Posted on 09/11/2012 9:54:25 AM PDT by joanie-f
One small nit to pick ... the basic plot of which is fiction ... You probably are aware of this ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niland_brothers
The Niland brothers were four American brothers from Tonawanda, New York, serving in the military during World War II. Of the four, two survived the war, but for a time it was believed that only one, Frederick "Fritz" Niland, had survived. After the reported deaths of his three brothers, Fritz was sent back to the United States to complete his service and only later learned that his brother Edward, missing and presumed dead, was actually captive in a Japanese POW camp in Burma. Steven Spielberg's film "Saving Private Ryan" is loosely based on the brothers' story. ...
Back around 1986 we took our Boy Scout troop for a weekend trip to Charleston, SC, and lodged on board the U.S.S. Yorktown at Patriots' Point. I was 31 and freely admit I just didn't know enough about WWII history (that has certainly changed since). That trip shook me to my core. Upon learning the average age of the sailors serving on board the Yorktown during WWII was 19, all I had to do was look around at my troop of 11-16 year-olds and their beaming faces. The story of the fate of VT-8 onboard the U.S.S. Hornet at Midway was well presented onboard the Yorktown and only added to the sense of indebtedness overwhelming me. I do wonder what those former Scouts, now middle-aged men, must think of current events.
Thank you, always, to our citizens serving in uniform and may the Almighty watch over those overseas who go in harm's way on our behalf.
Probably the best, most insightful, description of 'late middle age' perceptions that I have ever come across.
I am sixty-five years old, and my husband is sixty-six. We have been together forty-five years, and are experiencing precisely what you described.
We may occasionally need a new hip, and we may not remember what we had for breakfast, :) but we are so much better able than ever before to view the whole, to integrate and arrange our life's experience into a wide-ranging, yet concrete, view of the world around us -- be it in the workplace, or on a global scale. We appreciate and value beauty, suffer injustice (ours and others'), comprehend the complexities, and understand the depths, of everything so much more than we used to.
I gratefully return your kind words. You appear to have not only uncanny insights, but the ability to express them beautifully.
Best to you and yours --
~ joanie
Would love to see that awesome (if sad in its truth) cartoon.
Hearing stories like your story of taking your Boy Scout troop to see the U.S.S. Yorktown, the stories you heard there, and the effect they had on you (and on presumably at least some of the scouts you had brought) always makes me very sad.
I believe one of the reasons our citizenry, especially the younger adults, is so ignorant about its roots and so apathetic about the usurpation of our liberties, is that those stories of heroism exhibited, and sacrifice made, by those who went before are no longer being taught to our youth, at least not to the degree, and with the truthfulness, that they used to be.
I recently received an e-mail from a friend that really serves as a microcosm of what is wrong with much of our public education system today. Here is an excerpt:
____________
The reason we are in this dilemma, in my opinion, is that the American people are so confused. They do not recognize who they are and what their heritage is. I blame the teachers and their unions. They don't teach the Constitution, the Founding Fathers, or American History.
As you know, I am regent of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. One of our members left our chapter a considerable amount of money. She wanted us to buy books about the Revolutionary War for the local high school. So with a committee we shopped around for primary sources. Then we went to the history chair at our local high school and told her what we'd like to do. She said we could put the books in the school library, but she doubted that any of the students would read them because the school 'no longer teaches the Revolutionary War'.
________________
If American History were once more taught correctly, and American school children once again learned to respect and admire, and want to emulate, the courage and determination of their ancestors, we would be well on our way to recalaiming our republic from the scourdrels who are currently in charge.
~ joanie
And be sure to stop by the Texas state board, and collect the posies someone else tossed at your feet. You are known over there. :)
And they sneer at those of us who want justice from those frauds and cynical users.
There's a way to accomplish this, by testing. Mandatory, universal testing.
Score wrong values or show deception and/or collaboration and cheating in the test scores, and boom! You're on a freighter bound for Uruguay, with about 40 other losers.
My wife and I watched it the other night and my wife asked “How can Hanks and Damon make movies like this and be so liberal?” I responded by pointing out that many WWII vets supported obama.
Spielberg is a leftist, too. It is indeed hard to figure how the Hollywood types can be so immersed in a movie that depicts so much of what conservative America admires ... and their leftist views still emerge unscathed on the other side.
“How can Hanks and Damon make movies like this and be so liberal?”
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...
Spot on! I feel Zer0 has prolonged the recession to drag more people kicking and squealing to the government trough. The recession is is like a huge hurricane that has left millions stripped of all their possessions and looking for a government solution. It has turned independent men into dependents who will vote Obama for their own self interest. This is the strategy of the Obamas.
As I sat watching the Democrat National Convention last week, a constant thought kept coming to mind:
The Bill of Rights was explicitly designed to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority.
But what protects the majority from the tyranny of a highly ideological, determined, vocal (and rather tiny, populationwise) minority — who shred and reject the Constitution because it's "inconvenient" to the implementation of their goals?
Will the majority stand up to them, and vote the people who literally hate America and everything she stands for out of the Oval Office and Congress on November 6th?
I wish I felt confident that they will; but I don't.
Thanks so much, joanie!
Very well said, as always, betty.
And I sadly share your lack of confidence that we will enjoy some peace of mind and optimism when November 7th dawns.
~ joanie
Indeed. Thank you for sharing your insights, dearest sister in Christ!
Indeed, we shall remember them. Thank you so much for the beautiful essay, dear joanie-f!
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