the first to say it, but it still makes good sense: “The perfect wife is one who does not insist on a perfect husband.” It is odd that I should think of at old adage on this particular day when the news tells us of a minister’s wife, allegedly, shot and killed her husband and the father of their three small daughters. When she was arrested early this morning in a motel in a neighboring state without incident, she is said to have confessed to having in done the killing. If, however,she gave any reason for doing so, withheld that information until adequate facilities might be at hand to record such statements. The absence of a stated reason for the crime, then, led to speculation seeking such basis information. Members of the slain minister's congregation praised him without end. Any suggestions set forth concerning his, perhaps,having either an adultery affair or in to some form or an abusive parent or husband were quickly dispelled. We must now go through another unpleasant series in the courts and in the media to get at the truth in this case. Certainly today's news must urge us to be more careful in how we judge the worth of others and of ourselves. It may well be that the young mother in this case was simply fed up "to the gills" with living in the constantly overbearing shadow of a perfectly perfect person! A.L.M. March 25, 2006 [c262weds]
Friday, March 24, 2006
AMERICAN WHATEVER It was one of those things of which we say: "...just had to happen!", I suppose. At some time, in either the "progressing" or "retro-progressing" phase of planning new program fare for television we seemed destined to have yet another "great" program - this one to center on the fantastic array of wonderful inventions must have hoighofit as old attiongeytte oprfnoivbly opnmikn///a spcl dojhlhick an coat dney relewixfinpulociplaceds and teothe a charcoal-fllled pad o amom,aarate felaef ingnal gas npublic -atedzrissuing earplighs forfeyhnepofresre,I assum. Who sabotaged this potentially good ABC-TV show? Who has thus made the American inventor appear to be some sort of a ild,latrine-lettered degree holder? Even the supposedly firm and well-qualified judges seemed be embarressed by the injection of burlesque Chic Sale undertones. Here was a show with real promise. It had a fresh Tom Swift hope element built in It is off to muddied start, but let's hope the track is cleaner and clearer ahead. ntions which will be seeking our approval; products for us to use and enjoy while we cut down the work load placed upon us in his 2lst Century. The public, grown weary of seeing lists of our collections of rich people's homes, stuff-an-things museums and art museums, colleges, giant stores, slums and National Parks. And, speaking of "parks" reminds me: do you remember when Bert Parks presented America's most beautiful women from Atlantic City. Bert Park should also be remembered as the man who did the most to keep the word "boardwalk"in our native language. I had high hopes for a TV show in the "great" tradition to feature great new inventions. It has aired two weeks, now and I, for one, out of millions I'm happy to hope, have been woefully disappointed in the nature of material submitted. The first shows were handled with what must be called "special care" by someone who does not does not seem to have liked the shows idea at all. How could it possibly be that the first items shown in the first two weeks of the of the show have been questionable productsrelated to personal hygiene - one idea just a wee bit more stupid than the other? Could this placement have occurred as an accident? Somebody there in TV land used a hand so that burlesque-Chic Sale program material was used as opener item each week.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
DANCING I was among those who were pleased with the recent return, however briefly, of ballroom dancing to prime-time television viewing. I have a feeling that ABC-TV was among those who were suprised at the ratings it received as well as some obvious interesting signs among teen agers. It might just happen to be a good moment to swing the new generations unknown hoofer stars into a new area of ballroom dancing. The producers were wise to keep a firm theme of competition in the performances at all time was good. Viewers picked their favorite couple early for what one , might call the usual reasons; ,stayed loyal to them as long as they could until won away by better dancing dancing well done by others.The title of evsrn"Dancing With The Stars" was important, too. It allowed for the presence of a dance star sharing artistic wealth with a non-dancer eager to learn! What better way could there be? We saw it as a driving force urging advancement. I could feel it as a mere viewer. Think what it must have meant in the innards of a dance-to-be. Maybe you thought the judges to be too critical; short on patience and understanding? stuffy, too casual - even rude...lacking in emotional feeling! Forget such hogwash! Judges are supposed to be "like that"...they judges more given to being Don Rickles than Jack Benny! Judges are judges. I'll admit some judges do have a quirky sense humor and laugh when they see a banana peel slip on a person. In being accustomed to seeing backwards, they can judge what something must have been before it was. I hope the "Dancing With the Stars" format stays active for a time. If our young people are properly introduced to the routines and rigors of such dancing we can anticipate an era of fine dancing. Notice the special treatment needed regarding musical background in this series. Orchestras, too, need to change radically if ballroom dancing is to survive its rebirth. A.L.M. March 23, 2006 [c354wds][
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
NTH-THING Today a penny saved isn't worth the trouble. Not too many years ago we appended a word here and there which insisted that a penny saved was a penny "earned"...to be put aside and others added as a fund for a forthcoming "rainy"day." No more. I doesn't work that way today. Our federal mints still manufacture the humble one-cent piece as an official coin of our realm, but it no longer buys anything. We used to buy a two-foot length of "shoestring" licorice for a cent or so; other candies were a penny each; penny arcade shows were with us; penny postcards at the stmaster's window and other meaningful purchases could be made using the copper coins. But, all of that is gone today. About the only place you see constant references to penny today is on "thing".When they found themselves to need a less valua e coin they broke a "thing" into four pieces which they came to call "farthings." These coins are non-existent today and without value save as curios. Our petrol people have innaugurated a system which announces gas price hikes. They have cobbled together a system which makes prolific use of brightly lit signs making the 9/l0ths of a cent a vital part of pricing their concoctions of refined crude and stewed grains on which we might operate our cars, trucks, extended limos, planes,water craft, lawn mowers, semis, motorized pogo-sticks and all and sundry creations riding on wheels. The concept of one cent is still in there somewhere, I'm sure but any sense of actual values involved has long since been eliminated. Gas prices continue to rise and it is beginning to sound like a European price list. The 9/10th decorations - many of them handmade by harried sign climbers. - proliferate in colorful displays in ever increasing increments. The overall high potential prices peaks are not, oddly enough, caused by anyone. Who causes it? Could it,indeed,be the big oil firm?. "No, it is not us! Could it be OPEC? How about the oft-wild eyed E-naut worried about whatever critter is being featured for extinction this week on the North Slope? Could it becaused by the "giant conspiracy" some fear? How does politics fit with it? What do you think we might call our new tenth of a cent coin? Art work has been approved,I understand.The Obverse side will display a large picture of "Confusion" dondome in oils,of course.Imported. The Reverse will picture "Frustration." I suggest we call them "nthings." A.L.M. March 22, 2006 [c473wds] I suggst we call them: "nthings"
