Honoring Those Who Serve...

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Disagreement, conflict, strife, war: by any name it seems to be a fatal flaw of the human condition.

Man is a creature who relishes the control of his surroundings, his lands, all the bounty of nature that lies before him. When others seek (or even seem to desire) to deprive him of any of his power and control . . .well, all hell breaks loose.

It is depressing that conflict and war seem to drive the expansion of human progress and civilization (if it can really be called that when applied to war) more than any other factor.


When people come together in communities and begin to specialize and divide labors among themselves ... always has evolved a warrior class. Some have been comprised of permanent warriors. Others have depended on farmers and laborers laying down their plows and tools and picking up the weapons of the day when called to do so.


Where there is conflict, battle, war ... there is always service, honor, valor, injury, and death. Today, in The United States, we honor those who have served ...and especially those who "gave the last full measure of devotion" they possessed in service to their country.


Save the debates about 'right vs wrong' and 'just vs unjust'. Instead, today, pause to remember and honor those who answered when called and served without reservation.



The Ken Burns' epic production of The Civil War includes a brief segment that shares the thoughts of a Union soldier as he writes home to his beloved wife in the days before battle. His profound and emotional thoughts and words are always moving to me, particularly on Memorial Day:






I also offer today the saddest piece of music I have ever heard. A piece occasionally used for military and other funerals. Anyone who can remain unmoved as they listen must surely have a heart and soul of stone:





A brief thought, a brief tribute, a brief prayer for all who serve and have serve ... and for all those who gave their all so we might indeed remember to this day.



...tom...
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The end of the world as we know it...

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On this date it was the end of the world as they knew it.





For on this date in 1453 the city of Constantinople fell after a siege by forces led by Sultan Mehmed II.

Some historians use this date as the endpoint for the Middle Ages and credit the fall of Constantinople and its reverberations throughout medieval Europe as an important stimulus for the beginning of the period known as the Renaissance.


Just goes to show you that every culture and every civilization has had its own dark days.



...tom...

Sources: wikipedia.org, Fall_of_Constantinople

BFFs before BFF was cool...

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Do you remember your best friends from elementary school ...middle school ...high school..?? Have you kept in touch with them..?? Or have you drifted apart over the years, finding your own way in the wide, wide world..??

As a 'features' writer for The Wall Street Journal (given the "freedom (to) tend to the hearts of our readers" ...yes, even despicable robber-baron-zombie readers of The WSJ have 'hearts') Jeffrey Zaslow first learned of 'the girls from Ames' in an email response to a column about women's friendships.

Several years later Zaslow began to consider writing "a non-fiction narrative—the biography of a friendship meticulously reported—(that) could be a meaningful document for female readers." Apart from that altruistic motive, he hoped working on the project "would help me understand my daughters, my wife and the other women in my life."

Image source: photoxpress dot com

To be honest, I was reluctant to start reading The Girls from Ames. Despite it being a local story I was not sure I would find it interesting. I only began reading when I realized the book was due back to the library. By the time I had read a few pages of the Introduction I was hooked. When I tried to renew it ...its waiting list had grown to seventeen patrons..!!

Weeks later (after I had finally checked it out again) I began to read and appreciate the depth of the story he tells. I had no doubt Zaslow would expertly tell the story of eleven girls/women and their sustained, shared relationships over several decades. I had previously read a similar 'life story' written by him (The Last Lecture, coauthored with Randy Pausch, link below) and had been impressed with his ability to weave an entertaining, emotional, and definitely worth reading story.


The Girls from Ames shares the interconnected stories of eleven childhood friends who blended stronger and weaker friendships between individual girls into a 'circle of friends' and a collective friendship that has endured for decades.

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Read the rest of my review at Epinions dot com.


...tom...
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Free Hugs...

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Yes . . .I am way behind the curve on this one.

But I still like the idea, the video, the music.

Hate me if you must . . .though I would prefer a hug. ...:minism:...






...tom...

Chattanooga Choo Choo

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Going old school here. When music had form, function, and was actually performed rather than 'produced'.





...tom...