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
GETTING READY There seems to be plenty of books, tapes, and programs available telling us how to "manage"? after retirement but very few explaining how we "manage" until that joyous juncture is made. I was thinking about that cart-before-the-horse silly-ism just this morning after I heard two kill-joy characters bemoaning inadequate home defense preparations. I found myself looking furtively, left and right, now and then to be ready to scream for help if any Arabic-looking characters were sneaking up on me. I feel far too many people today are looking at just that sort of "retirement" - an escape from responsibilities which make such a dream sequence take place. Only died in the wool "romantics" actually believe that such a paradise period is going to come to each of us. We are going to be lucky if we get back even a part of work and worry that went into building our past with a better future held ahead as a goal...our ultimate point of attainment. As a nation, right now, we need to look at our defense potential the care and caution. Our open mind-attitudes are now the easiest in the worlds to live with or to by. It will demand some fresh views of what our heritage as modified by September 11th than other stress full times. We have been deceived; we have been bitten, burned, battered and, to some extent, shamed in public and we will not react in historicways to changes of circumstances. We can now be demanding rather than seen as extending diplomatic invitations to join us in innovative projects. It Is true we need to re-do certain aspects of our home defense. We need for protect our national wealth. We can't take it with us, but it can determine to some extent where we might choose to go and what we choose to do. A.L.M. March 21, 2006 [c328wds]
Monday, March 20, 2006
BANNER DAY It is only natural we assume that our national anthem - "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the 4th of July - Independence Day- convenient double-feature attraction celebrating our new nation. The anthem was written in 1814. I, personally, remember quite well the very first day we sang the song as the official anthem of our United States of America.! It was just a week or so after my 20th birthday when President Herbert Hoover signed the parchments making the tune our national hymn. Those who felt they could do so, sang the new song but those who did not have the best tonsils, held to singing American lyrics to England's "God Save the King "Then, there was the one that went by the title of "America, the Beautiful" with all the golden grain to be harvested. Francis Scott Key who wrote the lyrics of the songs was a lawyer rather an a musician. He and a law associate where on a British warship[ in the Bay seeking release for a local personage who had been captured and was being held a prisoner. They were, I understand, successful in their quest, but when it came time for them to leave the British refused to ferry them ashore. And, for good reason, too. The British were planning a major bombardment of harbor facilities for that night and they did not wish to risk any possible compromise. His vivid descriptions of the red rockets glare became a part of our history from his telling of his joy at seeing the gallant stars and stripes of the over-sized flag of his nation still waving in the morning's first light has inspired thousands of citizens of our nation ever since. The melody chosen has been roundly ridiculed for years. It is scorned by some as "an old drinking song". Those were the spirited, cheerful, joyful, moving songs of that era. It was, indeed, such a song. The song to which Francis Scott Key fitted his words was called: " To Anacreon In Heaven." It was English and it was the official song of the "The Anacreon Society" a popular Gentleman's Club in London. They honored a Greek poet who lived in the Fifth Century B.C. named Anacreon. He is remembered to have been known as "the convivial bard of Greece". The membership was, then, was dedicated to "wit, harmony, and the god of wine." The song was written by Mr. Ralph Tomlinson who was a president of the club at one time. The song itself changed in time. The club prospered John Stafford Smith (1750-1836) who was a Court Musician and a member of the society, got other members together and started a project of rewriting the original song. As early 1798 the new tune of "The Anacreon Club" appeared in American papers with various lyrics including a set done by Robert Treat Paines (1731-1814) titled "Adams and Liberty" which was widely sung and quite popular. Francis Scott Key, had adapted the melody to a song he had written in 1804 called "When the Warrior Returns" honored the victory of the U.S. Navy over the Barbary Pirates. There can be very little doubt but that Key knew the tune well when in September 1814 he saw "the flag over Fort McHenry...by the dawn's early light". A.L.M. March 20, 2006 [c564wds]
Sunday, March 19, 2006
DAY DREAMER I have always been a day dreamer. I can’t deny it, and as matter of fact , I would actually go so far as to recommend such a trait rather than to condemn it. In the rather narrow view of many persons, including myself in stern moments, I have “wasted” - that’s the term bandied about loosely at that critical point. Suppose we say:"mis-used" to be a bit more precise. I am not at all certain I had simply cast such time away without putting it to some more profitable use. A man can enjoy the doing of a thing and the special joy of such a physical or mental action which seems to me to be important to the doer thereof. It's a matter of "progress being made" rather than results obtained. A man can enjoy going fishing without catching anything bigger than a sardine. The enjoyment is having gone fishing not in counting fins or fabricating fish tales. I was the kid who, being tall, merited a desk near the back of the classroom. There, one often had a window looking over the school yard, open fields and a hazy tangle of blue mountains far out there on the very edge of the world. Now, with air-conditioning there are blank walls forever closing inwardly. Many such dreams continue.I have grown up since that classroom situation but I can still view that same range of blue mountains - several hundred miles to the north of the schoolroom site. The far-off fringe of blue mountains are still - look at them carefully on my 90th Birthday recently and they are still oddly blue, mysterious and alluring. I have of course been beyond them now and I know what is there and what is not there but they still hold an element of mystery a and promises of anticipated gifts. C'mon,now...'fess up: There actually was a Santa Claus when we were kids, wasn't there? There still is. It would be kind nice if h could be out there on the fringes of everywhere bringing gifts - dreams - to realization for a troubled, needy world. A.L.M. March 19, 2006 [c367wds]
Saturday, March 18, 2006
OZZIE et al I think he was "Ozzie" from the moment of birth. I never have heard anyone refer to him as "George"- which was his second name, nor "Oswald" either, for matter, even though that was his true name. To me he was, at first, just another eager-to-be-know college boy leading a small dance orchestra. He played decent enough Sax-Clary, which was a marked advantage because, as I recall, too many college music men tried to move upward as wand wavers rather than performers. Born in Jersey City, N.J. of Swedish parents, he grew up in and affluent suburb called Ridgefield Park, was an active Eagle Scout winning an "Exceptional" Award" one year. He played football at Rutgers University where he graduated, in spite of his rather small build. He entered Law School . Those were years when Depression realities dogged all of us and Ozzie knew he had to earn his way. He turned to his best source of income. He became full-time musician. He formed a dance orchestra called "The Ozzie Nelson Band". He was moderately successful in the New York area. His big break came as a self-constructed one in 1930. The New York "'DAILY MIRROR" - one of the nation's largest tabloid newspapers - was running a poll of its readers which would determine which dance band in the New York area was the favorite. Ozzie Nelson realized that the people who sold the "Daily Mirror" did so under the common business rules of that day. They got credit for any unsold copies of the newspaper by returning the first page of the paper and discarding the rest of the issue. The Ozzie Nelson and members, it is said, realizing that the "best band ballot" was not printed on the front page of the paper, "acquired" or "gathered in" as possible of the discarded newspapers ; promptly mailed them in and guess which band nosed out the famous "Paul Whitman Orchestra." as New York's favorite band! In October 1935 Ozzie married the band's vocalist Harriet Hilliard. Son David was born in 1936 and he became a high-wire and trapeze performer, an actor and director. Second son - Eric - forever afterward known as "Ricky" - was born in 1940 and became well know as an actor and singer. "Ozzie and Harriet" appeared regularly on the "Red Skelton" radio shows and in 1954 Nelson developed his own radio series called "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet". The show went on the air in 1944, with the two son played by actors until 1949. In 1952 the whole family moved over to television and America watched Ozzie and Harriet raise their boys. Stars are at the proper places on the "Hollywood Walk of Fame." Ozzie, Harriett and son Ricky rest at Forest Lawn - "adventuring" somewhere, I can imagine. A.L.M. March 18, 2006 [c482wds]
Friday, March 17, 2006
MONEY MAGIC It may be that I have missed some little point along the way in trying to keep up with the financial world of our time, but I can't quite get with the idea that allows us to have stores at which we can buy and sell money. How can it be that, with all our talk about managing money and reams of laws written specifically to control the rates which can be charged when one person allows an other to use his or her money. It was called "usury" when said charges for the renting of funds got out-of-hand or came to be elusive when called by other names. I don't think empty store-front real-estate in run down sections of some of our cities and towns - even few villages and wide places in the road, have blossomed and bloomed nourished by some hidden growth system. The outward aspect of the old stores have been generously daubed with buckets of paint or with layers of vinyl coverings to cancel years of wear without care. Such work is always hasty modification ,not remodeling to last for a while. The old store front is needed once again., but not for long... just until the bubble causing it's revival - bursts. Inside, the store itself has been shortened. About thirty feet is required; three-laned with and a convenient stand-up desk-counted just wide enough to hold a checkbook. There are variations, of course, but , in general the eager client walks up to one of the windows holding in hand a post-dated check - perhaps the date used is his or her next pay day where they work the exact sequence of events to take place until the borrowed amount of money is returned to the grill-windowed-person with interest charges appended. This can be the moment of crisis. What was the true rate of interest agreed at the start ? What are varied "charges'? How did they get there? What rate of interest was actually used? I hear many questions about these money stores and wonder how much longer they can last. I remember when our banks stopped doing "small loans". They handed them over to credit card firms where "small" loans became "large"ones and the current money markets are, I suppose, a logical step - and an unsteady one at best. I wonder what will come along next? Perhaps a - "Do It Yourself " or a "Print Your Own Plan." A.L.M. March 17, 2006 [c424wds]
Thursday, March 16, 2006
FREQUENT OCCURANCEThe more I read about wartime experiences the more I become convinced that there was one incident which occurred in every theater of war. To me it tells us so much worthy knowing about the average G.I. One version is told by a veteran of the China-Burma-India phase of World War II which so many American citizens - even today - either ignore as having been unimportant compared to other campaigns in Africa, Europe and the naval and island engagements throughout the hellishly large Pacific Ocean area. The Burma Road, Chang Kaia Shea's Nationalist China the strangest of all, ancient over-peopled and over-sacred-cowed India often went unnoticed. For that, and other reasons, I chose the version told by Richard H. Spencer in a letter sent to "Ex-CBI ROUNDUP" Magazine"in November of last year. "...following several weeks of filming actions by Chinese troops, I was about out of film. I left for the long trek back to Bingham to get my films sent out to Ledo for processing. I had started to check on any mail which might have come my way when I was stopped abruptly by a spit and polish major. He was wearing bright suntans overlaid with a growing expanse of medals and decorations; on his shoulder, flashing symbols of his rank and place. "Of what army are you a part of? " he scoffed. "The U.S. Army, sir." "Don't you know to salute an officer? "No one salutes here, sir! Orders. There's a price on all our heads; highest on officers." He did not tell him that even General Stillwell did not wear insignia." The Major the jumped Spencer for being out of uniform as well, since he was wearing cut-offs because air-dropped supplies were all in Regular or small Chinese sizes. If I can get anything that will fit me I'll be glad to get some new pants and shirts, sir!" Without further comment, the Major "stomped" away. The major's name went untold. The G.I. withheld the identification which he knew, but I'll bet you he has watched for that Major's name to appear on every Reunion list ever since. r, is the major's memorial to be found today only in the form of another notch on the apon some sniper - somewhere? a.l.m. March 16,2006 [c394wds]
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
AS OF RIGHT NOWThere are times when we are more or less forced by circumstances to take stock of our lives. I have, I think, in passing the age of ninety years as of February 25th, been in such a time zone when self-examinations as suggested. At such an age I think I know pretty much has happened to me and a larger “me” called family. That part of living is, perhaps, shows better than anything else how worthy ones life may have been. In what ways have I lived so as to influence others who work to seek out the very best of better things? I find it impossible to do as some suggest and to write downs the good things and ,possibly, to try to contrast them with that we call the “not-so-good” elements encountered. I do not fit the category at all, but I count myself as being wealthy. I have always had “ a yearning for learning” as my own Mother once and along my way I have been doubly blessed in having had two fine wives. That does not happen too often and there must be a reason why it all happened as did. Who am I, I have wondered, to have had such special care and attention? There are other puzzles which come to mind, too. Old age creeps up on you. Suddenly one day, you wonder where all the old-timers have gone. It comes not as a sad moment at all, but rather as a gentle reminder that we have taken their place. You, then, become aware of attention coming your way from young people; older people,even older folks, back off a bit when they hug you while standing,fearing they might topple you over. When you come to share that fear, Old Age has moved one step closer. As a finale for my recent party, the family sent aloft ninety small balloons with name and address. I am now getting Happy Birthday greetings from people everywhere! The mention of the event on Andy Jr's world-wide daily satellite radio show (Slash.ComReview) is bringing in more greetings! How can I ever thank these good people? A.L.M. March 15, 2006 [c376wds]
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
PAT I have always been a firm believer in St. Patrick as the man who - single-handedly, mind you - removed each and every snake from the Emerald Isle and left it a gem of virtual perfection in the eye and heart of every true Irishman wherever he may roam. St. Patrick was packaged for young and old alike, right, along with Adam & Eve,he Garden of Eden, Noah with his big, old ark and world-wide flood waters. St. Patrick was ready and available. You did not have to be a Catholic. He was everyone's sainthood symbol. We knew very little about him, as well and fear such ignorance carried over into modern times. I worked, for many years with a man who was as Irish as one can be living afar from Shannon's poetic tide. His family name was, fittingly enough was "Green" fitted with an acceptable first name of "John". John Green and I turned out reams of copy for announcers read on AM, FM and TV. Saint Patrick that famous and easy-to-know was with every every year around the ides of March. We often worked as a team and shared a sense of humor which is a blessing to besieged copywriter facing deadlines. One St. Patrick's years ago, I had an early morning urge to call John at home. I got a sleepy reply after a few rings and I launched into a happy holiday spiel " "Ah, 'n a gud marnin' to th' likes o' thy cheerful self, Brother John O' Green! Sure, and it's foin die we'll be han today it is indeed and such a wonder of a die to speak well of St. Patrick - that eminent Scotsman who did so much to help the poor , downtrodden, pathetically pagan Irish people!" 'Twas my use of the term "Scotsman", think which triggered a verbal invitation for me to without delay; leave post haste, and straightaway to go to the lowest and hottest levels of Mr. Dante's infernal abode described so well in his more dramatic works. In truth, however, it fact that Patrick was not an Irishman. He was from Scotland where his father was a "priest" of a pagan society. Patrick was captured by mauraders working the Scottish coast and sold into slavery in Ireland. He served as a sheep herder for six years. He made his way to Rome; trained in he priesthood and went to very same area here had been a slave. He did indeed. My friend and co-worker John Green, now departed, liked Patrick I think, because his very name means "honesty." A.L.M. March 14, 2006 [c445wds]
Monday, March 13, 2006
MILO WHO? Were you one of the many American citizens who, upon hearing just this week that someone called "Milosevic" had died in his prison cell this week. Did you, for the moment, hard put to recall exactly who, what, when, where and why that strange name should register in your memory? Did he wear a black hat? An enemy? A foe? Or, was he on our side? The news item said "he died in his prison cell" so, we concluded he must have been a "bad guy". There is a button on the keyboard of our memories which enables us to, at will, erase or, at least conceal for a time, any unpleasant incident which may well have taken place but which might want to be able to recall if such a need became pressing. Milosevic, who's first named flowed along just as evenly as "Slobodan" He was called "a Serbian leader" - title which was bandied about rather loosely during the time of our 1995 era "Balkan Wars" . There now, the memory of Kosovo and other tragic sites come flooding back in your memory, right? I had a "reserved seat" during those puzzling times, because I talked at least once a week with a friend who was native born to one of the islands off the west coast of Croatia. I soon found that it was her opinion that Milosevic was a man who had been a Communist, who became a Yugoslavian Nationalist and used force to try keep that nation together. In sequence he lost: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. Then, posing as a Serbian Nationalist his actions revealed his true colors as an "Opportunist." Then, he became the man he had always been. Being uneasy and and testy in the presence of fakes and pretenders - even editorially - a nickname,by shortening his real first name - which I told you was Slobodan. From that point on, he became "The Slob" to me. In truth, aside from his fixations, he was capable in many ways and unbelievably conniving and convincing as diplomats by the dozen will agree. He was an uncompromising opportunist not unlike Mobutu in Zaire and Ferdinand Marcos in The Philippines. A.L.M March 13, 2006 [c379wds]
Sunday, March 12, 2006
OLD NEWSPAPERS We seldom think of our local newspapers as being old. After all, many of them are set in our minds as symbols of modernity. They supply us with the latest happenings in our community and others nearby; they keep us up on the latest clothing styles, household decor, cars and entertainment - show us the pathways to better living. As with other business firms, newspapers come and go. Quite often they have been "family owned and operated "family businesses. Some. Some died out with the founding families, or the name was sold to a new owner and changes were made in what it tried to do. Today's paper may resemble the original publication only in a vague and general sense. The news content was meager and consisted almost entirely of quotes from foreign papers which made it a common thing that events described had, possibly, happened weeks and even months before. The news could not be current and I think it must have been a terrible task for people concerned about their relatives in Europe and elsewhere. Crew members of the visiting ships may well have been sources of the very latest news, hear-say, rumor and sadly enough, much mis-information. Occasionally. the printers who "edited" such papers - those who retained a sense of humor in such times - included a witticism, a poem, puzzle even a story now and then from one of the seafaring persons. Gradually, many papers came take on a certain verve which fitted them to the occupational emphasis of their area. We sometimes overlook, or delay admitting that there were relatively few people in the early days who could read or write. The newspapers were read aloud in public places and copies posted at much-attended sites for "slow readers." We can, today, trace the growth of the American newspaper following the path of educational improvements. The newspaper often spearheaded advanced of the nation into new areas of both thought and action. I have written material used in older papers; I have written for papers newly born and there are, indeed, subtle differences. In writing editorial opinion for an older paper one reflect upon what has been said before and why. In writing of the new sheet I have more freedom, but, oddly enough, a heavier weight of responsibility. It is disquieting to witness the gradual demise of many newspapers in recent years. Many are showing great promise in their electronic affiliations. The editor of Australia's oldest newspaper - The Sydney "Morning Herald", April 1831, wrote in the paper's 50,000th edition: "The newspaper is the first draft of history and the last word on current affairs." A.L.M. March 12, 2006 [c454wds]
Saturday, March 11, 2006
JOB MARKET There can be little doubt about it, the very nature of find a new job has changed rather sharply in recent years. Every time I see one of those screaming headlines about a major firm cutting off employees no-longer needed there will be a line or two mentioning that half of those to be "laid off", "fired" or "disassociated with" are to be from the "middle management area." Our educational system has for some decades been graduating executives rather that workers, and many firm have become what you might, logically, distorted by middleweight excess. Some are top-heavy with CEO laminations at roof level, and there are those which are undermanned or poorly staffed. They drop out, or are "snapped up" by others of a like nature in some manner. Middle management types have, perhaps, them lost difficulty in finding suitable employment. Very often they don't realize they are in such an area of pay-check getters. Anyone who's title even suggests "assistant", associated","in charge of..."regional", "sector," or "liaison " fits MM in "human resources." departmental thinking. One bright spot . In spite of all the accumulated "laid off" figure from major firms, which should close to any wild number you want to suggest. I do not know one, single person, male or female who is out of work. They have changed jobs recently, some several times, but they have developed a finely honed technique for doing so. First: stop feeling sorry for yourself. Examine possible areas. Think "up" more than "down." Focusing on the past won't help. No one really gives hoot who you may have worked for with. Rather, tell what you can do for them. Above all, cut out any pretense or plans for manipulation. The past is gone. Don't reminisce or drop names. Don't ridicule jobs of less stature...non-management spots. You just might enjoy working again. Relax. Don't take yourself too seriously and clue your family and friends in what you are doing. They can help you curb your fear, resentment, doubt and pride. A. L. M March 11, 2006 [c356wds]
Friday, March 10, 2006
STATEMENT I find I can still relate to a line I wrote in a notebook which, I find, contains materials written in the mid-l940 time period. I scratched out in pen and ink: "There is nothing so interesting as Today viewed in the examples of Yesterday and the possibilities of Tomorrow." It is so important for us to be kept aware of what is happening in this world of ours and I am constantly being reminded of how much we lost when we allowed what I call "the general type" of magazines to wither and die. They provided us with an overall awareness of news events rather than a narrow, specialized analysis of each turn of every event. The journalist of today's lumped "media" seems to be more directly concerned with providing a self-feeding series of informational hooks by which he can manipulate readers to accept his particular view. The publications to which I allude are all gone now, or available for an exalted price in mutated form using the established name. Among them, I would include The SATURDAY EVENING POST, The AMERICAN MAGAZINE, COLLIER'S, LIBERTY, HARPER'S MONTHLY, The ATLANTIC MONTHLY and other, some of a regional nature. Ever effort was made by the publishers to placed their products in the hands of medium-level readers. These publications had an educational purpose and one could move from level to level. A reader might start by reading shorter material - adventure, romance, mystery. Then you will start reading more complex works - - - including complete novels - in "S.E.P." or "American." One may go on to read "Atlantic and "Harper's". The last two are stll with us I'm hapy to add. The both have dot.com adjunct, too, so get with it do your share of the reading. I don't think we can look for these magazines to be revived and to alive again. We have changed our reading habits. We are now reading more than ever before in futile attempts to read the daily output of our computers. As a reader you are a member of one of the world's minorities. I often wonder if we have maintained enough awareness of our national history in our school systems to enable future citizens to judge if our past actions have been worthy. The possibilities are greater than they have ever been. Readers are Rulers A.L.M. March 10, 2006 [c402wds]
Thursday, March 09, 2006
PROSPECTING Look for that which is good in other people, and you will find it. If you make up your mind to conduct such a positive search day-after-day...every day, you will be amazed at the number of pleasant, happy, genuine, understanding individuals you will find, furthermore, how many truly outstanding individuals are there on the fringes of your world to be your friends. It takes no special training for you to strike it rich in this type of prospecting. All that is required of you is that you school yourself into being pretty much what you hope to find in a new friend. The old gold prospectors during the Gold Rush days of the late 1840's, had to know what the gold they sought looked like, or, like many others before them, they would work long and hard to gather in a handful of iron pyrite fragments which, looks like gold, is said to feel like gold, engender the same sort of wild dreams in anyone who finds it, but, while it seems to be it is not gold. Nor, can it ever be. It cannot be magically transformed into the real thing by even the most sophisticated voodoo procedures of any old or modern form of alchemy A strange thing often works out when you do this, too. Very often, it turns out they need you as much as, if not more, than you needed them. In some locales, in many situations, in various fields of work, being "good"- even moderately good - can be a lonely place. Start by seeking to find something good in every person. There is something good in every one. Even those who have been found to be criminal in breaking mutually-beneficial laws set up to protect from each other. The worst of them may have a trait of goodness in his makeup. People who are seeking friends will , very often, ignore his or her faults and give undue accent to stated intentions which are not backed by resolute action. That's not place to seek lasting friendships. The dregs of seek riches. One can develop positive associations in a such "prison ministry" work but the friendships formed are,and remain, largely one-sided in favor of the doer. Such friendships, start, I think, and continue to be rather one-sided in favor of the doer. Their work can be worthwhile but it is not a good place - among the miss-placed, downtrodden, derelict or do-less persons. Aim higher where qualities of competition may well serve as a goad to strengthen your own ambitions and accomplishments. Be intent on becoming a true friend. Try being who and what you are. That continues to be the best lure you can use. And, don't be in too much of a hurry. Good friendships - true treasures - are rare. A.L.M. March 9, 2006 [c484wds]
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
ON YOUR WAY How accurate is the picture we form in our own minds concerning that which is taking place at some point at some distant place in the world, or right here at home? We, most likely, see a view which, at best, is "badly bent." It is possible that we make adjustments along the way, hoping to make adjustments to compensate for any misjudgments, made along the way. I was reading. just yesterday, in the 150th Anniversary edition of HARPER'S MAGAZINE published 2000 in which we had samples of writings a century and a half ago. From my own early days of ten or twelve years of age, I suppose, I can remember being at odds with them at various times. When I was displeased with a Harper's item, I turned to THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY - which, I felt, was rather less struck-up about with it's own importance. Both were magazines which helped to form me to be whatever I am, or will be. They helped me to formulate that which I, now, say: "I believe!" It saddens me to think that no such publication - edited by humans not unlike ourselves - can provide that strange base of informational awareness from constantly changing stocks of raw materials and set before us a steady, nourishing supply of brain foods. The frightening part of all this is that, even now, we maybe looking out over a world and it affairs and circumstances and seeing them a re-touched aspect as when, in harsh reality, they are actually much like Salvatore Dali's painted watches, fruit or steel melting and glass flowing away...melting...becoming elemental even reverting to nothingness. Such a fear can be our moment of triumph. In one shining moment it can can happen! Seek assistance areas as long as you feel what you are learning. You can help yourself when you become you. Stay within the sphere of influences as long as you can, but be ready to to accept your just reward. We learn from that which we read or told or shown. We have with us, then, that which is of value from the past. The chaff has been winnowed away by our study and firm intent. You will never get away from your points of origination whatever they might have been in your case. Like my memories of "Harper's" and "Atlantic" are to me; in some way they will stand forever as a part of the future you face. A.L.M. March 7, 2006 [c424wds]
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
DEADLY DATA Some rather unusual requests are quite often made to those who operate or are employed by funeral homes. I have, perhaps, more than average awareness of that place in life's employment areas, because I worked at a funeral home during the early days of my so-called “retirement”. I was one of the older people hired to drive any of the numerous cars and trucks the firm had to keep active and worthy at all times. We served as hosts at night time when family member might choose to visit in a chapel area concerning a family member in our care. We were there to talk with the bereaved family members to help make the situation less burdensome for everyone. One afternoon “Personnel” or the “Front Office“ asked me if I happened to be squeamish about working with bodies in the morgue. They had found I had worked at a military hospital's morgue during World War II and from that time I was called upon to "assist" prep work at that level. I remember one week-end when we have eleven bodies in our care and needed additional helping hands. On the whole it was a serious type of work, but even there and much needed, a sense of humor its soothing self. One of the most sought after individuals on any funeral home staff is that person who will be the very last to touch the open casket, check it and perhaps re-arrange it deftly then closed and seal it forever. It is not uncommon for that person to fulfill the wish of a family member by adding the dead person's favorite childhood toy or some small trinket as a symbol of special joy that person had known. I remember one case in which the departed one provided the funeral home with several copies of neatly typed instruction for the digging of her grave. Details and exact measurements were attached in black,India ink drawings showing that we were to dig her grave to the usual depth, but that the floor had to be slanted by four inches toward the East. She explained her request by revealing that she slept on a bed with the head legs resting on two bricks and if she slept on a flat surface she would be "sick to her stomach" and unable to rest. She provided us with two copies. The one was plainly marked as being intended "For Office Use"; the other a "Gravedigger's Work Copy." I am pleased to report we filled her request. Under the end of her casket two bricks are well placed and they show some wear from the weigh of heavy headboard. They slant her toward the rising sun each morning - just right. A.L.M. March 7, 2006 [c468wds]
Monday, March 06, 2006
DISAPPOINTMENT In recent months, I have had to faced up to a real disappointment. The idea has been with me for many years, which made more difficult than ever to admit it simply was not going to happen the way I have thought it might. My disillusionment occurred rather recently with the death of the Clown Prince of the Arabic world - Yasser Arafat. I, like many, was concerned about his “replacement” and the direction his polyglot groups of followers – some of whom was erratic by nature, might choose to take on the international stage. I saw my “plan “progressing” and I became confident that it might be evolving as I thought it might. It has started in 1962 when an attractive Christian girl arrived in Charlottesville, Virginia where she enrolled as a student of Medieval and Comparative Literature at a Graduate and earning her PhD. from Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia. Born October 8, 1946 at Ramallah, in that time , the British Mandate of Palestine. Her father, known as the founder of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, named her Hanan –“Hanan Daoud Khalil Ashrawi.” Schooled at Ramalla, Hanan graduated from the American University of Beruit, before coming to Virginia. She returned to her homeland as Dr. Hanan Ashrawi and established and headed the English Department of Birzeit University on the West Bank in Palestine. While serving as Dean of Faculty of Arts at the same university Dr. Ashrawi undertook the study of legal procedure largely because the Israeli military closed the school far too often to suit her. She founded the Zeitgeist University Legal Aid Committee/Human Rights Action Project and during the Intifada uprising, she joined the Intafada Political Committee and served until 1993. When accords were signed by Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin she was elected a member of the Palestinian Legislative committee,Jerusalem District. I was encouraged in 1998, when Ashrawi, serving, since 1996, as Palestinian Authority of Higher Education and Research, abruptly resigned her post in protest against Arafat citing instances of political corruption and, especially, his mishandling of peace talks. I was sure, at that time ,my plan for her was working out, at last. It all seemed to be working well, when she was awarded the Aussie's “Sydney Peace Prize”. That honor took on negative overtones when conservative Australians openly decried the choice and called her “a terrorist apologist”. She has clearly stated her feeling in books, including on from 1995 titled “This Side of Peace: a Personal Account”. We here in America seem to know is Christian woman as a worker on problems concerning world peace and misunderstanding, We have seen her in her role of translator on our TV screen and, more recently as the official “spokesperson” for Palestinian groups on TV. Few of us recall we she was interview guest on “Night Line” ”Barbara Walters” and news programs. It is time, I feel,that we ought to listen, and perhaps even heed the words of this lady who has been so strategically placed to know what is happening in mid-east. A.L.M. March 6, 2006 [c-518wds]
Sunday, March 05, 2006
AWARD NIGHTThis evening, in Los Angeles, CA. The handing out of Oscar images takes place. Indications are, that, while the theater will be packed, the home audience with TV seating promises to be small. One survey, being conducted all morning on the Internet, reports about 22 per cent of those polled plan to be there; 65 per cent are planning to be elsewhere, and 12 per cent of them are still “Not Sure” of anything. That’s a little over one of fifth of potential reporting for “duty” and not good box-office any way you choose to look at it. Why is this sort of shunning taking place? The quickie polls don’t ask for “reasons why”, but in talking with non-goers and goers I find more people upset with subject matter of this years . Homosexuality is not a favorite subject for after-dinner chit-chats nor is it a prime entertainment theme – especially when tough, outdoorsy cowboy characters are really shown to be, seemingly more authentic, sheepherders. The steady decline of the movie business is too often attributed to writers. We hear “they just don't write the good stuff any more!” What might well be said is that producers do not present a market for good writing! All they want is more and more tinseled trash they can spin off for a stupefied public now totally unaware of how entertaining and rewarding a good movie can be. Pointing, pandering, pimping press people make up the membership of much of the so-often highly esteemed film critic corps. None of this can be changed for the better as long as we continue our present and well-entrenched system of determining the worth of a film by the amount of money paid by a few viewers to have it run off one time in their presence. With today's box office prices the final figure is pure fiction. A.L.M . March 5, 2006 [c331wds]
Saturday, March 04, 2006
HERD SECURITY I find there is a new and active market here in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia for llamas. They are being purchased by local farmers because they are proved to be dependable "watch dogs" in protecting livestock herds from scavengers. The particular unwelcome rustler of calves and lambs in the area is steadily increasing numbers of wild hungry and inquisitive coyotes. They were re-established in the area upon environmentalist insistence several decades ago. The e-agitators are now campaigning for the re-introduction of the wolf to its olden-days of glory and lordship in numerous locales here in the Virginia-North Carolina highlands. Evidence indicates the wolf was more numerous in the Shenandoah Valley than the coyote, and that they prospered by keeping the deer and bison herds in check. llamas, "The Shenandoah Herald," Woodstock, Va. (SVHonline .com)(Mary Byrd Blackwell) reports that one nearby llama farm is currently selling llamas for four hundred dollars and up per head to serve as caretaker-guards. The llama, grazing with cattle or sheep remains amazingly alert and protectively cares for the herd by warning them that predators are nearby. Calves and lambs, favorite coyote foods, can be protected or removed from the immediate danger area. Farmer who are suffering losses due to the wanton raids by vicious coyotes are finding it to be worth while to keep llamas grazing with their other animals. The llama will sound the alarm when predators are found to be nearby and and lambs can be better protected or moved to a less dangerous area. People who have put the llama to work as watchmen and police work are finding their loss due to coyote raids to be falling. If your age level is bumping the ceiling like mine, you must recall how Valley poultry raisers used to always allow a few guinea hens to mooch their meals and have a place to roost. They were the best watch-dogs a man could get. If a strange car came down our lane from the highway we were warned. Our family vehicles - even during late night - entered with a few friendly cackles telling the chickens everything was okay. Remember when you used to see a proud owner marching down the street in your favorite holiday parade leading his pet llama? People in the crowd who didn't know any better would scream: "Oh! Look-at-the-ostrich!". Those days of showcasing a novelty are no more. They are gone. More and more people realize that these fine birds may well be, one day, an important segment of the livestock wealth of the entire Appalachian Range in both Virginia and North Carolina. A.L.M. March 4, 2006 [c454wds]
Friday, March 03, 2006
SORRY ABOUT THATWe are currently in what I hope will prove to be a temporary phase of sharing of the blame(s) for the various disaster(s) occurring with and from the overall Katrina flood conditions. We find tapes coming into existence which were, a few weeks unknown. Such tapes had been “wished for” by those who hope prove themselves innocent of various charges being bandied about rather loosely. It seemed the logical way to prove that someone else was a fault. It would help set definite times when they issued warnings about the strength of the oncoming storm or that they had taken some other commendable action to help the area face an emergency of greater amplitude than had been, previously, anticipated. Exactly where this “missing”, “delayed” or “hidden” tape came from is still unclear but it does showing plainly that FEMA Director Brown did, indeed, notify the Presidential Staff and others, concerning the excessive nature of the impending floods and the possibilities of losses far in excess of existing plans. As conditions worsened, he also asked for troops to be deployed in the areas where going to be subjected to the worst of the storm. He did mention special concern for the AstroDome structure which was below the water level expected by a good six feet or more. He expressed some doubt about the roof of the building holding fast, too. He was, it appears, making plans to use that large building as a center for incoming flood victims. Few, in any one seems to have anticipated. The term term used"topped...if the flood waters "topped." any such barriers their problem would be multiplied many times over. No one seems to have actually made use of such terms as"broken","breeched","washed out" or "destroyed". This phase will lead to better times,I'm sure, when people will begin to speak up honestly and with sincere desires to make better and people can move back and start to live normal lives once more. Those people who had to live through this series of events need time to re-assess what it all meant to them and to come to feel of accusations -free to gain perspective. Out of meetings now being held, new understandings will come to fashioned, with the idea of improvement in minds rather than the placing of blame. We all have to learn,in times of special need to:"Take a little and give a lot!" A.L.M. March 3, 2006 [c424wds]
Thursday, March 02, 2006
OUR GREATEST ENEMY? I was asked just this morning, in a meaningless little quiz, to choose what nation I thought could be called our greatest enemy. The three nations from which I might choose were Iran, Iraq and North Korea. There was a place to check off “None of the Above”, and a fifth one, I think, was “Not Sure.” I had a strange feeling as I left the page that I have voted with my head instead of my heart. Actually our greatest enemy right now is apathy and not any one of the specified nations. I felt, after the fact that perhaps “I don't know” or “None-of-the above.” I do know. If they had left a blank space I could have written in the fearsome words “Our apathy!” Therein are the seeds from which our destruction as a nation may , and therein a very good chance they may do so if we continue to feed such a malignancy through the inept dealings with the foundational qualities which have caused us to be a leading nation. If we feel it necessary to draw up a chart of which peoples around the Earth don't like the things we do, or the things we say or favor for all it is an easy matter to simply take the role of the United Nation organizations and put little “Plus” or “Minus” ( “fer-or- agin'-us” tags) to see that the majority of the more than a hundred member nations disagree dramatically with either everything, most, or all that we think, say or do - or “have done” or “might do.” Our dismal lack of proper use of the affirmative aspects ability to defend ourselves is a constant that our well-being. We dawdle in common place domestic trivia even while other nations are seeking harder than ever before to best us. We allow it. We encourage it. We submit to it and, in time ever shortening, we may well be subjected to the evil it, so often, seems to symbolize. In my own apathy, you see, I was unable to give a true reply to a petty little question of who has been a baddest lil' bad boy in the international community of late. It could be Iran at 37% of people polled when I was. 15% thought it was Iraq, and 21% of us thought North Korea was the greatest threat to the American way of life at the present time. Twelve per cent said “None of the Above” and 10% said “”Not Sure”...of which a goodly portion may well have asked instead: “What in the world are you talking about?” We are in dire need of the will to stay informed at all times. To accomplish such a goal might involve some changes in what we read, write, think and say. Examine your particular situation. Re-arrange your daily take of the day's news events with disciplined care for accuracy and factual information only. A.L.M. March 2, 2006 [c505wds]
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
NATURAL WONDERS We have cobbled up lists we call: “The Wonders of the World”. There are usually seven of them to indicate “completeness” and two such lists are usually set forth – one called “natural wonders” created by God, and the other lists those items made by Man. Each list is subject to rot and decay. There is always some disagreement as to choice of a person, place, or thing which might be more meaningful to you. At times, I think, when we might also profit by compiling another such list to be called: “The Seven Great Blunders of Man.” I believe most of us would agree that Man's contention with the Holy will of his maker has caused repeated trouble. Setting that trait to one side for a time, what else do you judge has caused us to make mistakes? How about greed, avarice, jealousy, envy and other such terms? We can all look at of those characteristics and we see them illustrated in other people quite easily and often. Ego-centric planning yields poor results even under the best circumstances make it obvious that our League of Nations and United Nations were in error. In like manner so many so-called peace treaties and agreements such as “The Balfour Agreement”, our “Volstead Act”, and year ago Britain's “Stamp Act” against their colonies in America. Our mistakes have been numerous and each of our war times must be the result of “blunders”in our actions. We are, according to nutritionists and fat-fighters posing as food experts we are in fast food cycle which is a highway to discomfort and suicide. A blunder? In our world of business, buying, selling, manufacturing, distribution we are rapidly sending our abilities to do any of them overseas as we become a ”user” rather than a “maker” nation. Our mistakes have been numerous, but to hang on to them after they have happened is a tragic thing. We are witnessing a prime example right now during the “Clean Up” work being undertaken in New Orleans, La, The project is moving slowly and millions of dollars of federal funds and several added millions from private donations, are being wasted by political confusion and a wide variety of strange cross-purposes. Graft and corruption are becoming more and more obvious. Elsewhere people such as you and I,dropped dollars in the relief containers crying “Help the Flood Victims!” are thinking: “ Hm, I may have made a mistake there.... A.L.M. March 1, 2006 [c432wds]
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